Google Maps iOS SDK Tutorial: Getting Started

Where To Go From Here?

Here’s a link to the complete project from this tutorial. Since the Google Maps SDK is very large in size, we excluded it from the project, so make sure to run pod install before building.

Keep in mind that before you’re able to run this finished project, you will need to insert your API keys as you did at the beginning of this tutorial.

My purpose here is not to convince you that Google Maps iOS SDK is better than Apple’s own MapKit; however, here’s a few pros and cons of Google Maps:

Pros

• Frequent Updates to the SDK by Google.
• Uniform experience for cross platform (iOS and Android) apps.
• Google Maps are often more detailed, especially outside the United States. For example:

  

  

Cons

• Unlike Google Maps, MapKit is native to iOS, which means it’s always synced with iOS and works with Swift out of the box.
• Lack of stability in comparison to MapKit.
• MapKit has a much better integration with CoreLocation and CoreAnimation.

This tutorial only showed you the basics of what the Google Maps SDK can do. There’s much more to learn; you should definitely check out the full documentation for more cool features the SDK has to offer.

Among the other things you can do with Google Maps iOS SDK are showing directions, indoor maps, overlays, tile layers, Street View, and advanced integration with the Google Maps app. For brownie points, try to use some of these features to enhance the Feed Me app.

Thanks again to Google Developer Advocates Brett Morgan and Todd Kerpelman, both of whom worked with me to find the best way to integrate the Google Places API into this tutorial.

If you have any questions, tips, or just wanna show off your cool mapping app, feel free to post about it in the discussion below!