Text Search

In this guide you will learn how to do a text search and select a result to be displayed on an interactive map.

Setup

First, get an API key token, see the Getting Started guide.

Prerequisites

It is required that you complete the Environment Setup - Flutter Examples guide before starting this guide.

Run the example

Start a terminal/command prompt and go to the text_search directory, within the flutter examples directory

Build and run the example:

Build and run

Note - the gem_kit directory containing the Maps SDK for Flutter should be in the plugins directory of the example, e.g. text_search/plugins/gem_kit - see the environment setup guide above.

Download project dependencies:

flutter upgrade

run the following terminal commands in the project directory, where the pubspec.yaml file is located:

flutter clean

flutter pub get

Run the example:

Web browser

flutter run

If such a question appears, select the chrome browser; in the above example, press 2.

Android

First, verify that the ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable is set to the root path of your android SDK.

In android/build.gradle add the maven {} block as shown, within the allprojects {} block, for both debug and release builds, without the line numbers, those are for reference:

allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
        maven {
           url "${rootDir}/../plugins/gem_kit/android/build"
        }
    }
}

in android/app/build.gradle within the android {} block, in the defaultConfig {} block, the android SDK version minSdkVersion must be set as shown below.

Additionally, for release builds, in android/app/build.gradle, within the android {} block, add the buildTypes {} block as shown:

android {
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.magiclane.gem_kit.examples.text_search"
        minSdkVersion 21
        targetSdkVersion flutter.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode flutterVersionCode.toInteger()
        versionName flutterVersionName
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            // TODO: Add your own signing config for the release build.
            // Signing with the debug keys for now, so `flutter run --release` works.
            minifyEnabled false
            shrinkResources false
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        }
    }
}

Then build the apk:

flutter build apk --debug

or

flutter build apk --release

the apk file is located in the build/app/outputs/apk/debug or build/app/outputs/apk/release subdirectory, for debug or release build respectively, within the current project directory, which is text_search in this case.

The apk file name is app-release.apk or app-debug.apk

You can copy the apk to an android device using adb, for example:

adb push app-release.apk sdcard

And then click on the apk in the file browser on the device to install and run it.

iOS

In the ios/Podfile configuration text file, at the top, set the minimum ios platform to 13 like this:

platform :ios, '13.0'

Run pod install in the [ios folder] ./ios/

Then go back to the repository root folder and type flutter build ios to build a Runner.app.

Type flutter run to build and run on an attached device.

You can open the <path/to>/ios/Runner.xcworkspace project in Xcode and execute and debug from there.

How it works

In the text_search project directory, there is a text file named pubspec.yaml which contains project configuration and dependencies. The most important lines from this file are shown here:

name: text_search
version: 1.0.0+1

environment:
  sdk: '>=3.0.5 <4.0.0'

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  gem_kit:
    path: plugins/gem_kit

# The following section is specific to Flutter packages.
flutter:
  uses-material-design: true

The project must have a name and version. The dependencies list the Flutter SDK, and the gem_kit, Maps for Flutter SDK.

The source code is in text_search/lib/main.dart

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/api/gem_landmark.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/api/gem_mapviewrendersettings.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/api/gem_routingservice.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/api/gem_sdksettings.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/api/gem_types.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/gem_kit_map_controller.dart';
import 'package:gem_kit/widget/gem_kit_map.dart';
import '../search_page.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const MaterialApp(
      debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,
      title: 'Search example',
      home: MyHomePage(),
    );
  }
}

class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyHomePage({super.key});

  @override
  State<MyHomePage> createState() => _MyHomePageState();
}

First, the dart material package is imported, followed by the gem_kit packages such as the map controller, which enables user input such as pan and zoom, the map package which draws the map, the landmark and routingservice packages for georeferencing locations on the map, and the settings package.

The map is in a widget which is the root of the application.

Setting the API key

class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  late GemMapController mapController;
  late SdkSettings _sdkSettings;
  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
  }

  Future<void> onMapCreated(GemMapController controller) async {
    mapController = controller;
    SdkSettings.create(mapController.mapId).then((value)
    {
      _sdkSettings = value;
      _sdkSettings.setAppAuthorization("YOUR_API_KEY_TOKEN");
    });
  }

The map is initialized with the map controller and the settings.

The string "YOUR_API_KEY_TOKEN" should be replaced with your actual API key token string.

Search

  // Custom method for navigating to search screen
  _onPressed(BuildContext context) async {
    // Taking the coordinates at the center of the screen as reference coordinates for search.
    final x = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width / 2;
    final y = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height / 2;
    final mapCoords = await mapController
    .transformScreenToWgs(XyType(x: x.toInt(), y: y.toInt()));

    // Navigating to search screen. The result will be the selected search result(Landmark)
    final result = await Navigator.push(
      context,
      MaterialPageRoute(
        builder: (context) => SearchPage(
          controller: mapController,
          coordinates: mapCoords!,
        ),
      ));

    // Creating a list of landmarks to highlight.
    LandmarkList landmarkList = await LandmarkList.create(mapController.mapId);

    // Adding the result to the landmark list.
    landmarkList.push_back(result);
    final coords = await result.getCoordinates();

    // Activating the highlight
    mapController.activateHighlight(landmarkList,
      renderSettings: RenderSettings());

    // Centering the map on the desired coordinates
    mapController.centerOnCoordinates(coords);
  }

This is the implementation behind the purple button which goes to the search page.

Also, a list of landmarks, landmarkList is created, based on the search results.

Once a search result is selected by clicking on it, its coordinates are obtained result.getCoordinates(); and then the map is centered on the search result, that is, its coordinates:

mapController.centerOnCoordinates(coords);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      body: Center(
      child: GemMap(
        onMapCreated: onMapCreated,
      ),
    ),
    floatingActionButtonLocation: FloatingActionButtonLocation.endTop,
    floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
      backgroundColor: Colors.deepPurple[900],
      onPressed: () => _onPressed(context),
      child: const Icon(Icons.search),
    ),
  );
  }
}

The purple button is added at the top right to go to the text search page.

The text search page source code is in text_search/lib/search_page.dart