Places SDK for Android (Legacy) overview

Use this guide to understand the key differences between the Places SDK versions and migrate to Places SDK for Android (New).

SDK features available in each version

The following table shows which SDK and API versions are required for each SDK feature:

Feature	Places API version	Initialization method	Minimum SDK version
Autocomplete (New)	Places API (New)	initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()	3.5.0
Place Details (New)	Places API (New)	initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()	3.3.0
Nearby Search (New)	Places API (New)	initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()	3.5.0
Place Photos (New)	Places API (New)	initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()	3.4.0
Text Search (New)	Places API (New)	initializeWithNewPlacesApiEnabled()	3.3.0
Place Autocomplete	Places API (Legacy)	initialize() (Deprecated)
Current Place	Places API (Legacy)	initialize() (Deprecated)
Place Details	Places API (Legacy)	initialize() (Deprecated)
Place Photos	Places API (Legacy)	initialize() (Deprecated)

Migrate to the new APIs

To migrate to the new APIs, see the following migration guides:

• Migrate to Place Details (New)
• Migrate to Place Photos (New)
• Migrate to Autocomplete (New)

Enhancements in Places SDK for Android (New)

This section covers key features added to Places SDK for Android (New).

Implemented on the Google Cloud standard platform

Places SDK for Android (New) is implemented on the service infrastructure on Google Cloud. This implementation brings a more secure and trusted platform. This standard design brings a level of consistency across the SDKs that improve the efficiency of development with Places SDK for Android (New).

Improved performance

Places SDK for Android (New) provides improved performance, making it worthwhile to replace apps that use the existing SDK.

New features

The Places SDK for Android (New) includes the latest versions of all of the SDK features:

• Autocomplete (New)
• Place Details (New)
• Nearby Search (New)
• Place Photos (New)
• Text Search (New)

Text Search (New)

Text Search (New) returns information about a set of places based on a string — for example "pizza in New York" or "shoe stores near Ottawa" or "123 Main Street". The service responds with a list of places matching the text string and any location bias that has been set.

New response data added to Place Details (New) and Place Photos (New)

• Place Details (New) now includes the new Review class in the response Place object. The Place class contains the new getReviews() method to support this field. Call getReviews() to return up to five reviews for a place.

• Place Photos (New) adds the AuthorAttributions to the PhotoMetadata class. AuthorAttributions contains a List of AuthorAttribution objects.

New URI response added to Place Photos (New)

You can now use Place Photos (New) to return a URI to an image bitmap. Previously, you could only return the image bitmap itself.

Simplified pricing

Pricing is simplified with Places SDK for Android (New) so that you only pay for the data you use. Simplified pricing is implemented using field lists, also called field masks.

With Place Details (New) and Text Search (New), you use field lists to control the list of fields to return in the response. You are then only billed for the data requested. Using a field list is a good design practice to ensure that you don't request unnecessary data, which helps to avoid unnecessary processing time and billing charges.

For more pricing information, see Usage and billing.

Expanded place types

The new SDK includes new place types, which are returned as part of the Place Details (New) and Text Search (New) response. You can also use these new types, and the existing types, in a search with Text Search (New). The new types are included in Table A.