Get Started

This guide walks you through the first steps to build apps with the HERE SDK. The HERE SDK is tailored to bring the best and freshest assets from the HERE platform to your mobile applications.

Before you begin, make sure you have read the following:

• About this Edition
• Minimum Requirements
• Supported Devices

In order to start development, you need to get the HERE SDK package:

Get Your Credentials

The HERE SDK for Android requires two strings to authenticate your app:

• ACCESS KEY ID: A unique ID for your account.
• ACCESS KEY SECRET: A secret key, which is shown only once after creation time. Please make sure to note it down before leaving developer.here.com.

No other credentials or tokens are needed to use the HERE SDK. You can register and manage your app as described in the Identity & Access Management guide.

When you obtain your credentials, also an APP ID is generated. This ID is not consumed by the HERE SDK, but it is recommended to mention it when contacting the HERE support team.

To obtain your personal ACCESS KEY ID (access_key_id) and ACCESS KEY SECRET (access_key_secret), do the following:

See also the below section Authenticating Applications to learn more details on how to set the credentials for an app.

Try the Example Apps

The easiest way to get started, is to try one of the many example projects that are available for the HERE SDK.

Choose an example of your choice, then:

1. Add the HERE SDK framework to the app's libs folder.
2. Add your HERE credentials (access_key_id and access_key_secret) to the AndroidManifest.xml file.

Now you are ready to open the project with Android Studio and you can instantly execute the app on your device or simulator.

Feel free to experiment with the code of the examples. You can also follow the below guide to get a more thorough introduction on how to develop apps with the HERE SDK.

Create a New Android Project

As a very first step-by-step example, we will develop a "Hello Map" Android application that shows - yes! - a map. If you want to integrate the SDK into an existing application, you can skip this step. No specific SDK code is involved here. We recommend using Android Studio as the IDE. If you are new to Android development, please follow the guides on developer.android.com to help you get started with the first steps.

Start Android Studio (for this guide, we have used version Arctic Fox | 2020.3.1 Patch 3) and create a new project by selecting:

• Start a new Android Studio Project.
• Choose Phone and Tablet, select Empty Activity and click Next.
• Provide a project name, e.g. "HelloMap" and select Java or Kotlin as the language. For the example below, we have chosen Java.
• Next to "Minimum API level", set API 21 as the minimum Android SDK.
• Make sure an appropriate directory is chosen in "Save location" and click Finish to continue.

We recommend to use AndroidX support libaries. If not done already, in Android Studio click Refactor -> Migrate to AndroidX.

Once the wizard finishes, make sure to build the plain project and execute it on an emulator (or on a device). If all goes well, you should see the "Hello World" text.

Say Hello Map!

Once we have a working Android application, it's time to include the HERE SDK and to show a map on your emulator or device. Here's an overview of the next steps:

1. Adapt your gradle script to integrate the HERE SDK.
2. Set required credentials and permissions to your manifest file.
3. Add a map view to your main activity's layout file.
4. Add the code to load your first map scene.

Note: While all of the functionalities of the HERE SDK are accessible from the emulator, usage of a real device is strongly recommended. The overall performance will be better, and some features like gestures are just easier to use on multi-touch enabled hardware. The rendering of the map view is optimized for mobile device GPUs.

Let's begin with the first step to see how we can add the HERE SDK to our project.

Integrate the HERE SDK

On developer.here.com you can find the latest release artifacts including the HERE SDK framework archive to include in your application (named xx.yy.zz.release_date).

Copy the HERE SDK AAR file (*.aar) to your application's app/libs folder.

Since the HERE SDK encourages the use of Lambda expressions, Java 8 or newer is required. Add the following inside the android closure of the app level's build.gradle file to desugar the output of the javac compiler:

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }

Note that this is usually added by default when you create a new Android Studio project. If it is not added, please add it manually.

Then extend the dependencies closure in the same build.gradle file to make sure *.aar files are included, by adding the following:

implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar', '*.aar'])

Now it's time to click the Sync button ("Sync Project with Gradle Files") to integrate the SDK.

Set Your HERE Credentials

When using the HERE SDK, your application must be authenticated with a set of credentials you add to the AndroidManifest.xml file of your project.

Once you have your credentials at hand, add your set of credentials inside the application element in AndroidManifest.xml:

<meta-data android:name="com.here.sdk.access_key_id" android:value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID" />
<meta-data android:name="com.here.sdk.access_key_secret" android:value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET" />

Note: The credentials are not tied to the package name or the application ID of your app, but to the account used to obtain the credentials. This makes it possible to use the same set of credentials for multiple apps.

Tip: Alternatively, you can set your credentials programmatically, for example, if you don't want to hardcode your credentials in the manifest for security reasons.

Handle Android Permissions

The HERE SDK for Android automatically merges all required permissions to the AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

Optionally, in AndroidManifest.xml, you can add inside the top-level manifest element the above permissions to be explicit about the requirements.

However, a user can deny any permission after installation via the device's app settings. Therefore it is recommended to add permission handling to your app to notify the user upon app launch.

The accompanying example apps show how this can be done utilizing a convenience class to keep you away from the boiler plate code. Of course, you can handle the permissions for your own application in a different way - or even decide to omit it: Note that if no internet connection is available, most HERE SDK services will indicate this with an appropriate error message.

Add the Map View

Now that we have the SDK integrated into the project and added the required permissions and credentials, we can add a new MapView instance.

Open the layout file of the MainActivity (usually named activity_main.xml) and remove the "Hello World" TextView (assuming you followed Android Studio's wizard). By default, it created a ConstraintLayout where we can place the map view. Any other layout parent will suit too. Add the following piece of code:

<com.here.sdk.mapview.MapView
   android:id="@+id/map_view"
   android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="match_parent">
</com.here.sdk.mapview.MapView>

A ConstraintLayout has the advantage that it offers a flat view hierarchy and it works well with Android Studio's Layout Editor, but this is all up to you. The SDK's MapView behaves exactly as you would expect from any other Android View.

Apparently, we create the map view from our layout file. We need to also initialize it; to do this, update the onCreate() method in your MainActivity (or any other Activity where you want to show a map view) so that it looks like the following:

private MapView mapView;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    // Get a MapView instance from the layout.
    mapView = findViewById(R.id.map_view);
    mapView.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
}

You will get an error about MapView being an unresolved symbol, so use the auto completion hotkey to add com.here.sdk.mapview.MapView to your imports list, or add it manually.

Note: It is important to call mapView.onCreate() to perform additional initialization tasks. Otherwise the map will not be rendered. Note that multiple MapView instances can be created and rendered together on one screen as part of the same layout.

Knowning When the Map is Ready

The HERE Rendering Engine will be attached each time after onResume() is called. The OnReadyListener tells you once this happens:

mapView.setOnReadyListener(new MapView.OnReadyListener() {
    @Override
    public void onMapViewReady() {
        // This will be called each time after this activity is resumed.
        // It will not be called before the first map scene was loaded.
        // Any code that requires map data may not work as expected beforehand.
        Log.d(TAG, "HERE Rendering Engine attached.");
    }
});

Most often, you may not need to wait for this event. For example, map items can be added any time. Once the HERE Rendering Engine is attached, the map will become visible. Only code - such as picking map items from the map view - that requires map data should wait for this event to ensure that you will get the expected results.

Load a Map Scene

Before we can see any map on the device's screen, we need to decide how the map data should be rendered. Therefore, we need to asynchronously load a scene that allows us to customize the look of the map. When we load a scene, it will use one of the default map styles the SDK is shipped with.

Loading a map scene can be done from your MainActivity class by adding few lines of code. For example, add the following method and call it when the activity has been created and all requested Android permissions are granted:

private void loadMapScene() {
    // Load a scene from the HERE SDK to render the map with a map scheme.
    mapView.getMapScene().loadScene(MapScheme.NORMAL_DAY, new MapScene.LoadSceneCallback() {
        @Override
        public void onLoadScene(@Nullable MapError mapError) {
            if (mapError == null) {
                double distanceInMeters = 1000 * 10;
                mapView.getCamera().lookAt(
                        new GeoCoordinates(52.530932, 13.384915), distanceInMeters);
            } else {
                Log.d(TAG, "Loading map failed: mapError: " + mapError.name());
            }
        }
    });
}

Again, as in onCreate(), you will have to resolve the unresolved packages after adding the above code.

Call loadMapScene() from within onCreate() - or like shown in the example apps - once the Android permissions are granted:

...
loadMapScene();
...

As for most callbacks available in the HERE SDK, onLoadScene() is called on the main thread when loading the scene is done. If MapError is not null, it will indicate what went wrong.

From the MapView, we can then access the Camera to set some custom map parameters like the location we want the map centered on, and a zoom level which is specified by the camera's distance to earth. You can configure the Camera as soon as you have a MapView instance available. However, you will see the changes only taking effect after onLoadScene() has finished. In general, it is recommended to wait with map manipulations until the scene has loaded. For example, camera operations may be enqueued until the scene is loaded, while other operations simply may have no effect without a map scene.

As an exercise, you can try to replace the above map style with the following: MapScheme.SATELLITE. What do you get? Try out also other map schemes, like the normal night scheme.

Lastly, make sure to clean up when the activity lifetime ends: The HERE SDK for Android provides the mapView.onDestroy() method to safely release all of its remaining resources. Additionally, it is recommended to pause rendering the map view when the Activity is paused:

@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
    mapView.onPause();
}

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    mapView.onResume();
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    mapView.onDestroy();
}

Now it's time to build and run the app. If all goes well, you should see a HERE map covering the whole area of the view. Congratulations, you have just mastered your first steps in using the HERE SDK for Android. Thank you!

Video Tutorials

Follow the HERE team in a live coding series recorded for Twitch and now available on YouTube:

The following live coding topics are available:

• Getting started with the HERE SDK.
• Load custom and default map styles.
• Enable a night viewing mode.
• Use the map's camera features.
• Draw map markers, circles, and polylines onto the map.
• Calculate routes and show them on the map.

Troubleshooting

When you run into trouble, please make sure to first check the minimum requirements and the supported devices.

• I see only a blank white map: Make sure that your HERE credentials are valid and set as described in the Get Started section above. Also, make sure that your device is able to make an internet connection. With slower internet connections, it may take a while until you see the first map tiles loaded.
• In the logs I see "No map content will be displayed until valid config is provided.": Make sure that your code is really calling loadScene().
• The app crashes and in the logs I see "CL_magma - Couldn't load the default shader.": Your device must support OpenGL ES 3.0. If you are running a simulator, edit your emulator settings via Settings -> Advanced -> OpenGL ES API level. If it is set to "Autoselect", try to change it to "Renderer Maximum". This happens mostly on Windows machines.
• I am unable to resolve dependency for ':app@debug/compileClasspath': Could not find :heresdk-YOUR_SDK_VERSION: Make sure that your HERE SDK AAR matches the name in your application's build gradle file. Note: This is only needed, if you reference the version explicitly. If you follow the steps above, you don't have to do that as we use *.aar as wildcard to match any version.
• I get the error "License for package Android SDK Platform not accepted." or similar: Make sure you have accepted all Android licenses, for example by installing the required tools and clicking the license button or by calling cd /d "%ANDROID_SDK_ROOT%/tools/bin" and sdkmanager --licenses from your terminal.
• I am seeing the following in a crash log: "Exception was thrown in Java and it was not handled.": The HERE SDK cannot handle runtime exceptions that are thrown on app side inside a callback. In such a case you will see this error log. It means that your code throws an exception in one of the HERE SDK callbacks that are handled by your application.

Need Help?

If you need assistance with this or any other HERE product, select one of the following options.

• If you have a HERE representative, contact them when you have questions/issues.
• If you manage your applications and accounts through developer.here.com, log into your account and check the pages on the SLA report.
• If you have more questions, please check stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/here-api.
• If you have questions about billing, your account, or anything else Contact Us.
• If you have purchased your plan/product from a HERE reseller, contact your reseller.