Launching Google Maps Directions via an intent on

Question

My app needs to show Google Maps directions from A to B, but I don't want to put the Google Maps into my application - instead, I want to launch it using an Intent. Is this possible? If yes, how?

Answer 1

Google DirectionsView with source location as a current location and destination location as given as a string

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&daddr="+destinationCityName));
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.google.android.apps.maps", "com.google.android.maps.MapsActivity"));
if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
    startActivity(intent);
}

In the above destinationCityName is a string varaiable modified it as required.

Answer 2

This is a little off-topic because you asked for "directions", but you can also use the Geo URI scheme described in the Android Documentation:

http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/g-app-intents.html

The problem using "geo:latitude,longitude" is that Google Maps only centers at your point, without any pin or label.

That's quite confusing, especially if you need to point to a precise place or/and ask for directions.

If you use the query parameter "geo:lat,lon?q=name" in order to label your geopoint, it uses the query for search and dismiss the lat/lon parameters.

I found a way to center the map with lat/lon and display a pin with a custom label, very nice to display and useful when asking for directions or any other action:

Intent intent = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW, 
Uri.parse("geo:0,0?q=37.423156,-122.084917 (" + name + ")"));
startActivity(intent);

NOTE (by @TheNail): Not working in Maps v.7 (latest version at the time of writing). Will ignore the coordinates and search for an object with the given name between the parentheses. See also Intent for Google Maps 7.0.0 with location

Answer 3

Uri.Builder directionsBuilder = new Uri.Builder()
        .scheme("https")
        .authority("www.google.com")
        .appendPath("maps")
        .appendPath("dir")
        .appendPath("")
        .appendQueryParameter("api", "1")
        .appendQueryParameter("destination", lat + "," + lon);

startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, directionsBuilder.build()));

Answer 4

if you know point A, point B (and whatever features or tracks in between) you can use a KML file along with your intent.

String kmlWebAddress = "http://www.afischer-online.de/sos/AFTrack/tracks/e1/01.24.Soltau2Wietzendorf.kml";
String uri = String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "geo:0,0?q=%s",kmlWebAddress);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
startActivity(intent);

for more info, see this SO answer

NOTE: this example uses a sample file that (as of mar13) is still online. if it has gone offline, find a kml file online and change your url

Answer 5

First you need to now that you can use the implicit intent, android documentation provide us with a very detailed common intents for implementing the map intent you need to create a new intent with two parameters

• Action
• Uri

For action we can use Intent.ACTION_VIEW and for Uri we should Build it ,below i attached a sample code to create,build,start the activity.

 String addressString = "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, CA";

    /*
    Build the uri 
     */
    Uri.Builder builder = new Uri.Builder();
    builder.scheme("geo")
            .path("0,0")
            .query(addressString);
    Uri addressUri = builder.build();
    /*
    Intent to open the map
     */
    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, addressUri);

    /*
    verify if the devise can launch the map intent
     */
    if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
       /*
       launch the intent
        */
        startActivity(intent);
    }

Answer 6

Although the current answers are great, none of them did quite what I was looking for, I wanted to open the maps app only, add a name for each of the source location and destination, using the geo URI scheme wouldn't work for me at all and the maps web link didn't have labels so I came up with this solution, which is essentially an amalgamation of the other solutions and comments made here, hopefully it's helpful to others viewing this question.

String uri = String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%f,%f(%s)&daddr=%f,%f (%s)", sourceLatitude, sourceLongitude, "Home Sweet Home", destinationLatitude, destinationLongitude, "Where the party is at");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
intent.setPackage("com.google.android.apps.maps");
startActivity(intent);

To use your current location as the starting point (unfortunately I haven't found a way to label the current location) then use the following

String uri = String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=%f,%f (%s)", destinationLatitude, destinationLongitude, "Where the party is at");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
intent.setPackage("com.google.android.apps.maps");
startActivity(intent);

For completeness, if the user doesn't have the maps app installed then it's going to be a good idea to catch the ActivityNotFoundException, then we can start the activity again without the maps app restriction, we can be pretty sure that we will never get to the Toast at the end since an internet browser is a valid application to launch this url scheme too.

        String uri = String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=%f,%f (%s)", 12f, 2f, "Where the party is at");
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
        intent.setPackage("com.google.android.apps.maps");
        try
        {
            startActivity(intent);
        }
        catch(ActivityNotFoundException ex)
        {
            try
            {
                Intent unrestrictedIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
                startActivity(unrestrictedIntent);
            }
            catch(ActivityNotFoundException innerEx)
            {
                Toast.makeText(this, "Please install a maps application", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }
        }

P.S. Any latitudes or longitudes used in my example are not representative of my location, any likeness to a true location is pure coincidence, aka I'm not from Africa :P

EDIT:

For directions, a navigation intent is now supported with google.navigation

Uri navigationIntentUri = Uri.parse("google.navigation:q=" + 12f +"," + 2f);//creating intent with latlng
Intent mapIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, navigationIntentUri);
mapIntent.setPackage("com.google.android.apps.maps");
startActivity(mapIntent);