On June 5th, we announced Places UI Kit as a low-code and cost-effective way to bring Google’s fresh and comprehensive location details for 250 million places to any map of your choice. Today we are excited to announce the General Availability of two additional Places UI Kit components: Place Search and Autocomplete, building on the launch of the Place Details component in June. Available through the Maps JavaScript API and the iOS and Android SDKs, these components enable you to create impactful front-end experiences with just a few lines of code, helping users explore, discover, and find places with ease.
Build faster, on any map, with Google’s familiar UI customized to match your brand
Use on any map: For the first time, you can use Places content on a non-Google map. Now you can bring the familiar Google Maps UI for Places to your front-end applications across platforms.
Save development resources: As a cost-effective solution, Places UI Kit enables you to optimize your development budget. Early testers told us they appreciated the “clean design” and the ability to integrate Google Maps Places content “without building from scratch.”
Customize to your brand: With Places UI Kit, you can easily customize the look and feel of the components to match your brand while maintaining Google’s trusted UI. We have added robust customization capabilities like full control over colors, typography, corner radius, borders, and more to ensure your application matches your brand’s visual identity.
From Search to Discovery: Building End-to-End Journeys with Autocomplete, Place Search and Place Details
The General Availability of Place Search and Autocomplete unlocks new opportunities for developers to create end-to-end experiences, guiding users from initial search to a final discovery. You can now create complete and intuitive user journeys to find a location instantly, discover relevant POIs near the chosen location, and provide rich insights about a POI. Together these Places UI Kit components allow you to build engaging and informative applications that elevate the end user experience You can also mix and match them with other Google Maps Platform APIs because you’re already utilizing Place IDs.
Create immersive experiences across industries with Places UI Kit and Photorealistic 3D Maps
Places UI Kit has applications across industries, such as travel and real estate, to create experiences that enable users to explore and discover a neighborhood or a tourist destination. To create visually engaging immersive experiences, you can combine Places UI Kit with Google’s Photorealistic 3D Maps to give users stunning, real-world 3D views of any location.
For Real Estate: Give potential residents the opportunity to see the neighborhood of a property—from parks and playgrounds to restaurants and coffee shops to help them immerse themselves in a neighborhood without leaving home.
For Travel: Take travelers on 3D guided tours of their destination before their tickets have even been booked. Let them build itineraries by previewing their destination on a 3D map and getting insightful details about what’s nearby—from bars and restaurants to tourist attractions.
An immersive 3D experience showcasing relevant POIs using Places UI Kit for travel. Launch the demo in full screen.
Places UI Kit also has applications across any industry where providing location context is key. For example, within messaging apps you can bring the place search and discovery directly into the apps to create even more engaging, visual in-app experiences.
A messaging app using Place Search and Place Details components to help users plan a night out in Boston
Excited to get started?
To learn more, visit our website or check out the documentation. If you are ready to get started now, you can go to the Google Cloud console and enable Places UI Kit. Please tag us on X and LinkedIn to share what you’ve built using Places UI Kit. We cannot wait to see what you build.