Adding a MapView to an Android Fragment

If you’re building an Android app that requires a map, chances are you’ll need to display it in a Fragment at some point. Fortunately, adding a MapView to a Fragment is relatively easy to do with the Google Maps SDK for Android. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps to add a MapView to a Fragment in your Android app.

Create a new Fragment in Android Studio

To get started, you’ll need to create a new Fragment in your Android Studio project. You can do this by right-clicking on the package where you want to add the Fragment, selecting New, and then Fragment (Blank). Give your new Fragment a name and click Finish.

Add a MapView to the Fragment’s layout

Once you have your Fragment set up, you’ll need to add a MapView to its layout file. Open up the layout file for your Fragment and add the following code:

<com.google.android.gms.maps.MapView
    android:id="@+id/map_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

This will create a MapView that takes up the entire screen of the Fragment.

Initialize the MapView in the Fragment’s code

Next, you’ll need to initialize the MapView in the Fragment’s code. Add the following code to your Fragment’s onCreateView method:

override fun onCreateView(
    inflater: LayoutInflater, container: ViewGroup?,
    savedInstanceState: Bundle?
): View? {
    val rootView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_map, container, false)

    val mapView = rootView.findViewById<MapView>(R.id.map_view)
    mapView.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

    return rootView
}

This will inflate the Fragment’s layout file and initialize the MapView. Note that you should also call onResume, onPause, onDestroy, and onSaveInstanceState on the MapView as appropriate to ensure that it’s properly managed during the Fragment’s lifecycle.

Obtain a reference to the GoogleMap object

Now that you’ve initialized the MapView, you can obtain a reference to the GoogleMap object to configure it as needed. Add the following code to your Fragment’s onCreateView method after initializing the MapView:

mapView.getMapAsync { googleMap ->
    // Configure the map as needed here
}

This will ensure that you have access to the GoogleMap object once it’s ready.

Configure the GoogleMap object

Finally, you can configure the GoogleMap object as needed in the onMapReady callback. For example, you might want to set the map type or enable/disable various features. Here’s an example of how to set the map type:

mapView.getMapAsync { googleMap ->
    googleMap.mapType = GoogleMap.MAP_TYPE_NORMAL
}

And that’s it! You now have a MapView in your Fragment that you can configure and use as needed. With a little bit of customization, you can create a fully-functional map in your Android app.