[Announcement] Google Maps Unity SDK For Gaming

Since there was no official threads for Google Maps Unity SDK, I created this thread to discuss about it.

The official product page: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/gaming/


Google Maps SDK announcement at GDC 2018

Official Twit: https://twitter.com/gmapsplatform/status/973954955991289856

Google Maps SDK is a Unity plugin similar to MapBox Unity SDK to build real-world games with Google Maps Platform services. The main difference is that the plugin is not publicly available yet and aimed for large gaming studios which you can Contact Sales and discuss to get a license.

Some interesting built-in features in the SDK are:

• Nine Slicing Texturing
• Parapets & geometry decoration
• Borders around buildings and roads
• Roads/Buildings names
• Day Night Cycle synchronization
• Automatic LOD Fading
• Geometry Physics
• 3rd party assets integration

Some related resources:

Let everyone know if you happen to get a license and share ideas on it here.

 

What is going on with this? Did they shut it down already?

 

I don't think it has been shut down but guess it's targeted for non-indie developers rather than being a free service. @AdamGoodrich knows better than every one else about this project!

 

Your best bet is to go here and put a request in via their Sales link:
https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/gaming/

We made some of the videos that you can see on their page, and talk a little about it here:
http://www.procedural-worlds.com/blog/origami-reimagining-reality/

 

I got the 12 months free access for this, but still figuring out of how to use it in Unity.

 

Didn't realise that they were making it generally available. I wrote a bunch of middleware to make it do what I wanted.

 

@pus2meong Can you tell us the process to get the license and what did they want from you?

@AdamGoodrich Seems like it is not easy to integrate the system into our projects out of the box, right? Are these middleware stuff available somewhere or are just for personal use-cases? I ask because I thought somehow you have been partners in this and they could be included!

Another question which I'm eager to know its answer is that how do you compare it to other solutions such as MapBox?

 

Yes we would have liked to do something cool to help their customers do more sophisticated things than 9 slicing with their tech. In the end I guess its up to them.

Mapbox also seems very cool and we have spoken with them. When the next generation of our tech is ready we will provide adaptors that will enable you to leverage whichever mapping data source you prefer (or can get access to).

 

I just visit their page, and click the Get Started button, follow the pages, and then I was asked to create a billing account.
Funny thing is, when checking my credit card validity, the transaction was declined (my card is actually valid because I can use it for Google Play) but somehow I can pass the billing account creation and arrived at google cloud platform console. With this page below.


This this screen shot also available for other normal user, then I suppose I do not get the free trial...? However I got the email about free 12 months trial with 300$ free credits to use with this service.

 

@AdamGoodrich Thanks for the info.

@pus2meong nice to see it running on your panel but where is the Unity SDK itself? Do you have access to that one too? If so, what was your experience with the system?

 

Seems like we're all looking for and awaiting the same thing. A Unity package of the Google Maps SDK that gives examples on how they integrate their API functions into the gaming system. I'm personally interested in the "playable areas" and attaching FSM game objects to them.

 

There's gonna be some body to own the SDK at least after all these showcase videos and conferences!

 

I was kind of disappointed... I thought it would be as easy and simple as Mapbox... Apparently not. It's not indie stuff. I mean, Mapbox is really great, but you can't get information from places ratings like in Google Maps.

 

So anyone with the SDK in pocket can chime in?

 

I just contacted their support, and it turns out it's not public yet

 

Thanks Mr-Logan for sharing, I was just about to contact them

 

Well that blows my game out of the water. :'(

 

I know this thread is about Google Maps Toolkit, but for those who are disappointed to discover it's not open for indie devs, I've found 3 alternatives:

https://wrld3d.com/unity/latest/docs/api/
https://www.mapbox.com/unity/
https://gomap-asset.com/

I've tested Mapbox and it works kit well. While Google is not 'open' and 'free', we still can build geolocated games using those alternatives.

 

is there any update regarding this Google Maps SDK ?

 

Its probably too expensive for indies anyway.

 

Hello,

Mapbox does not provide clear satellite view for African region. Anyone knows how to get google map sdk for unity?
I sent couple of emails but there is no response.

 

Hello guys
I got google maps unity package

 

@Uzairali293 nice, so does it have demo scenes to share shots here?

 

nice, could you please share the process you had to go through to get it ?

 

please tell me where to get a valid api key to run examples from the demo sdk?

 

https://inthecloud.withgoogle.com/mapsplatformgames/maps-gaming-try-demo-lp.html by this link you can get sdk

 

oh thats the Demo... already got that, I want the full SDK

 

Then you need to contact sales, which you can do from the first link in this thread.

 

I did that as well... they are expecting only big company/app, they don't really care about our small private projects

 

Then you are not using the Google Maps SDK.

 

I lost you there... what do you mean ? I did use the demo and integrated to it but when I wanted the full sdk to start implementing everything else I submitted that request and never received anything other the confirmation email

 

Yes, you can't use anything but the demo, which has specifically limited data use. If Google isn't answering you, you can't use the full version.

 

Good news everyone, Google Maps Unity SDK is now free for all game developers:

https://cloud.google.com/blog/produ...atform-gaming-services-now-available-everyone

 

I would like to create a driving game using Google Maps Unity SDK. The sample scene only shows the Statue of Liberty. I tried changing the coordinates to see my neighborhood but the game world is small and there's no terrains and water.

 

I had a look at this today and noticed that it will only deploy to Android and IOS. Anyone know if this will change to support Windows?

 

if it does will be amazing mainly to create a multiplatform game using google maps.

 

Hi, I'm trying to deploy on Android an app example from google, but map doesn't appear.
I put the api key, then enabled Semantic Tile API and Playable Locations API on Google Platform.
I'm using Unity 2019.4.8f1.
Has someone tried?

 

Currently the Google Maps SDK does not support URP. There is an issue filed for this at https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/170462497

If lack of URP support affects you, please "star" this issue to help the Google Maps team determine the priority of this task.

 

Hello,

I downloaded the SDK and have been diving into it over the last couple of days. We just recently released Arkd World on Google Play and the App Store and I developed it with Mapbox which was a bit painful to be honest.

I would like to transfer our project over to Google Maps and I noticed that we have to supply an open-source license attribution message which is supplied with the download, but I use my iMac and the NOTICE, where the message is said to be, is an .exec file. So I had to download it on my PC and get the message there. Thought I would supply it here for anyone using a Mac whom doesn't have access to a PC or a virtual Windows setup.

Here it is:

--- protobuf ---


Copyright 2008, Google Inc.
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.

* Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Code generated by the Protocol Buffer compiler is owned by the owner
of the input file used when generating it. This code is not
standalone and requires a support library to be linked with it. This
support library is itself covered by the above license.

 

Hi all,

I'm a few weeks into development with the Maps SDK now and its a great product, but I have had a funny bug that just pops up once in a while. The whole map just disappears every now and then, sometimes for just a few frames and then it comes back, but then any references to google objects are lost and sometimes it just doesn't reappear for a very long time.. Has anyone experienced this?? I opened a support ticket with google and sent them a video of it happening, but they were not able to get to the bottom of it and they want me to make them a reproduceable sample. In the meantime I thought there may have been a chance that someone here has already stumbled upon this issue.

 

Hi, please attach the video here so that everyone knows the issue better!

 

Is it possible to create a driving game? I added "Car Script Basic" package to the project but I can't control the car.

 

Ok, here is a slow motion and low res GIF. As you can see, the map disappears and then reloads which looks terrible, but, in addition to the displeasing off/on effect, other things are affected. I lose any references to google objects. Trees which I place dynamically/randomly are created in parks/forests before water areas, roads and buildings are created, so I wait a bit before cleaning them up, but the player should never see them misplaced because I fade the camera from black to transparent after the map is loaded and I clean things up, but when the map is recreated they are misplaced again for a moment before getting cleaned up which doesn't look good at all.

So, I have been back and forth with google support and they have not been able to find what is causing the problem. My editor log looks fine when this happens and the google support also double checked that as well. I sent them all of the custom functionality that I created for interacting with the google SDK and they have yet to find a solution 3 days later.

The glitch seen in the below GIF is better than when the map just completely disappears and never comes back which happens sometimes, but I have yet to catch it on video.

Anyhow, I will post here when I find a resolution.

 

You could absolutely create a driving game. I'm not so sure how you have setup your map, but you would need to load your car at the LatLong you want to start at and then, as you drive by moving through Unity world space you will want to keep tracking your LatLong and you would need to load more map around your area and unload unused map.

Anyhow, the SDK should not affect the driving functionality whatsoever you just need to make sure that you update the map every so often. I would imagine the problem is in the driving functionality itself.

Cheers,

 

Hello all, still haven't found a solution for the above. Google still has the support ticket open and ask me questions now and again.

Anyhow, I recently wrote this tutorial on getting through the initial setup of the SDK smoothly. I will make another tutorial which goes into detail about the functionality soon. Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

That is very helpful, thanks , would love to see the next one as well.

I just found out about the new free API, this is great utility, i am making an automated world generator, so will be invaluable.

 

Did I just find out that it will be discontinued from today (18 October 2021). I haven't seen any announcement yet, other than this sudden deprecation changes in the documentation: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/gaming/transition-guide

Update: Received an email announcement from Google a few hours after this post.

 

Just received the email about its discontinuation too, wondering why this is happening though!

 

This is disappointing. I collaborated with the team there and did their hero content when it launched. They are an awesome and dedicated group of devs.

 

Even more disappointing Adam so do you have any inputs on this behavior? Just checked this solution a month ago and thought integrating it in some of our projects since its database and implementation was great!