Google announced that it is launching an update to the Google Maps Android API to include some highly requested features.
For one, there are “more dynamic and flexible” user interface designs for large Android devices, using Android Fragments, and adding more Google Maps layers. Also, developers can add more layers in their apps, including satellite, hybrid, terrain, traffic and indoor maps. The update also gives developers the ability to create markers and info windows with less code.
“The new API uses vector-based maps that support 2D and 3D views, and allow users to tilt and rotate the map with simple gestures,” Google explains on the Android Developers Blog. “Along with the layers you’ve come to know from Google Maps such as satellite, hybrid, terrain and traffic, the new API lets you include indoor maps for many major airports and shopping centers in your app.”
“The new API is simpler to use, so that creating markers and info windows is easy,” Google says. “Polylines, Polygons, Ground Overlays and Tile Overlays can all now be added to the map with just a few lines of code.”
Developers talk about the update here:
Google says it has over 800,000 sites using its mapping APIs. Documentation for the Google Maps Android API v2 can be found here.
Google has added the API to Google Play Services for which the company has just launched version 2.