Search SDK for Android
Current version: v1.0.0-beta.29
- Add pre-built UI components to your app
- Search for places by name, category, or coordinate
- Save your favorite places
- Access your search history
The Mapbox Search SDK for Android gives you the tools you need to add a search experience to your application. It takes only a few minutes to drop a pre-built user interface (UI) powered by the Mapbox Geocoding API into your application. We also make the core search logic that powers the UI available to you directly so you can build something truly custom.
Structure of the Search SDK
The Search SDK consists of Search Core and the Search UI SDK.
Search Core
Search Core contains the logic that automatically handles configuring, sending, and parsing responses to requests. This code automatically integrates with the device to access its location and language settings and caches results on-device. It also powers the Search UI SDK.
Search UI SDK
The Search UI SDK is built on top of Search Core and provides ready-made search UI elements that you can use to add a search experience to your app. You can adjust the style of various elements of the pre-configured UI and customize results.
Search types
The Search SDK offers the SearchEngine
class which allows you to search by either place name, address, geographic coordinates, or category.
- Forward geocoding: allows you to get the location of places by typing place names or addresses. For example, you can type in
Lincoln Memorial
and retrieve the geographic location of a place that matches that query (-77.050,38.889
). - Category search: allows you to select a category (for example,
restaurants
) and retrieve a list of points of interest (POIs) that belong to that category. For example, if you want to display many restaurants within walking distance of a theater on a map, you can use category search with therestaurants
category. - Reverse geocoding: allows you to search for place names and addresses by providing geographic coordinates. For example, entering
-77.050, 38.889
and retrieve2 Lincoln Memorial Circle NW
.
History and favorites
If a user has searched in your app before, the Search SDK will always suggest results from their search history. If the user also has a list of favorite search results, the SDK will suggest recent results as well as any favorites that match the query.
History
History is a list of the most recent search results selected on a device. The Search SDK automatically adds to a user’s history every time a result is selected.
The Search UI SDK uses history in two ways:
- When a user clicks on the empty search bar the SDK will automatically show recent searches in reverse chronological order. When a- user starts to type a query the SDK will use the history to populate the suggestions drop down.
You can also access a device’s history via Search Core by obtaining HistoryDataProvider
from MapboxSearchSdk.serviceProvider.historyDataProvider()
.
Favorites
Favorites is a list of past searches that a user has explicitly added to the list.
The Search UI SDK uses favorites in two ways:
- Users can click the star icon in the list of results to open the favorites menu where they can save the place.
- The user can manage their favorites through the “Favorites” component option where they can remove or rename their favorites.
You can also access a device’s favorites via Search Core by obtaining FavoritesDataProvider
from MapboxSearchSdk.serviceProvider.favoritesDataProvider()
.
Requirements
The Mapbox Search SDK for Android works with:
- Android 5.0+ (API 21)
- Architectures: armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a, x86, x86_64
- Kotlin 1.5 or newer
Pricing
Search SDK usage is measured in Temporary Geocoding API requests. See our pricing page for more details.