This page explains the differences between nearby search as used in the Place
class (new) and the PlacesService
(legacy), and provides some code snippets for comparison.
- The legacy
PlacesServicehas anearbySearch()method, which lets you search for places within a specified area by keyword or type. - The
Placeclass has asearchNearby()method which lets you search for places within a specified area by place type, utilizing an expanded selection of place data fields and place types for greater flexibility.
The following table lists some of the main differences in nearby search methods
between the Place
class and PlacesService
:
PlacesService
(Legacy) |
Place
(New) |
|---|---|
nearbySearch()
|
searchNearby()
|
PlaceSearchRequest
|
SearchNearbyRequest
|
Requires the use of a callback to handle the results object and google.maps.places.PlacesServiceStatus
response. |
Uses Promises, and works asynchronously. |
Requires a PlacesServiceStatus
check. |
No required status check, can use standard error handling. Learn more . |
| Supports only location bias. | Supports location bias and location restriction. |
| Returns all available data fields (a subset of the supported fields ); cannot be constrained to specific fields. | Returns only the requested place data fields
; the Place
class offers an expanded and regularly
updated selection of fields. |
| Limited to a fixed set of place types . | Access an expanded and regularly updated selection of place types . |
| Supported text-based search with the keyword . | Text-based search is not supported, use Text Search (New) instead. |
Code comparison
This section compares code for nearby search methods to illustrate the differences between the Places Service and the Place class. The code snippets show the code required on each respective API to make a text-based search request.
Nearby Search (Legacy)
The legacy Nearby Search lets you search for places within a specified area by
keyword or type. There is no way to constrain searches by using place data
fields, so that all of the available fields are returned with each request.
The following snippet shows calling nearbySearch()
to return information about
restaurants in Sydney, Australia. The request is synchronous, uses a callback,
and includes a required conditional check on PlacesServiceStatus
.
let
map
;
let
service
;
function
initMap
()
{
const
sydney
=
new
google
.
maps
.
LatLng
(
-
33.867
,
151.195
);
map
=
new
google
.
maps
.
Map
(
document
.
getElementById
(
"map"
),
{
center
:
sydney
,
zoom
:
15
,
});
const
request
=
{
location
:
sydney
,
radius
:
'500'
,
type
:
[
'restaurant'
]
};
service
=
new
google
.
maps
.
places
.
PlacesService
(
map
);
service
.
nearbySearch
(
request
,
callback
);
}
function
callback
(
results
,
status
)
{
if
(
status
==
google
.
maps
.
places
.
PlacesServiceStatus
.
OK
)
{
for
(
var
i
=
0
;
i
<
results
.
length
;
i
++
)
{
createMarker
(
results
[
i
]);
}
}
}
// Helper function to create markers.
function
createMarker
(
place
)
{
if
(
!
place
.
geometry
||
!
place
.
geometry
.
location
)
return
;
const
marker
=
new
google
.
maps
.
Marker
({
map
,
position
:
place
.
geometry
.
location
,
title
:
place
.
name
,
});
}
Learn more
Nearby Search (New)
The new version of Nearby Search improves upon its predecessor in the following ways:
- The ability to specify which place data fields to return.
- The use of Promises which enables asynchronous operation.
- No need to check for the status of
PlacesService; standard error handling can be used instead.
The following code snippet shows a function which makes a Nearby Search request
for restaurants. This example shows using the rankPreference
option to rank
search results by popularity (in the previous version ranking is specified
using the rankBy
option). Because the searchNearby()
method uses the await
operator it can only be used inside an async
function.
async
function
nearbySearch
()
{
// Restrict within the map viewport.
let
center
=
new
google
.
maps
.
LatLng
(
52.369358
,
4.889258
);
const
request
=
{
// Required parameters.
fields
:
[
"displayName"
,
"location"
,
"businessStatus"
],
locationRestriction
:
{
center
:
center
,
radius
:
500
,
},
// Optional parameters.
includedPrimaryTypes
:
[
"restaurant"
],
maxResultCount
:
5
,
rankPreference
:
google
.
maps
.
places
.
SearchNearbyRankPreference
.
POPULARITY
,
language
:
"en-US"
,
region
:
"us"
,
};
const
{
places
}
=
await
google
.
maps
.
places
.
Place
.
searchNearby
(
request
);
if
(
places
.
length
)
{
console
.
log
(
places
);
// Create a new bounds, which will be extended with each result.
const
bounds
=
new
google
.
maps
.
LatLngBounds
();
// Loop through and get all the results.
places
.
forEach
((
place
)
=
>
{
const
markerView
=
new
google
.
maps
.
marker
.
AdvancedMarkerElement
({
map
,
position
:
place
.
location
,
title
:
place
.
displayName
,
});
bounds
.
extend
(
place
.
location
);
console
.
log
(
place
);
});
map
.
fitBounds
(
bounds
);
}
else
{
console
.
log
(
"No results"
);
}
}
