- It is required to obtain an API key at the Google APIs console
- First step is to create a project, the name is not important
- Within the project, switch on the Google Maps API
- Create a "Registered App" for each key you want to create
- I have 1 desktop and 1 notebook, so I ended up registering 2 apps with the debug keys on each machine
- These keys, by default can be used across apps
- There are 2 main ways to include a map in a screen
- The preferred way is to use a fragment, which can be used with the most flexibility with the newer API levels
- Some older devices won't be able to use fragments unless it's called from within a FragmentActivity
- Alternatively, MapView can be used but requires life-cycle events to be forwarded to the MapView
- Gotchas:
- You have to include the source codes of the Google Play Services library project in your workspace in order to use the API
- It still doesn't support the ingestion of a KML file and automatically drawing the contents on the map
- The docs say you don't have to use MapsInitializer.initialize, I've had to do it (with MapView)
Resources:
- https://blog-emildesign.rhcloud.com/?p=435
- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16572020/error-java-lang-classnotfoundexception-com-google-android-gms-maps-mapfragment
- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15958550/java-lang-classnotfoundexception-android-view-fragment
- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13905230/mapview-and-cameraupdate-in-api-v2
