Businesses and other points of interest

By default, points of interest (POIs) appear on the base map along with their corresponding icons. POIs include parks, schools, government buildings, and more. In addition, business POIs appear by default on the map when the map type is kGMSTypeNormal. Business POIs represent businesses such as shops, restaurants, hotels, and more.

A POI corresponds to a Place ID, as defined in the Places SDK for iOS. For example, recreational parks are POIs, but things like water fountains are generally not POIs (unless they're of national or historic significance).

Listening for click events on POIs

If you want to respond to a user tapping on a POI, implement GMSMapViewDelegate, and implement the mapView(_:didTapPOIWithPlaceID:name:location:) method, as shown in the following example:

import GoogleMaps

class POI: UIViewController, GMSMapViewDelegate {

  override func loadView() {
    let camera = GMSCameraPosition.camera(
      withLatitude: 47.603,
      longitude:-122.331,
      zoom:14
    )
    let mapView = GMSMapView.map(withFrame: .zero, camera: camera)
    mapView.delegate = self
    self.view = mapView
  }

  func mapView(
    _ mapView: GMSMapView,
    didTapPOIWithPlaceID placeID: String,
    name: String,
    location: CLLocationCoordinate2D
  ) {
    print("You tapped \(name): \(placeID), \(location.latitude)/\(location.longitude)")
  }
}
      

#import "POI.h"
@import GoogleMaps;

@interface POI () <GMSMapViewDelegate>

@end

@implementation POI

- (void)loadView {
  GMSCameraPosition *camera = [GMSCameraPosition cameraWithLatitude:47.603
                                                            longitude:-122.331
                                                                 zoom:14];
  GMSMapView *mapView = [GMSMapView mapWithFrame:CGRectZero camera:camera];
  mapView.delegate = self;
  self.view = mapView;
}

#pragma mark - GMSMapViewDelegate

- (void)mapView:(GMSMapView *)mapView
    didTapPOIWithPlaceID:(NSString *)placeID
                    name:(NSString *)name
                location:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)location {
  NSLog(@"You tapped %@: %@, %f/%f", name, placeID, location.latitude, location.longitude);
}

@end
      

Showing details in an info window

POIs appear on the map by default, but there is no default on-click UI (the API does not automatically display an info window or any other user interface when the user taps a POI). The following example shows how to use a marker to display an info window for a POI:

// Declare GMSMarker instance at the class level.
let infoMarker = GMSMarker()

// Attach an info window to the POI using the GMSMarker.
func mapView(
  _ mapView: GMSMapView,
  didTapPOIWithPlaceID placeID: String,
  name: String,
  location: CLLocationCoordinate2D
) {
  infoMarker.snippet = placeID
  infoMarker.position = location
  infoMarker.title = name
  infoMarker.opacity = 0;
  infoMarker.infoWindowAnchor.y = 1
  infoMarker.map = mapView
  mapView.selectedMarker = infoMarker
}
      

// Declare a GMSMarker instance at the class level.
GMSMarker *infoMarker;

// Attach an info window to the POI using the GMSMarker.
- (void)mapView:(GMSMapView *)mapView
    didTapPOIWithPlaceID:(NSString *)placeID
                    name:(NSString *)name
                location:(CLLocationCoordinate2D)location {
  infoMarker = [GMSMarker markerWithPosition:location];
  infoMarker.snippet = placeID;
  infoMarker.title = name;
  infoMarker.opacity = 0;
  CGPoint pos = infoMarker.infoWindowAnchor;
  pos.y = 1;
  infoMarker.infoWindowAnchor = pos;
  infoMarker.map = mapView;
  mapView.selectedMarker = infoMarker;
}
      

Stopping POIs from showing on the map

You can hide POIs by applying custom styles to all POIs or to specific categories of POIs.

The following JSON style declaration hides all business POIs on the map:

[
  {
    "featureType": "poi.business",
    "stylers": [
      { "visibility": "off" }
    ]
  }
]

As another example, the following JSON simplifies the display of all categories of POIs:

[
  {
    "featureType": "poi",
    "stylers": [
      { "visibility": "simplified" }
    ]
  }
]

For more details, see the guide to hiding map features with styling.