How to get Places.GeoDataApi.getAutocompletePredictions ONLY inside the bounds?

Question

I am using Places.GeoDataApi for Android and I get different search results depending on the location of the device performing the request. I need the results to be consistently located inside the bounds. I don't see where that could be setup in the getAutocompletePredictions request. Is there anything I am missing?

I get address/place autocomplete suggestions using the GoogleApiClient and Places API through:

Places.GeoDataApi.getAutocompletePredictions()

The method requires a GoogleApiClient object, a String to autocomplete, and a LatLngBounds object to limit the search range. This is what my usage looks like:

LatLngBounds bounds = new LatLngBounds(new LatLng(38.46572222050097, -107.75668023304138),new LatLng(39.913037779499035, -105.88929176695862));


GoogleApiClient mGoogleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this)
            .addConnectionCallbacks(this)
            .addOnConnectionFailedListener(this)
            .addApi(LocationServices.API)
            .addApi(Places.GEO_DATA_API)
            .build();


PendingResult<AutocompletePredictionBuffer> results =
Places.GeoDataApi.getAutocompletePredictions(googleApiClient, "Starbucks", bounds, null);

Version in use: com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:8.3.0

Documentation: https://developers.google.com/places/android/autocomplete

Shirelyshirey

Case opened: code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/… – Shirelyshirey

Answer 1

Good news. As of April 2018 Google added possibility to specify how to treat the bounds in autocomplete predictions. Now you can use the getAutocompletePredictions() method of GeoDataClient class with boundsMode parameter

public Task<AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse> getAutocompletePredictions (String query, LatLngBounds bounds, int boundsMode, AutocompleteFilter filter)

boundsMode - How to treat the bounds parameter. When set to STRICT predictions are contained by the supplied bounds. If set to BIAS predictions are biased towards the supplied bounds. If bounds is null then this parameter has no effect.

source: https://developers.google.com/android/reference/com/google/android/gms/location/places/GeoDataClient

You can modify your code to something similar to:

LatLngBounds bounds = new LatLngBounds(new LatLng(38.46572222050097, -107.75668023304138),new LatLng(39.913037779499035, -105.88929176695862));
GeoDataClient mGeoDataClient = Places.getGeoDataClient(getBaseContext());;

Task<AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse> results =
        mGeoDataClient.getAutocompletePredictions("Starbucks", bounds, GeoDataClient.BoundsMode.STRICT, null);

try {
    Tasks.await(results, 60, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
} catch (ExecutionException | InterruptedException | TimeoutException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

try {
    AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse autocompletePredictions = results.getResult();

    Log.i(TAG, "Query completed. Received " + autocompletePredictions.getCount()
            + " predictions.");

    // Freeze the results immutable representation that can be stored safely.
    ArrayList<AutocompletePrediction> al = DataBufferUtils.freezeAndClose(autocompletePredictions);

    for (AutocompletePrediction p : al) {
        CharSequence cs = p.getFullText(new CharacterStyle() {
            @Override
            public void updateDrawState(TextPaint tp) {

            }
        });
        Log.i(TAG, cs.toString());
    }

} catch (RuntimeExecutionException e) {
    // If the query did not complete successfully return null
    Log.e(TAG, "Error getting autocomplete prediction API call", e);
}

I hope this helps!

Bothy

Answer 2

I got the same problem.

Unfortunately, there is no way to get places in specific bounds using Google Places API Android.

However, you can still use Nearby Search using Google Places API Web Service.

Documentation here : https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/search?hl=fr

You should then be able to set the bounds in parameters, and get the places inside the bounds from the JSON response, as explained in this answer : https://mcmap.net/q/768669/-getting-results-of-nearby-places-from-user-39-s-location-using-google-maps-api-in-android

Delacroix

Thanks Jack, I did consider this approach however Google does warn you up front in their documentation page that: "The Places API Web Service and the client libraries are for use in server applications" And my problem affected an Android client. Since I asked this question I got a colleague to file a report in Maps and they got back saying they are currently working on supporting this feature although there is no release date yet. – Shirelyshirey

Feature request for Places API for Android: issuetracker.google.com/issues/38188994 – Bothy