Skip to main content

What's Nearby

Last updated: April 24, 2026 | 6 minutes read

This example demonstrates how to use GEMKit in a UIKit application to perform searches for nearby landmarks around a specific location.

Check the full implementation on GitHub.

info

SearchContext settings and parameters showcased in the other examples, such as category and query, can also be applied in this scenario to further refine the search results.

Landmark Selected
Search Around the Landmark

Map Integration and Search Around Button​

The following code outlines the map view integration with the basic selection methods and the search around button in the navigation bar:

ViewController.swiftView on GitHub
class ViewController: UIViewController, MapViewControllerDelegate {

    var mapViewController: MapViewController?
    var landmark: LandmarkObject?
    
    let searchContext = SearchContext.init()
    
    let label = UILabel.init()
    
    let defaultHighlightId: Int32 = 10

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view.

        if let navigationController = self.navigationController {

            let appearance = navigationController.navigationBar.standardAppearance

            navigationController.navigationBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
        }

        self.createMapView()
        self.mapViewController!.startRender()
        self.mapViewController!.delegate = self

        self.addLabelText()

        self.addSearch()
    }
    
    override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
        
        super.viewDidAppear(animated)

        let location = CoordinatesObject.coordinates(withLatitude: 52.368447, longitude: 4.888229)

        self.mapViewController!.center(onCoordinates: location, zoomLevel: 70, animationDuration: 0)
    }

    // MARK: - Map View

    func createMapView() {

        self.mapViewController = MapViewController.init()
        self.mapViewController!.view.backgroundColor = UIColor.systemBackground

        self.addChild(self.mapViewController!)
        self.view.addSubview(self.mapViewController!.view)
        self.mapViewController!.didMove(toParent: self)

        self.mapViewController?.view.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            self.mapViewController!.view.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.topAnchor),
            self.mapViewController!.view.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.leadingAnchor),
            self.mapViewController!.view.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.bottomAnchor),
            self.mapViewController!.view.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.trailingAnchor)
        ])
    }
    
    // MARK: - Label

    func addLabelText() {

        self.label.adjustsFontSizeToFitWidth = true
        self.label.font = UIFont.boldSystemFont(ofSize: 20)
        self.label.numberOfLines = 0
        self.label.backgroundColor = UIColor.systemBackground
        self.label.isHidden = false
        self.label.textAlignment = .center

        self.label.layer.borderColor = UIColor.systemBlue.cgColor
        self.label.layer.borderWidth = 1.4
        self.label.layer.cornerRadius = 8.0
        self.label.layer.masksToBounds = true
        
        self.label.text = "Select a point on the map and tap the button in the top right to search around it"

        self.view.addSubview(self.label)

        self.label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            self.label.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.leadingAnchor, constant: 10),
            self.label.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.trailingAnchor, constant: -10),
            self.label.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.safeAreaLayoutGuide.bottomAnchor, constant: -10),
            self.label.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 70)
        ])
    }
    
    // MARK: - MapViewControllerDelegate

    func mapViewController(_ mapViewController: MapViewController, didSelectLandmarks landmarks: [LandmarkObject], onTouch point: CGPoint) {

        guard let landmark = landmarks.first else { return }

        self.processSelection(landmark: landmark)
    }

    func mapViewController(
        _ mapViewController: MapViewController, didSelectLandmarks landmarks: [LandmarkObject], onLongTouch point: CGPoint
    ) {

        guard let landmark = landmarks.first else { return }

        self.processSelection(landmark: landmark)
    }

    func mapViewController(_ mapViewController: MapViewController, didSelectStreets streets: [LandmarkObject], onTouch point: CGPoint) {

        guard let landmark = streets.first else { return }

        self.processSelection(landmark: landmark)
    }

    func mapViewController(_ mapViewController: MapViewController, didSelectStreets streets: [LandmarkObject], onLongTouch point: CGPoint) {

        guard let landmark = streets.first else { return }

        self.processSelection(landmark: landmark)
    }

    // MARK: - Search

    func addSearch() {

        let image1 = UIImage.init(systemName: "clear")
        let image2 = UIImage.init(systemName: "mappin.and.ellipse")

        let barButton1 = UIBarButtonItem.init(image: image1, style: .done, target: self, action: #selector(cleanMap))
        let barButton2 = UIBarButtonItem.init(image: image2, style: .done, target: self, action: #selector(searchNearbyButton))
        
        self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItems = [barButton1]
        self.navigationItem.rightBarButtonItems = [barButton2]
    }

Performing Search and Helper Methods​

The code for performing the search for nearby landmarks around the selected landmark, as well as helper methods to process landmark selection and clean the map:

ViewController.swiftView on GitHub
    @objc func searchNearbyButton() {
        
        guard let landmark = self.landmark else { return }
        
        self.searchContext.searchAround(withLocation: landmark.getCoordinates()) { [weak self] (results: [LandmarkObject]) in
                
                guard let strongSelf = self else { return }
                
                strongSelf.mapViewController!.removeHighlights()
                
                let settings = HighlightRenderSettings.init()
                settings.options = Int32(HighlightOption.group.rawValue)
                settings.showPin = true
                settings.imageSize = 7
                
                strongSelf.mapViewController!.presentHighlights(results, settings: settings, highlightId: strongSelf.defaultHighlightId)
                
                strongSelf.centerOnHighlightArea()
            }
    }
    
    // MARK: - Utils

    func showLandmark(landmark: LandmarkObject) {

        let text = "  " + landmark.getLandmarkName() + "\n" + "  " + landmark.getLandmarkDescription()

        self.label.text = text
        self.label.isHidden = false

        let settings = HighlightRenderSettings.init()
        settings.showPin = true

        self.mapViewController!.presentHighlights([landmark], settings: settings, highlightId: self.defaultHighlightId)
    }

    func processSelection(landmark: LandmarkObject) {

        self.cleanMap()
        
        self.landmark = landmark
        self.showLandmark(landmark: landmark)
    }

    @objc func cleanMap() {

        self.mapViewController!.removeHighlights()
        
        self.landmark = nil
        self.label.text = "Select a point on the map and tap the button in the top right to search around it"
    }
    
    func centerOnHighlightArea() {
        let list = self.mapViewController!.getHighlight(self.defaultHighlightId)
        guard !list.isEmpty else { return }
        guard let area = self.mapViewController!.getHighlightArea(self.defaultHighlightId) else { return }
        
        self.mapViewController!.center(onArea: area, zoomLevel: -1, animationDuration: 1200)
    }
}
Last updated on