Display a map

Learn how to create and display a map with a basemap layer.

display a map

A map contains layers of geographic data. A map contains a basemap layer and, optionally, one or more data layers. You can display a specific area of a map by using a map view and setting the location and zoom level.

In this tutorial, you create and display a map of the Santa Monica Mountains in California using the topographic basemap layer.

The map and code will be used as the starting point for other 2D tutorials.

Prerequisites

The following are required for this tutorial:

  1. An ArcGIS account to access API keys. If you don't have an account, sign up for free.
  2. A development and deployment environment that meets the system requirements.
  3. An IDE for Android development in Kotlin.

Steps

Create a new Android Studio project

Use Android Studio to create an app and configure it to reference the API.

  1. Open Android Studio.

    • In the menu bar, click File > New > New Project....
    • In the Create New Project window, make sure Phone and Tablet tab is selected, and then select Empty Activity. Click Next.
    • In the Configure your project window, set the following configuration options:
      • Name: Display a map.
      • Package name: Change to com.example.app. Or change to match your organization.
      • Save location: Set to a new folder.
      • Language: Kotlin
      • Minimum SDK: API 26: Android 8.0 (O)
  2. In the Project tool window, make sure that your current view is Android. These tutorial instructions refer to that view.

    If your view name is something other than Android (such as Project or Packages), click on the leftmost control in the title bar of the Project tool window, and select Android from the list.

    Android view in Project tool window

  3. From the Project tool window, open Gradle Scripts > build.gradle (Project: Display_a_map). Replace the contents of the file with the following code:

    build.gradle (Project: Display_a_map)
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    // Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.
    plugins {
        id 'com.android.application' version '7.3.1' apply false
        id 'com.android.library' version '7.3.1' apply false
        id 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.android' version '1.7.20' apply false
    }
    
    task clean(type: Delete) {
        delete rootProject.buildDir
    }
  4. From the Project tool window, open Gradle Scripts > build.gradle (Module: Display_a_map.app). Expand the code block below, and replace the contents of the file with the expanded code:

    build.gradle (Module: app)
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    plugins {
        id 'com.android.application'
        id 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.android'
    }
    
    android {
        compileSdk 33
    
        defaultConfig {
            applicationId "com.example.app"
    
    Expand
  5. From the Project tool window, open Gradle Scripts > settings.gradle. Expand the code block below, and replace the contents of the file with the expanded code:

    settings.gradle (Display a map)
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    pluginManagement {
        repositories {
            gradlePluginPortal()
            google()
            mavenCentral()
        }
    }
    
    dependencyResolutionManagement {
        repositoriesMode.set(RepositoriesMode.FAIL_ON_PROJECT_REPOS)
    
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  6. Sync the Gradle changes. Click the Sync now prompt or click the refresh icon (Sync Project with Gradle Files) in the toolbar. This may take several minutes.

  7. From the Project tool window, open app > manifests > AndroidManifest.xml. Update the Android manifest to allow internet access.

    Insert these new elements within the manifest element. Do not alter or remove any other statements.

    Depending on what ArcGIS functionality you add in future tutorials, it is likely you will need to add additional permissions to your manifest.

    AndroidManifest.xml
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    <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    
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Add import statements

Open app > java > com.example.app MainActivity.kt, and add import statements to reference the API.

MainActivity.kt
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package com.example.app

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.util.Log
import android.widget.Toast
import androidx.databinding.DataBindingUtil
import com.arcgismaps.ApiKey
import com.arcgismaps.ArcGISEnvironment
import com.arcgismaps.mapping.ArcGISMap
import com.arcgismaps.mapping.BasemapStyle
import com.arcgismaps.mapping.Viewpoint
import com.arcgismaps.mapping.view.MapView
import com.example.app.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

Add a UI for the map view

A map view is a UI component that displays a map. It also handles user interactions with the map, including navigating with touch gestures. Use XML to add a map view to the UI and make it available to the main activity source code.

  1. In app > res > layout > activity_main.xml, replace the entire TextView element with a MapView element.

    If you do not see the XML code, select the Code tab to switch out of design mode and display the XML code in the editor.

    Your MapView element creates an instance of the MapView class from the ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin.

    In your main activity source code, you can access that MapView instance using an implicit property, which is declared in the value of the android:id attribute. In this case, the property will be named mapView.

    activity_main.xml
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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    
        <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            tools:context=".MainActivity">
    
            <com.arcgismaps.mapping.view.MapView
                android:id="@+id/mapView"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent" />
    
        </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>
    </layout>
  2. In MainActivity.kt, create a lazy property named activityMainBinding. Use the Android class DataBindingUtil to set the content view of the main activity to the given layout.

    MainActivity.kt
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    class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    
        private val activityMainBinding: ActivityMainBinding by lazy {
            DataBindingUtil.setContentView(this, R.layout.activity_main)
        }
    
    
    Expand
  3. Create a lazy property named mapView and bind it to the mapView specified in activity_main.xml.

    MainActivity.kt
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    class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    
        private val activityMainBinding: ActivityMainBinding by lazy {
            DataBindingUtil.setContentView(this, R.layout.activity_main)
        }
    
        private val mapView: MapView by lazy {
            activityMainBinding.mapView
        }
    
    Expand

Add a map

Use the map view to display a map centered on the Santa Monica Mountains in California. The map will contain a topographic basemap layer.

  1. In MainActivity.kt, add a new setupMap() method in your MainActivity class. In the method, create an ArcGISMap.

    Configure ArcGISMap using a specific basemap style named BasemapStyle.ArcGISTopographic.

    MainActivity.kt
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        private fun setupMap() {
    
            val map = ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ArcGISTopographic)
    
        }
    
    Expand
  2. Set the map property of mapView to the new ArcGISMap. Then create a Viewpoint and add it to the mapView.

    MainActivity.kt
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        private fun setupMap() {
    
            val map = ArcGISMap(BasemapStyle.ArcGISTopographic)
    
            // set the map to be displayed in the layout's MapView
            mapView.map = map
    
            mapView.setViewpoint(Viewpoint(34.0270, -118.8050, 72000.0))
    
        }
    
    Expand
  3. In the onCreate() method, look for the code setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) and, if found, delete it.

    If you used Android Studio's New Project wizard, it may have written setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) in the onCreate() lifecycle function. You should delete that code. In its place, you will use the lazy property activityMainBinding, which you declared in an earlier step.

  4. In the onCreate() method, call lifecycle.addObserver() and pass the map view. Then call setupMap(), the function you defined in the previous steps.

    MainActivity.kt
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        override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    
            lifecycle.addObserver(mapView)
    
            setupMap()
    
    
        }
    
    Expand

Set your API key

An API Key enables access to services, web maps, and web scenes hosted in ArcGIS Online.

  1. Go to your developer dashboard to get your API key. For these tutorials, use your default API key. It is scoped to include all of the services demonstrated in the tutorials.

  2. Create the setApiKey() method, where you will set the ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey​ property by calling ApiKey.create() and passing your API key as a string. Don't forget the quotes.

    MainActivity.kt
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        private fun setApiKey() {
            // It is not best practice to store API keys in source code. We have you insert one here
            // to streamline this tutorial.
    
            ArcGISEnvironment.apiKey = ApiKey.create("YOUR_API_KEY")
    
        }
    
    Expand
  3. Call setApiKey() in the onCreate() lifecycle method, before the setupMap() call.

    MainActivity.kt
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        override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    
            lifecycle.addObserver(mapView)
    
            setApiKey()
    
            setupMap()
    
    
        }
    
    Expand

Add error message (optional)

  1. Create the showError() function, which displays the error in a Toast in the app UI and logs the error in Android Studio (visible in the Logcat tab).

    This initial tutorial (Display a map) is quite simple and does not call showError(). Many of the subsequent tutorials are based on Display a map and will need to call this function. Define it now for convenient use in those tutorials.

    MainActivity.kt
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        private fun showError(message: String) {
            Toast.makeText(applicationContext, message, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
            Log.e(localClassName, message)
        }
    
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Run your app

  1. Click Run > Run > app to run the app.

    In Android Studio, you have two choices for running your app: an actual Android device or the Android Emulator.

    Android device

    Connect your computer to your Android device, using USB or Wi-Fi. For more details, see How to connect your Android device.

    Android Emulator

    Create an AVD (Android Virtual Device) to run in the Android Emulator. For details, see Run apps on the Android Emulator.

    Selecting a device

    When you build and run an app in Android Studio, you must first select a device. From the Android Studio toolbar, you can access the drop-down list of your currently available devices, both virtual and physical.

    Drop-down for available devcies in Android Studio .

    If you cannot access the list on the toolbar, click Tools > Device Manager.

You should see a map with the topographic basemap layer centered on the Santa Monica Mountains in California. Pinch, drag, and double-tap the map view to explore the map.

What's next?

Learn how to use additional API features, ArcGIS location services, and ArcGIS tools in these tutorials:

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