API Picker

The API picker lists the most common things you may want to do on a map or with location-based data, and suggests the API that best suits your needs. For details about each API, follow the links to the related documentation.

What do you want to do? Useful APIs:
Add a map to an Android app. Optionally support map gestures for tilt, rotate, zoom and pan, with full control over the map's 3D camera.
Add a map to an iOS app. Optionally support map gestures for tilt, rotate, zoom and pan, with full control over the map's 3D camera.
Add a map to a web page. Customize the map with your own data and imagery. Optionally support map controls, as well as gestures on the mobile web.
Add a map to a web page via a simple HTTP request consisting of just a URL and parameters. Useful in blogs and other places where you can't add <script> tags.
Add a Local Context map to a web page. The Local Context map is a simple and flexible UI widget that shows users key places of interest near a location that you specify. The Local Context Library consists of an interactive map with a side panel containing a place chooser consisting of a gallery of photos. You can filter the list of places based on type, provide driving directions, and customize the visual appearance of the widget.
Draw a route on a map.
Draw a route between two or more specified points on the map showing the distance and travel time, using various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling, public transit, and flying.
Get directions data from origin to destination using various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling, public transit.
Visualize features and arbitrary data on a map.
Use a heatmap to visualize the intensity of data at geographical points, using graded colors. Examples of such data include population density, temperature, traffic congestion, and more.
Visualize KML data on a map.
Visualize GeoRSS data on a map.
Draw polygons, rectangles, polylines, circles, markers, and info windows (popups) on a map.
Provide a graphical interface with tools for users to draw on the map.
Build immersive, customized map visualizations rendered using Google's 3D, 2D, and Street View imagery.
Create and display aerial view videos rendered using Google's 3D geospatial imagery.
Add an image to a map, as an overlay at a specified location.
Add interactive Street View panoramas to your application, set the location of the panorama, manipulate the Street View camera (point of view), and more.
Display a static Street View panorama.
Perform spherical geometry computations to calculate angles, heading, distances and areas, from latitudes and longitudes.
Encode a sequence of latitude/longitude coordinates (LatLngs) into an encoded path string, and decode an encoded path string into a sequence of LatLngs.
Open the Google Maps app on iOS, Android, or web, via a URL. This is a handy way to launch Google Maps from an app, an email message, or a web page. For example, launch the Maps app with a directions request, to give your users access to turn-by-turn navigation.
Customize the look of a map.
Use vector-based images to add predefined and custom shapes to markers and polylines on a map, using SVG path notation. Examples of such shapes are arrows, dashed lines, custom paths and symbols animated along a path.
Show public transport routes on a map.
Show cycle routes on a map.
Show current traffic conditions on a map.
Find the latitude/longitude coordinates for a given address (geocoding), or convert the latitude/longitude coordinates of a geographic location to an address (reverse geocoding).
Find the maximum zoom level for satellite imagery at a specific location.
Find nearby businesses and other places, or search for places by place type or with a query string.
Get the name, address, opening hours, and other details of a place, including customer ratings and reviews.
Add the type-ahead search behavior of the Google Maps search field to your app.
Autofill an address form.
Assess whether an address is likely to exist in the real world.
Provide extensive details about places: names and addresss, their latitude/longitude coordinates, the place types (night club, store, museum), and more.
Find photos of businesses and other points of interest, sourced from the Places and Google+ databases.
Display search results for the visible region on a map, including nearby businesses and other places.
Get a location and accuracy radius based on information about cell towers and WiFi nodes that a mobile client can detect. Useful when GPS is not available, for example.
Get businesses or other places where the device is currently located.
Display a fixed image of a map, and optionally add markers, polygons, rectangles, polylines, circles and customized styling. This is useful, for example, if you don't need an interactive map and want to optimize performance and size.
Calculate the travel distance and travel time for multiple origins and destinations, optionally specifying various forms of transport: walking, driving, cycling.
Find height above sea level and depth of locations on the ocean floor.
Find the time zone name, time offset data and daylight saving time for a location.
Determine the speed limit for a section of road.
Determine the roads on which a vehicle traveled. Snap a set of GPS coordinates to the most likely road the vehicle was traveling, or find the nearest road segments.
Request environmental data about a location. Request air quality and solar data.
Request pollen data for a specific location. Use the Pollen API to get pollen information including types, plants, and indexes for a specific location in over 65 countries.
Request air quality data for a specific location. Request data for more than 70 air quality indexes, pollutants, and health recommendations from over 100 countries.
Request information on the solar potential of over 350 million buildings. Access detailed rooftop data based on Google's expansive mapping and computing resources to help estimate renewable rooftop solar energy potential and savings.
Upload geospatial data to the Google Cloud Console. Store and manage your geospatial data in the Google Cloud Console to use it with data-driven styling.
Add turn-by-turn navigation to your app. Build dynamic navigation experiences for your mobile apps.