Google launches Places API so we can finally share locations by name instead of coordinates

Doesn’t it make sense that when sharing your location with someone, you actually share the name of the place that you’re at rather than the latitude and longitude? In other words, if I am at Joe’s Bar and Grill, it’s easier to understand that I am Joe’s Bar and Grill vs 26.78545419, -75.15212959.
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Google’s Places API will solve this issue by bringing Google’s global database of 100 million places into your app. The Places API is not only released on Android, but Google also released a beta version for iOS.

Key Features of the API include…

• Add a place picker: a drop-in UI widget that allows your users to specify a place
• Get the place where the user is right now
• Show detailed place information, including the place’s name, address, phone number, and website
• Use autocomplete to save your users time and frustration typing out place names, by automatically completing them as they type
• Make your app stand out by adding new places that are relevant to your users and seeing the places appear in Google’s Places database
• Improve the map around you by reporting the presence of a device at a particular place.

Check out this DevByte video and links below to learn how you can implement the Places API in your app.
source: Google