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Installation

Before starting to develop your application with the Maps SDK, you'll need to configure your credentials and add the SDK as a dependency to your project.

This document describes the steps to install the latest stable version of the Maps SDK.

Configure credentials

Before installing the SDK, you will need to gather the appropriate credentials.

The SDK requires two pieces of sensitive information from your Mapbox account (or sign up to create one):

  • A public access token: From your account's tokens page, you can either copy your default public token or click the Create a token button to create a new public token.
  • A secret access token with the Downloads:Read scope.
    1. From your account's tokens page, click the Create a token button.
    2. From the token creation page, give your token a name and make sure the box next to the Downloads:Read scope is checked.
    3. Click the Create token button at the bottom of the page to create your token.
    4. The token you've created is a secret token, which means you will only have one opportunity to copy it somewhere secure.

You should not expose these access tokens in publicly-accessible source code where unauthorized users might find them. Instead, you should store them somewhere safe on your computer and take advantage of Gradle properties to make sure they're only added when your app is compiled (see next section).

Configure your secret token

To avoid exposing your secret token, add it as an environment variable:

  1. Find or create a gradle.properties file in your Gradle user home folder. The folder is located at «USER_HOME»/.gradle. Once you have found or created the file, its path should be «USER_HOME»/.gradle/gradle.properties. More details about Gradle properties in the official Gradle documentation.
  2. Add your secret token your gradle.properties file:
MAPBOX_DOWNLOADS_TOKEN=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN

Configure your public token

The SDK supports multiple ways of providing an access token: through app resources or by setting it at runtime.

Resources

One way to provide your public token to Mapbox SDK is by adding it as an Android string resource.

To do so create a new string resource file in your app module (e.g. app/src/main/res/values/developer-config.xml) with your public Mapbox API token:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<string name="mapbox_access_token" translatable="false" tools:ignore="UnusedResources">YOUR_PUBLIC_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN</string>
</resources>

In this case, if you want to rotate an access token, you'll need to re-release your app. For more information on access token rotation, consult the Access Tokens Information page.

Runtime

Another way to provide a token is to do it at runtime with this code:

MapboxOptions.accessToken = YOUR_PUBLIC_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN

You will find this option helpful in case you want to rotate your tokens at runtime or want to receive the token from your backend instead of storing it in your apk.

Note that you must set a valid token before any interaction with the SDK, including its initialization, otherwise the SDK will not be able to use your token.

For example, in case of Navigation SDK, first set the token and only then initialize it.

In case of Maps SDK, set the token before inflating the MapView (may be a setContentView invocation in your Activity#onCreate).

But once you change the token at runtime, the new one will be used by all the SDKs from that point on.

For example, if you have a long-living app and want to rotate the token every 48 hours, here is a possible approach you might want to consider:

  1. On the first app start make a network request to your backend for a token.
  2. When you receive a token, load the Navigation component in your app that will instantiate the Navigation SDK, inflate the MapView, etc.
  3. Store the token in your app files.
  4. On the next app launch you can read the token from file.
  1. If it's not available (for example, app data was cleared), make another request to your backend and delay loading the Navigation component.
  1. Every 48 hours make a request to your backend to check the token.
  2. If the token changed, at any point in your app's lifecycle invoke:
MapboxOptions.accessToken = YOUR_NEW_PUBLIC_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN

From this moment on it will be used by all the Mapbox SDKs.

  1. Store the new token in your app's directory.

For information on how you can create a new value for your token, consult the Access Tokens Information Page.

Configure permissions

If you plan to display the user's location on the map or get the user's location information you will need to add the ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permission in your application's AndroidManifest.xml. You also need to add ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permissions if you need access to precise location. You can check whether the user has granted location permission and request permissions if the user hasn't granted them yet using the PermissionsManager.

<manifest ... >
<!-- Always include this permission -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />

<!-- Include only if your app benefits from precise location access. -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
</manifest>
guide
Access token best practices

Learn how to keep access tokens private in mobile apps.

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Add the dependency

Mapbox provides the Maps SDK via Maven.

To add the Mapbox Maps SDK as a dependency, you will need to configure your build to download the Maps SDK from Mapbox maven repository directly. This requires a valid username and password (see section Configure credentials).

  1. Open your project in Android Studio.

  2. Declare the Mapbox remote repository.

    Access to the Mapbox repository requires a valid username and password. In the previous section, you added the password to your gradle.properties file (see section Configure credentials). The username field should always be "mapbox".

    By default, new Android Studio projects specify Maven repositories locations in the project's settings.gradle file:

    • Open your top level settings.gradle.kts file and add a new maven {...} definition inside the dependencyResolutionManagement.repositories:
 
dependencyResolutionManagement {
 
repositoriesMode.set(RepositoriesMode.FAIL_ON_PROJECT_REPOS)
 
repositories {
 
google()
 
mavenCentral()
 
// Mapbox Maven repository
 
maven {
 
url = uri("https://api.mapbox.com/downloads/v2/releases/maven")
 
// Do not change the username below. It should always be "mapbox" (not your username).
 
credentials.username = "mapbox"
 
// Use the secret token stored in gradle.properties as the password
 
credentials.password = providers.gradleProperty("MAPBOX_DOWNLOADS_TOKEN").get()
 
authentication.create<BasicAuthentication>("basic")
 
}
 
}
 
}
  1. Open up your module-level (for example app/build.gradle.kts) Gradle configuration file and make sure that your project's minSdk is 21 or higher:
android {
...
defaultConfig {
minSdk = 21
...
}
}
  1. Add the Mapbox SDK for Android dependency in your module-level (for example app/build.gradle.kts) Gradle configuration file:
dependencies {
...
implementation("com.mapbox.maps:android:11.2.1")
// If you're using compose also add the compose extension
// implementation("com.mapbox.extension:maps-compose:11.2.1")
...
}
  1. Because you've edited your Gradle files, run Sync Project with Gradle Files in Android Studio.

Note: You might have conflicting transitive dependencies. If necessary, you can use exclude group to remove certain dependencies (see Exclude transitive dependencies)

Add a map

You can add a map view to your application using Jetpack Compose or layouts in views (using XML or instantiate at runtime).

Jetpack Compose

This is an experimental API
The Mapbox Maps Jetpack Compose extension APIs are experimental and may still undergo some change. We encourage you try them out and send us feedback.

You can use Mapbox Maps compose extension to add a map to your composable:

 
package com.mapbox.maps.demo
 

 
import android.os.Bundle
 
import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
 
import androidx.activity.compose.setContent
 
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
 
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
 
import com.mapbox.geojson.Point
 
import com.mapbox.maps.MapboxExperimental
 
import com.mapbox.maps.extension.compose.MapboxMap
 
import com.mapbox.maps.extension.compose.animation.viewport.MapViewportState
 

 
@OptIn(MapboxExperimental::class)
 
public class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
 
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
 
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
 
setContent {
 
MapboxMap(
 
Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
 
mapViewportState = MapViewportState().apply {
 
setCameraOptions {
 
zoom(2.0)
 
center(Point.fromLngLat(-98.0, 39.5))
 
pitch(0.0)
 
bearing(0.0)
 
}
 
},
 
)
 
}
 
}
 
}

XML Layout

Open the activity's XML layout file and add the com.mapbox.maps.MapView element inside your layout:

<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<com.mapbox.maps.MapView
android:id="@+id/mapView"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
app:mapbox_cameraTargetLat="39.5"
app:mapbox_cameraTargetLng="-98.0"
app:mapbox_cameraZoom="2.0"
app:mapbox_cameraPitch="0.0"
app:mapbox_cameraBearing="0.0" />

</FrameLayout>

Runtime Layout

Open the activity you'd like to add a map to and use the code below:

 
package com.mapbox.maps.demo
 

 
import android.os.Bundle
 
import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
 
import com.mapbox.geojson.Point
 
import com.mapbox.maps.CameraOptions
 
import com.mapbox.maps.MapView
 

 
class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
 
private lateinit var mapView: MapView
 

 
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
 
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
 
// Create a map programmatically and set the initial camera
 
mapView = MapView(this)
 
mapView.mapboxMap.setCamera(
 
CameraOptions.Builder()
 
.center(Point.fromLngLat(-98.0, 39.5))
 
.pitch(0.0)
 
.zoom(2.0)
 
.bearing(0.0)
 
.build()
 
)
 
// Add the map view to the activity (you can also add it to other views as a child)
 
setContentView(mapView)
 
}
 
}
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