Set up a Flutter Project

AI-generated Key Takeaways

Before starting, ensure you've completed the prerequisites, enabled billing, and created an API key.
Install the Flutter SDK, create a new Flutter project, and add the Google Maps for Flutter package.
Configure platform-specific settings for Android and iOS, including minimum SDK versions.
Add your API key to the Android, iOS, and web versions of your project using the provided instructions.
Add a simple map to your Flutter app by updating the lib/main.dart file and running the application.

Before you set up a Flutter project be sure you've completed the prerequisite steps under Before you begin. After you enable billing and create an API key, you can set up the Flutter project that you use to develop your app.

Step 1: Install the required software

To build a project using the Google Maps for Flutter package, you must install the Flutter SDK and setup your development environment for your target platform. Check out the Flutter install guide for details.

Step 2: Install the Google Maps for Flutter package in a new project

Flutter offers the Google Maps for Flutter package as a Flutter plugin.

Create the Flutter project and add the Maps plugin.

Create a new Flutter project using `flutter create`:
```
  flutter create google_maps_in_flutter --platforms=android,ios,web
  
  Creating project google_maps_in_flutter...
  [Listing of created files elided]
  Wrote 127 files.

  All done!
```
Your application code is in google_maps_in_flutter/lib/main.dart. To run your application, type:
```
  cd google_maps_in_flutter
  flutter run
```
This application targets iOS, Android and Web. Google Maps SDK does not support desktop applications outside of a browser at this time.

Add the Google Maps for Flutter package plugin to this project.

flutter pub add google_maps_flutter
  
  Resolving dependencies...
  [Listing of dependencies elided]

  Changed 14 dependencies!

Step 3: Set the platform version

Android

Set the minimum SDK version for Android.

Open the android/app/build.gradle config file in your preferred IDE.

Change the value of android.defaultConfig.minSdkVersion to 21:

  android {
    //...
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.google_maps_in_flutter"
        minSdkVersion 21     // Set to 21
        targetSdkVersion flutter.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode flutterVersionCode.toInteger()
        versionName flutterVersionName
    }
    //...
  }

When configuring defaultConfig, specify your own unique ApplicationID.
Sync your project changes with Gradle.

iOS

Set the minimum iOS platform version.

Open the ios/Podfile config file in your preferred IDE.

Add the following lines to the beginning of this Podfile:

  # Set platform to 14.0 to enable latest Google Maps SDK
  platform :ios, '14.0'

Step 4: Add your API key to the project

In Before you begin, you generated an API key for your app. Now add that key to your Flutter project. For Flutter, you should add this API key to all target platforms: iOS, Android, and Web.

In the following examples, replace YOUR_API_KEY with your API key.

Android

To streamline this task, we recommend that you use the Secrets Gradle Plugin for Android.

To install the Secrets Gradle Plugin for Android in your Google Maps project:

In Android Studio, open your top-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and add the following code to the dependencies element under buildscript.

Kotlin

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.android.application) apply false
    alias(libs.plugins.jetbrains.kotlin.android) apply false
    alias(libs.plugins.kotlin.compose) apply false
    alias(libs.plugins.secrets.gradle.plugin) apply false
}

Groovy

buildscript {
    dependencies {
        classpath "com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin:secrets-gradle-plugin:2.0.1"
    }
}

Open your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and add the following code to the plugins element.

Kotlin

plugins {
    // ...
    alias(libs.plugins.secrets.gradle.plugin)
}

Groovy

plugins {
    // ...
    id 'com.google.android.libraries.mapsplatform.secrets-gradle-plugin'
}

In your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file, ensure that targetSdk and compileSdk are set to 34.
Sync your project with Gradle.
Open the secrets.properties file in your top-level directory, and then add the following code. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your API key. Store your key in this file because secrets.properties is excluded from being checked into a version control system.
Note: If the secrets.properties file does not exist, create it in the same folder as the local.properties file.
```
MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
```
Create the local.defaults.properties file in your top-level directory, the same folder as the secrets.properties file, and then add the following code.

Note: Enter the code as shown. Don't replace DEFAULT_API_KEY with your API key.
```
MAPS_API_KEY=DEFAULT_API_KEY
```
The purpose of this file is to provide a backup location for the API key if the secrets.properties file is not found so that builds don't fail. This can happen if you clone the app from a version control system which omits secrets.properties and you have not yet created a secrets.properties file locally to provide your API key.
In your AndroidManifest.xml file, go to com.google.android.geo.API_KEY and update the android:value attribute. If the <meta-data> tag does not exist, create it as a child of the <application> tag.
```
<meta-data
    android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
    android:value="${MAPS_API_KEY}" />
```
Note: com.google.android.geo.API_KEY is the recommended metadata name for the API key. A key with this name can be used to authenticate to multiple Google Maps-based APIs on the Android platform, including the Flutter SDK. For backwards compatibility, the API also supports the name com.google.android.maps.v2.API_KEY. This legacy name allows authentication to the Android Maps API v2 only. An application can specify only one of the API key metadata names. If both are specified, the API throws an exception.

In Android Studio, open your module-level build.gradle.kts or build.gradle file and edit the secrets property. If the secrets property does not exist, add it.

Edit the properties of the plugin to set propertiesFileName to secrets.properties, set defaultPropertiesFileName to local.defaults.properties, and set any other properties.

Kotlin

secrets {
    // To add your Maps API key to this project:
    // 1. If the secrets.properties file does not exist, create it in the same folder as the local.properties file.
    // 2. Add this line, where YOUR_API_KEY is your API key:
    //        MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
    propertiesFileName = "secrets.properties"

    // A properties file containing default secret values. This file can be
    // checked in version control.
    defaultPropertiesFileName = "local.defaults.properties"
}

Groovy

secrets {
    // To add your Maps API key to this project:
    // 1. If the secrets.properties file does not exist, create it in the same folder as the local.properties file.
    // 2. Add this line, where YOUR_API_KEY is your API key:
    //        MAPS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
    propertiesFileName = "secrets.properties"

    // A properties file containing default secret values. This file can be
    // checked in version control.
    defaultPropertiesFileName = "local.defaults.properties"
}

Note: As shown above, com.google.android.geo.API_KEY is the recommended metadata name for the API key. A key with this name can be used to authenticate to multiple Google Maps-based APIs on the Android platform, including the Flutter SDK. For backwards compatibility, the API also supports the name com.google.android.maps.v2.API_KEY. This legacy name allows authentication to the Android Maps API v2 only. An application can specify only one of the API key metadata names. If both are specified, the API throws an exception.

iOS

Add your API key to your AppDelegate.swift file.

Open the ios/Runner/AppDelegate.swift file in your Flutter project with your preferred IDE.
Add the following import statement to add Google Maps for Flutter package to your app:

import GoogleMaps

Add your API to your application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method, substituting your API key for YOUR_API_KEY:
```
GMSServices.provideAPIKey("YOUR_API_KEY")
```
Save and close the AppDelegate.swift file.

The completed AppDelegate.swift file should resemble the following:

import UIKit
import Flutter
import GoogleMaps  // Add this import

@UIApplicationMain
@objc class AppDelegate: FlutterAppDelegate {
  override func application(
    _ application: UIApplication,
    didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?
  ) -> Bool {
    GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self)

    // TODO: Add your Google Maps API key
    GMSServices.provideAPIKey("YOUR_API_KEY")

    return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions)
  }
}

Web

Add your API key to your index.html application file.

Open the web/index.html file in your Flutter project with your preferred IDE.

Add the following script tag inside the <head> tag, substituting your API key for YOUR_API_KEY.

<script>
  (g=>{var h,a,k,p="The Google Maps JavaScript API",c="google",l="importLibrary",q="__ib__",m=document,b=window;b=b[c]||(b[c]={});var d=b.maps||(b.maps={}),r=new Set,e=new URLSearchParams,u=()=>h||(h=new Promise(async(f,n)=>{await (a=m.createElement("script"));e.set("libraries",[...r]+"");for(k in g)e.set(k.replace(/[A-Z]/g,t=>"_"+t[0].toLowerCase()),g[k]);e.set("callback",c+".maps."+q);a.src=`https://maps.${c}apis.com/maps/api/js?`+e;d[q]=f;a.onerror=()=>h=n(Error(p+" could not load."));a.nonce=m.querySelector("script[nonce]")?.nonce||"";m.head.append(a)}));d[l]?console.warn(p+" only loads once. Ignoring:",g):d[l]=(f,...n)=>r.add(f)&&u().then(()=>d[l](f,...n))})({
    key: "YOUR_API_KEY",
    v: "weekly",
    // Use the 'v' parameter to indicate the version to use (weekly, beta, alpha, etc.).
    // Add other bootstrap parameters as needed, using camel case.
  });
</script>

Save and close the index.html file.

The complete head section of the index.html should resemble the following:

    <head>
      <base href="/">
      
      <meta charset="UTF-8">
      <meta content="IE=Edge" http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible">
      <meta name="description" content="A new Flutter project.">
      
      <!-- iOS meta tags & icons -->
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
      <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="google_maps_in_flutter">
      <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="icons/Icon-192.png">
      
      <script>
        (g=>{var h,a,k,p="The Google Maps JavaScript API",c="google",l="importLibrary",q="__ib__",m=document,b=window;b=b[c]||(b[c]={});var d=b.maps||(b.maps={}),r=new Set,e=new URLSearchParams,u=()=>h||(h=new Promise(async(f,n)=>{await (a=m.createElement("script"));e.set("libraries",[...r]+"");for(k in g)e.set(k.replace(/[A-Z]/g,t=>"_"+t[0].toLowerCase()),g[k]);e.set("callback",c+".maps."+q);a.src=`https://maps.${c}apis.com/maps/api/js?`+e;d[q]=f;a.onerror=()=>h=n(Error(p+" could not load."));a.nonce=m.querySelector("script[nonce]")?.nonce||"";m.head.append(a)}));d[l]?console.warn(p+" only loads once. Ignoring:",g):d[l]=(f,...n)=>r.add(f)&&u().then(()=>d[l](f,...n))})({
          key: "YOUR_API_KEY",
          v: "weekly",
          // Use the 'v' parameter to indicate the version to use (weekly, beta, alpha, etc.).
          // Add other bootstrap parameters as needed, using camel case.
          });
      </script>
      
      <title>google_maps_in_flutter</title>
      <link rel="manifest" href="manifest.json">
    </head>

Step 5: Add a map

The following code demonstrates how to add a simple map to a new Flutter app.

Open the lib/main.dart file in your Flutter project with your preferred IDE.

Add or update methods in your app's default main method to create and initialize an instance of mapController.

      import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
      import 'package:google_maps_flutter/google_maps_flutter.dart';
      
      void main() => runApp(const MyApp());
      
      class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
        const MyApp({super.key});
      
        @override
        State<MyApp> createState() => _MyAppState();
      }
      
      class _MyAppState extends State<MyApp> {
        late GoogleMapController mapController;
      
        final LatLng _center = const LatLng(-33.86, 151.20);
      
        void _onMapCreated(GoogleMapController controller) {
          mapController = controller;
        }
      
        @override
        Widget build(BuildContext context) {
          return MaterialApp(
            home: Scaffold(
              appBar: AppBar(
                title: const Text('Maps Sample App'),
                backgroundColor: Colors.green[700],
              ),
              body: GoogleMap(
                onMapCreated: _onMapCreated,
                initialCameraPosition: CameraPosition(
                  target: _center,
                  zoom: 11.0,
                ),
              ),
            ),
          );
        }
      }

Start any emulators or devices on which you want to run your application.

Run your application. You should see output resembling the following:

  flutter run

   
    Multiple devices found:
    Android phone (mobile) • emulator-5554 • android-arm64  • Android 13 (API 33) (emulator)
    iPhone (mobile)  • ios • com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-16-2 (simulator)
    Chrome (web) • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 108.0.5359.124
    [1]: Android phone
    [2]: iPhone
    [3]: Chrome
    
    Please choose one (To quit, press "q/Q"):

Type the number of the platform you want to run. Each time you invoke flutter run, Flutter will present you with these choices. If your development system has no emulator running or connected test device, Flutter should choose to open Chrome.

Each platform should display a map centered over Sydney, Australia. If you didn't see the map, check that you added your API key to the appropriate target project.

Next steps

Now that you have an API key and a Flutter project, you can create and run apps. The Google Maps for Flutter package provides many tutorials and sample apps that can help you get started. To learn more, check out the following resources:

Adding a Map with a Marker tutorial
Codelabs for Flutter with Google Maps Platform
Code samples on GitHub

Set up a Flutter Project Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

AI-generated Key Takeaways

Step 1: Install the required software

Step 2: Install the Google Maps for Flutter package in a new project

Step 3: Set the platform version

Android

iOS

Step 4: Add your API key to the project

Android

Kotlin

Groovy

Kotlin

Groovy

Kotlin

Groovy

iOS

Web

Step 5: Add a map

Next steps

Set up a Flutter Project