Is it possible to filter the GMSPlacePicker based on place type/category

Question

Using the new google places api for ios, is it possible to filter the results returned via GMSPlacePicker based on place type/category. For example, if I want to return all the gas_station types nearby.

Basically, I'm looking for something like GMSAutocompleteFilter, but for GMSPlacePicker.

Answer 1

You can do a HTTP Nearby Search Request, in the request parameter you can set the types=gas_station. In iOS, you can use NSURLSession to do a http request.

Sample code:

  let requestURL = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/nearbysearch/json?location=-33.8670522,151.1957362&radius=2000&types=gas_station&key=YOUR_API_KEY"
  let request = NSURLRequest(URL: NSURL(string:requestURL)!)
  let session = NSURLSession.sharedSession()
  session.dataTaskWithRequest(request,
      completionHandler: {(data: NSData!, response: NSURLResponse!, error: NSError!) in

            if error == nil {
                let object = NSJSONSerialization.JSONObjectWithData(data, options: nil, error: nil) as! NSDictionary
                println(object)

                let routes = object["results"] as! [NSDictionary]
                for route in routes {
                    println(route["name"])
                }
                }
                else {
                    println("Places API error")
                }

    }).resume()

This request will return the gas_station within 1000 meters near -33.8670522,151.1957362.