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Harness and Section forms - displaying location as a static map image

Using the Google Static Maps API facilitates showing an address or longitude/latitude coordinates as a static map image containing a pin with the location. This allows users to display a geographical location visually in an application, for instance, when offline. To accomplish this, invoke the pyFetchStaticMap activity with a set of parameters.

Activating Static Maps API in Google API Console

The Static Maps API uses an API key to identify your application. API keys are managed through the Google APIs Console. To create a key:

  1. Access the Google Developer Console and log in to your account.
  2. Click the Services link from the left-hand menu in the APIs Console, then activate the Static Maps API service.
  3. Once the service has been activated, your API key is available from the API Access page, in the Simple API Access section. Static Maps API applications use the Key for browser apps.

The above steps partially apply to a third-party resource (the Google Developer Console) and are accurate as of the publication of this article. Refer to the official Google Developer documentation for Obtaining an API Key for additional assistance with this process.

Showing a location as a static map image

The pyFetchStaticMap activity populates any property with a Base64 image data representing the map and uses that property as an image source with the Icon /Image control. The use cases for pyFetchStaticMap are unlimited since it can be called from any other activity. Some of its most common use cases are outlined below - when you want to:

The following steps describe a user case calling the pyFetchStaticMap activity from a post-load processing activity of a data page. Step 1 is always performed no matter the context.

  1. Define an image (the Icon/Image control), for instance, in a section. It will represent the target property where the static Google map with the address location will be saved and displayed.
  2. Create a post-load processing activity for a data page.
  3. In the Steps tab invoke the pyFetchStaticMap activity by entering Call pyFetchStaticMap in the Method field.
  4. Make sure to define a step page context.
  5. Expand and enter values for the method's parameters.

pyFetchStaticMap activity parameters

When invoking the pyFetchStaticMap method, the following are its parameters, some of which are required:

Name

Description
targetProperty

Required. Defines target property where the static Google map image with location is to be saved. The entered value must be in double quotes. The format should be Text. The map image data is saved in Base64 format in this property.
markerAddress

Required. A property which references a longitude/latitude coordinates or a human-readable geographical address of the location to be displayed in the static map, for instance, "40.689249, -74.044516" or "Statue of Liberty, Liberty Island, Brooklyn, NY 11231, USA".

width

Required. The width of the image in pixels, for instance, 300.
height

Required. The height of the image in pixels., for instance, 100.
zoomLevel

Specifies the zoom level on the map. Only values between 0 and 21 (inclusive) are permitted. The default value is 15.
mapType

Defines the type of Google map to display:

  • roadmap (default)
  • satellite
  • hybrid
  • terrain
imageType

Defines the type of image to use:

  • GIF
  • JPEG
  • PNG (default)

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