Tutorial

Android Google Map - Drawing Route Between two points

Published on August 3, 2022
Default avatar

By Anupam Chugh

Android Google Map - Drawing Route Between two points

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In this tutorial, we’ll be creating an android application that draws a possible google map route between two points. We’ll be using Google Maps Directions API in our application.

Android Google Map - Drawing Route

Create a new Google Map API Key from the API console using the steps demonstrated in this tutorial. Create a New Android Studio Project and select the template as Google Maps Activity. Add the API key inside the google_maps_api.xml file that resides inside debug->res->values folder This is how the application should look if you’re using the latest Android Studio. android google maps drawing route between two points

Android Google Maps Drawing Path Project Structure

drawing path between two points in google maps android The DirectionsJSONParser.java file is the one that parses the locations and returns the route. decodePoly() method is then invoked to get the polyline data that’s later drawn on the map.

Android Google Maps Drawing Route Code

The MainActivity.java code is given below.

public class MapsActivity extends FragmentActivity implements OnMapReadyCallback {

    private GoogleMap mMap;
    ArrayList markerPoints= new ArrayList();

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_maps);
        // Obtain the SupportMapFragment and get notified when the map is ready to be used.
        SupportMapFragment mapFragment = (SupportMapFragment) getSupportFragmentManager()
                .findFragmentById(R.id.map);
        mapFragment.getMapAsync(this);
    }

    @Override
    public void onMapReady(GoogleMap googleMap) {
        mMap = googleMap;
        LatLng sydney = new LatLng(-34, 151);
        //mMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(sydney).title("Marker in Sydney"));
        mMap.moveCamera(CameraUpdateFactory.newLatLngZoom(sydney, 16));

        mMap.setOnMapClickListener(new GoogleMap.OnMapClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onMapClick(LatLng latLng) {

                if (markerPoints.size() > 1) {
                    markerPoints.clear();
                    mMap.clear();
                }

                // Adding new item to the ArrayList
                markerPoints.add(latLng);

                // Creating MarkerOptions
                MarkerOptions options = new MarkerOptions();

                // Setting the position of the marker
                options.position(latLng);

                if (markerPoints.size() == 1) {
                    options.icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.defaultMarker(BitmapDescriptorFactory.HUE_GREEN));
                } else if (markerPoints.size() == 2) {
                    options.icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.defaultMarker(BitmapDescriptorFactory.HUE_RED));
                }

                // Add new marker to the Google Map Android API V2
                mMap.addMarker(options);

                // Checks, whether start and end locations are captured
                if (markerPoints.size() >= 2) {
                    LatLng origin = (LatLng) markerPoints.get(0);
                    LatLng dest = (LatLng) markerPoints.get(1);

                    // Getting URL to the Google Directions API
                    String url = getDirectionsUrl(origin, dest);

                    DownloadTask downloadTask = new DownloadTask();

                    // Start downloading json data from Google Directions API
                    downloadTask.execute(url);
                }

            }
        });

    }

    private class DownloadTask extends AsyncTask {

        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(String... url) {

            String data = "";

            try {
                data = downloadUrl(url[0]);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Log.d("Background Task", e.toString());
            }
            return data;
        }

        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
            super.onPostExecute(result);

            ParserTask parserTask = new ParserTask();


            parserTask.execute(result);

        }
    }

    private class ParserTask extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, List<List<HashMap>>> {

        // Parsing the data in non-ui thread
        @Override
        protected List<List<HashMap>> doInBackground(String... jsonData) {

            JSONObject jObject;
            List<List<HashMap>> routes = null;

            try {
                jObject = new JSONObject(jsonData[0]);
                DirectionsJSONParser parser = new DirectionsJSONParser();

                routes = parser.parse(jObject);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            return routes;
        }

        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(List<List<HashMap>> result) {
            ArrayList points = null;
            PolylineOptions lineOptions = null;
            MarkerOptions markerOptions = new MarkerOptions();

            for (int i = 0; i < result.size(); i++) {
                points = new ArrayList();
                lineOptions = new PolylineOptions();

                List<HashMap> path = result.get(i);

                for (int j = 0; j < path.size(); j++) {
                    HashMap point = path.get(j);

                    double lat = Double.parseDouble(point.get("lat"));
                    double lng = Double.parseDouble(point.get("lng"));
                    LatLng position = new LatLng(lat, lng);

                    points.add(position);
                }

                lineOptions.addAll(points);
                lineOptions.width(12);
                lineOptions.color(Color.RED);
                lineOptions.geodesic(true);

            }

// Drawing polyline in the Google Map for the i-th route
            mMap.addPolyline(lineOptions);
        }
    }

    private String getDirectionsUrl(LatLng origin, LatLng dest) {

        // Origin of route
        String str_origin = "origin=" + origin.latitude + "," + origin.longitude;

        // Destination of route
        String str_dest = "destination=" + dest.latitude + "," + dest.longitude;

        // Sensor enabled
        String sensor = "sensor=false";
        String mode = "mode=driving";

        // Building the parameters to the web service
        String parameters = str_origin + "&" + str_dest + "&" + sensor + "&" + mode;

        // Output format
        String output = "json";

        // Building the url to the web service
        String url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/" + output + "?" + parameters;
        

        return url;
    }

    private String downloadUrl(String strUrl) throws IOException {
        String data = "";
        InputStream iStream = null;
        HttpURLConnection urlConnection = null;
        try {
            URL url = new URL(strUrl);

            urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

            urlConnection.connect();

            iStream = urlConnection.getInputStream();

            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(iStream));

            StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();

            String line = "";
            while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                sb.append(line);
            }

            data = sb.toString();

            br.close();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.d("Exception", e.toString());
        } finally {
            iStream.close();
            urlConnection.disconnect();
        }
        return data;
    }
}

We’ve called an onMapClickListener on the google map object. It’s used to set a marker on the clicked location and store that location in an ArrayList. The ArrayList is used to store the source and destination markers only. The getDirectionsUrl() is called the Directions API URL with the output and parameters as shown below. "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/" + output + "?" + parameters; The output variable holds a “json” string and the parameter string is created as: String parameters = str_origin + "&" + str_dest + "&" + sensor + "&" + mode; We’ve set the mode=driving in the current application. The other modes of transport are:

  • driving (default)
  • walking
  • bicycling
  • transit

The output of the application is given below: android google maps draw path This brings an end to this tutorial. You can download the final project from the link below, add your own Google Map API key.

Download Android Google Maps Draw Route Project

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Anupam Chugh

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JournalDev
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July 19, 2021

i am facing this error… how to resolved please help of this { “error_message” : “You must enable Billing on the Google Cloud Project at https://console.cloud.google.com/project/\_/billing/enable Learn more at https://developers.google.com/maps/gmp-get-started”,

- khurseed ansari

    JournalDev
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    February 2, 2021

    Hi Is it mandatory to add billing for Google api Am facing error on that

    - Purushotham

      JournalDev
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      December 3, 2020

      hello sir,i want to draw the route between two place from edit text which we enter pick location and drop location.How can i show this from edit text and draw route between two place?Please reply

      - Sitansu

        JournalDev
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        October 8, 2020

        Please refactor the code because we are facing a MAP API KEY issue so add this in your code so that we can save our time

        - Nishit Gajjar

          JournalDev
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          September 26, 2020

          Hey Anupam, I hope you will be fine. I have an issue in android related to maps. Can you help me?

          - Ahmed Raza

            JournalDev
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            October 2, 2019

            Hi , Im trying to understand your code since I am a beginner. Why do I keep getting this runtime error: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method ‘int java.util.List.size()’ on a null object reference it has something to do with result being null

            - Thomas Tsuma

              JournalDev
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              September 15, 2019

              I want to draw route between two points in map.But as per the above code I could only select two points in map, the direction doesn’t came. Is there any suggestions for me to solve .

              - Prabeesh P

                JournalDev
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                August 24, 2019

                Dear I have gone through your tutorials of google map android. I am stuck to show journey route of train covered and remaining in two different colors. Second color overlapping on 1st one… 2nd issue it is showing alternative route which I coded alternatives=false also but still showing extra lines… Please visit URL to have more information about issue…https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57495955/how-to-show-journey-of-train-reached-and-remaining-on-mobile-app I want little help to sort these small issues…

                - Vinod Kadiyan

                  JournalDev
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                  August 2, 2019

                  polylineOptions = null why is it empty?

                  - survey

                    JournalDev
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                    July 3, 2019

                    I want to draw route between more than two points. How can i do that ? Is it possible with a single call ?

                    - Syed Reazul Elahee

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