Total notes: 54
Unique notes: 8
C5 F5 F5 G5 F5 E5 D5 D5 D5
G5 G5 A5 G5 F5 E5 E5 E5
A5 A5 B5 A5 G5 F5 D5 C5 C5 D5 G5 E5 F5
C5 F5 F5 F5 E5
E5 F5 E5 D5 C5
G5 A5 G5 G5 F5 F5 C6 C5
C5 C5 D5 G5 E5 F5
1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 1,
1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 1,
1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1,
0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 1, 1
Total notes: 90
Unique notes: 9
Credits: unknown
E5 C#6 B5 A5 E5
E5 C#6 B5 A5 F#5
F#5 D6 C#6 B5 G#5
E6 F#6 E6 D6 B5 C#6
E5 C#6 B5 A5 E5
E5 C#6 B5 A5 F#5
F#5 D6 C#6 B5 E6 E6 E6
F#6 E6 D6 B5 A5
C#6 C#6 C#6
C#6 C#6 C#6
C#6 E6 A5 B5 C#6
D6 D6 D6 D6
D6 C#6 C#6
C#6 B5 B5 C#6 B5 E6
C#6 C#6 C#6
C#6 C#6 C#6
C#6 E6 A5 B5 C#6
D6 D6 D6
D6 C#6 C#6 C#6
E6 E6 D6 B5 A5
1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 3,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1, 1, 4,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1.5, 0.5, 4,
1, 1, 1.5, 0.5,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1.5, 0.5, 4,
1, 1, 2,
1, 1, 1.5, 0.5,
1, 1, 1, 1, 4
Android app that converts YouTube video link into ads-free browser video link.
🎧 Love listening to audiobooks on YouTube, but dealing with ads and the inability to play videos in the background without a premium subscription can be a challenge. 🤔
I noticed that these two drawbacks are absent in embedded YouTube videos found on external websites. By obtaining the video ID and using it in an embedded link template, you can turn any video link into an ad-free, background-playable version. This link can be opened directly in your browser, allowing for uninterrupted playback.
Initially, I manually performed these steps since I lacked Android app development skills. However, after learning a few things, I decided to automate the process of redirecting videos from the YouTube app to the browser. 🔄
This application is created with no malicious intent. It is not intended to harm or interfere with any actions of Google or advertisers on the YouTube platform. The application solely automates specific actions that a regular user could manually perform. The functionality of the application adheres to all laws and does not alter any standard functionalities of the Android platform or other applications. It merely utilizes the capabilities provided by the Android platform and other applications.
Let's first determine the functions our application should have:
This is what an embedded link looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/video-IDYouTube may share the link of the video in two formats:
https://youtu.be/video-IDhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=video-ID&other=parametersTo extract the video ID, we can use RegExp:
https?://youtu(\.be/|be\.com/watch\?v=)(?<videoId>[A-Za-z0-9_\-]+)
where "videoId" is a group name for symbols which should be extracted.
Then, concatenate https://www.youtube.com/embed/ with the extracted video
ID.
To create an intent to launch the browser instead of the YouTube app by default:
final Intent intent =
Intent.makeMainSelectorActivity(
Intent.ACTION_MAIN, Intent.CATEGORY_APP_BROWSER)
.setData(uri);
To prevent our app from having duplicate instances:
<application
android:launchMode="singleTask"Ability to receive shared text:
<activity>
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<data android:mimeType="text/plain" />
</intent-filter>Let's check the log to be sure that our app works fine:
11:49:06.283 onCreate
11:49:06.283 receivedText = https://youtube.com/watch?v=video-ID&si=a_bCDEfj1-HIjK-m
11:49:06.283 videoId = video-ID
11:49:06.284 uri = https://www.youtube.com/embed/video-ID
11:49:06.313 processReceivedText(): finished
11:49:07.134 onDestroy()
Here, you can see the next sequence:
When I finished implementing the 'share with the browser' functionality, I decided to expand the capabilities of my app a bit. There is another drawback on YouTube that my application can address – the absence of the "Open as Regular Video" button for "Shorts" in order to access the playback speed control feature.
There is a "Shorts" link format:
https://youtube.com/shorts/video-IDSo, we need just convert it to:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=video-IDor:
vnd.youtube:video-IDand open in a YouTube app:
final Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(uri);And since our application has completed its tasks, it is necessary to notify Android that it can be unloaded from memory by calling the finish() method.
When I tested my app on my old smartphone with MIUI Android, I encountered an issue where the intended app wouldn't start. I discovered that it could not run when my app was shut down by calling finish(), but it started as designed without this call. I received the error message in the logs:
com.android.server.am.ExtraActivityManagerService
MIUILOG-
Permission Denied Activity :
Intent {
sel=act=android.intent.action.MAIN
cat=[android.intent.category.APP_BROWSER]}
....After spending some time searching on the Internet, I found out that the problem is related to a specific MIUI security permission - Start in background, and the user should manually enable it for our app:
Another case
If the author of the video has disabled embedding, it won't be possible to watch such a video using the method described in this article. However, it's worth noting that such cases are extremely rare.
GitHub: https://github.com/asilichenko/android-youtube-shared
Base theme without action bar:
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
</style>
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
<item name="android:statusBarColor">@android:color/holo_purple</item>
<item name="android:navigationBarColor">@android:color/holo_red_dark</item>
</style>
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
<item name="android:statusBarColor">@android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:navigationBarColor">@android:color/transparent</item>
</style>
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
<item name="android:windowLightStatusBar">true</item>
...
</style>
windowLightStatusBar = true -> status bar will be drawn compatible with a light background
@Override
protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
...
WindowCompat.setDecorFitsSystemWindows(getWindow(), false);
}
This 'bug' is present even in Google products like Maps and Google Earth; Sky Map is even displayed in full cutout mode.
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
...
<item name="android:windowLayoutInDisplayCutoutMode">shortEdges</item>
</style>
windowLayoutInDisplayCutoutMode can take one of three values:
default: content renders into the cutout area when displayed in portrait mode, but is letterboxed when in landscape modeshortEdges: content always renders into the cutout areanever: content never renders into the cutout area
windowLayoutInDisplayCutoutMode requires API level 27, so if your app supports lower API level, then extract it into "values-v27/themes.xml".
<style name="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Theme.Material3.Light.NoActionBar">
...
</style>
<style name="Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Base.Theme.ShortEdges" />
<style name="Theme.ShortEdges" parent="Base.Theme.ShortEdges">
<item name="android:windowLayoutInDisplayCutoutMode">shortEdges</item>
</style>
@Override
protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
...
ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.my_view), this::onApplyWindowInsets);
}
@NonNull
public WindowInsetsCompat onApplyWindowInsets(@NonNull View v, @NonNull WindowInsetsCompat windowInsets) {
final Insets displayCutoutInsets = windowInsets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.displayCutout());
final Insets systemBarsInsets = windowInsets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars());
final Insets safeInsets = Insets.of(
max(displayCutoutInsets.left, systemBarsInsets.left),
max(displayCutoutInsets.top, systemBarsInsets.top),
max(displayCutoutInsets.right, systemBarsInsets.right),
max(displayCutoutInsets.bottom, systemBarsInsets.bottom)
);
return WindowInsetsCompat.CONSUMED;
}
final ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams mlp =
(ViewGroup.MarginLayoutParams) view.getLayoutParams();
mlp.leftMargin = safeInsets.left;
mlp.topMargin = safeInsets.top;
mlp.bottomMargin = safeInsets.bottom;
mlp.rightMargin = safeInsets.right;
view.setLayoutParams(mlp);
First of all, we need to register our app as the plain text receiver by adding the intent filter into the Manifest for a certain activity:
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<data android:mimeType="text/plain" />
</intent-filter>
The standard way to receive shared text is by calling the getStringExtra method for the intent:
final Intent intent = getIntent(); final String stringExtra = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT);
It is also useful to preliminarily check the intent action:
final Intent intent = getIntent();
if (Intent.ACTION_SEND.equals(action)) {
...
}
This code can be called either from the onCreate method if we expect to receive data when the app is started, or from the onResume method if the app has already started and is in the background.
However, there is an issue when the app is called from the background - sometimes we receive the android.intent.action.MAIN action instead of SEND, and the extra is empty. But why does this happen? When does "sometimes" occur? Let's explore this issue.
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #1 |
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #2 |
Let's look into the logs, there we can see a pair of interesting records:
ActivityTaskManager I START
u0 {act = android.intent.action.SEND
typ = text/plain
flg = 0x13080001
cmp = ua.in.asilichenko.sharedtextreceiver/.MainActivity
clip = {text/plain {T(475)}}
(has extras)
} from uid 10191
ActivityTaskManager I Launching r:
ActivityRecord {
90f60f2
u0
ua.in.asilichenko.sharedtextreceiver/.MainActivity
}
from background:
ActivityRecord {
90e8155
u0
com.android.chrome/com.google.android.apps.chrome.Main
}
t24314}.
New task: false
The conclusions that can be drawn from this log are:
The solution to this problem lies in overriding the onNewIntent method:
This is called for activities that set launchMode to "singleTop" in their package, or if a client used the Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP flag when calling startActivity. In either case, when the activity is re-launched while at the top of the activity stack instead of a new instance of the activity being started, onNewIntent() will be called on the existing instance with the Intent that was used to re-launch it.
An activity can never receive a new intent in the resumed state. You can count on onResume being called after this method, though not necessarily immediately after the completion this callback. If the activity was resumed, it will be paused and new intent will be delivered, followed by onResume. If the activity wasn't in the resumed state, then new intent can be delivered immediately, with onResume() called sometime later when activity becomes active again.
Note that getIntent still returns the original Intent. You can use setIntent to update it to this new Intent. Dispatches this call to all listeners added via addOnNewIntentListener(Consumer). Handle onNewIntent() to inform the fragment manager that the state is not saved. If you are handling new intents and may be making changes to the fragment state, you want to be sure to call through to the super-class here first. Otherwise, if your state is saved but the activity is not stopped, you could get an onNewIntent() call which happens before onResume() and trying to perform fragment operations at that point will throw IllegalStateException because the fragment manager thinks the state is still saved.
So it turns out that if the sending application launches our application, the data will continue to be successfully received through the intent. However, in the case where the application was launched separately from the sender, a new intent will be created each time, and the sent data will not be transferred to the new intent. Nevertheless, the original intent from the sender can be obtained in the onNewIntent method.
@Override
protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
super.onNewIntent(intent);
setIntent(intent);
receiveText();
} |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #2. Fix |
Now, both test cases works fine, but I found another bug.
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #3 |
Now, if we look in the background stack, we can see two instances of our app, and that's not good.
To fix this, we need to set launchMode for the main activity to "singleTask":
<activity android:name=".MainActivity" android:exported="true" android:launchMode="singleTask">
In this mode, if there is already an existing instance of the activity in the system, a new one will not be created, and the existing one will be called.
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #3. Fix |
Let's check one more case.
This happens because when the Android device is rotated, it
recreates the activity, but the intent remains the same. As a result,
the processing of shared text in the onCreate method is triggered again, and the read data is also re-read.
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #4 |
To avoid re-reading the data, you need to remove them from the intent using the removeExtra method:
if (Intent.ACTION_SEND.equals(action)) {
final String stringExtra = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT);
if (null != stringExtra) {
...
intent.removeExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT);
}
}
 |
| Android activity lifecycle: Test case #4. Fix |
That's all for today.
I got curious during my little pet project and needed some of that location jazz and panorama ID pizzazz. But guess what? Google keeps the recipe for those URLs hush-hush. 🤫 So, I put on my virtual Sherlock Holmes hat 🕵️ and went on an adventure to reverse-engineer the map-magic. 🚀 Now, I'm here to share the treasure map with you! X marks the spot! 📍🗝️
User shares a location or panorama from the Google Maps app or web-site to our app. As a result, a shortened link is received. Due to Google's redirection from the shortened URL to the full URL, we should send an HTTP request to the shortened link to receive the full URL. This URL will be parsed to gain useful information.
There are several cases of shared locations:
Other sections:
Web-browser shared link:
goo.gl/maps/Up94VLPN5kPJ74WEA
Unshortened link:
www.google.com/maps/search/48.718116,+2.627758?entry=tts&shorturl=1
I use domain ".com" in all my examples, but globally it can be any of supported ones: supported_domains.
Query segment may be discarded:
www.google.com/maps/search/48.718116,+2.627758
Plus sign is an URL encoded space sign.
So, we can get the location of the place: (lat: 48.718116, lon: 2.627758). Nevertheless, I assume that there are cases when value of this attribute contains not coordinates, but rather an address or a description of the place.
The link from the mobile app has a different domain:
maps.app.goo.gl/7qWFiAfvRsBEKTz56
is redirected to:
www.google.com/maps/place/ -13.165331,-72.548991/ data = !4m6 !3m5 !1s0 !7e2 !8m2 !3d -13.1653311 !4d -72.5489906
Сoordinates are also provided as path attributes, and additionally, they are present in the data path attribute.
The "data" segment consists of sections, each starting with an exclamation mark "!", followed by a digit, a letter, and the data. Let's describe some of them:
A point can be represented as a place with coordinates in DMS format, serving as a name:
www.google.com/maps/place/ 48°43'05.4"N+2°37'40.4"E/ @48.7181667,2.6278889,17z/ data = !3m1 !4b1 !4m4 !3m3 !8m2 !3d 48.7181667 !4d 2.6278889
Web-link:
www.google.com/maps/place/ Buckingham+Palace/ @51.5016211,-0.1428878,17z/ data = !3m1 !5s 0x487605276d38fb6b:0xe1c60228d7946675 !4m6 !3m5 !1s 0x48760520cd5b5eb5:0xa26abf514d902a7 !8m2 !3d 51.5016211 !4d -0.1428878 !16z L20vMDE5OGc !5m1 !1e4
App-link:
www.google.com/maps/place/ Buckingham+Palace,+London+SW1A+1AA,+Great+Britain/ data = !4m2 !3m1 !1s 0x48760520cd5b5eb5:0xa26abf514d902a7
The useful information is limited just to the place name.
Web-link:
www.google.com/maps/ @48.8583445,2.2943296,2a,75y,313.07h,81.5t/ data = !3m7 !1e1 !3m5 !1s _BgQhZS8mY-Zix5BdCt2mA !2e0 !6s https://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail ? panoid = _BgQhZS8mY-Zix5BdCt2mA & cb_client = maps_sv.tactile.gps & w = 203 & h = 100 & yaw = 258.24527 & pitch = 0 & thumbfov = 100 !7i 13312 !8i 6656 !5m1 !1e4
The panorama ID is always located in the "!1s" field and followed either with "!2e0" or "!2e10", where "0" indicates that the panorama belongs to Google and "10" - to the private person (user). Moreover, for user panoramas, this string won't exactly be the panorama ID, but we'll get to that later.
So, the panorama ID can be preceded by such a set of characters:
@-path attribute contains camera settings:
IMPORTANT: all slashes in data section must be encoded as "%2F".
App-link:
www.google.com/maps/ @48.858345,2.2943299,0a,75y,312.57h,84.6t/ data = !3m4 !1e1 !3m2 !1s _BgQhZS8mY-Zix5BdCt2mA !2e0
Web-link:
www.google.com/maps/ @50.45007,30.5238129,3a,48.9y,228.12h,97.74t/ data = !3m6 !1e1 !3m4 !1s AF1QipPhTjCOEXu7rYyTQSOnaYLzu1vyUUqumgW8XKY5 !2e10 !7i 12082 !8i 6041
So, here we can see the "!2e10" ending after the panorama ID section, and it indicates that this is a user panorama. The issue is that the panorama ID in such URLs is not the ID of the actual panorama; it's more like a "creator panorama ID" which can't be used to obtain this panorama by API. I haven't been able to figure out how to translate it into the actual panorama ID.
The only option we have is to use the shooting location's coordinates and hope that Google consistently finds the desired panorama. My expectation is based on the fact that user-generated panoramas are individual and occupy specific spots with some accuracy on the map. Furthermore, these custom panoramas lack the "history stack" feature ("history stack" allows you to select a panorama based on its capture date for a particular location). Nevertheless, if I come across a relevant case, then I will find an alternative way to obtain the correct panorama.
App-link almost the same:
www.google.com/maps/ @50.4500732,30.5238113,0a,75y,231.11h,93.48t/ data = !3m4 !1e1 !3m2 !1s AF1QipPhTjCOEXu7rYyTQSOnaYLzu1vyUUqumgW8XKY5 !2e10
But there is one nuance: not all user panoramas that open in the browser can be accessed through the API. This situation arises because user panoramas are associated with the Google Photos service, and in order for a panorama to be opened through the Street View Panorama API, it must have an identifier in the Google Street View service. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. To check if a panorama is registered in the Google Street View service, you can look for a blue dot at the location of the panorama. If it's not there, then it will be impossible to find this panorama through the Google Street View API.
For example, there is a registered panorama, blue dot is under the Pegman:
 |
| Chernihiv. Hotel "Ukraine" after being hit by a ruZZian missile. |
There is a not registered panorama, no blue dot under the Pegman:
These links are generated in the mobile app only, but not for all search results; usually, they are place-links.
www.google.com/maps?q=50.813588,-2.475488
www.google.com/maps?q=London,+Great+Britain
www.google.com/maps?q=Gallagher+House,+2119+S+Homan+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60623,+USA
Example:
www.google.com/maps/place/ Empire+State+Building/ @40.7321378,-73.9691401,17.87z/ data = !3m1 !5s 0x8b398fecd1aea119:0x76fa1e3ac5a94c70 !4m6 !3m5 !1s 0x89c259a9b3117469:0xd134e199a405a163 !8m2 !3d 40.7484405 !4d -73.9856644 !16z L20vMDJuZF8
Empire State Building = 40°44'54.4"N, 73°59'08.4"W
40.7321378,-73.9691401 = 40°43'55.7"N, 73°58'08.9"W - East River
40.7484405,-73.9856644 = 40°44'54.4"N, 73°59'08.4"W - Empire State Building
Result:
Example:
www.google.com/maps/place/ Empire+State+Building/ @40.7413886,-73.9891371,3a,75y,230.15h,116.97t/ data = !3m6 !1e1 !3m4 !1s nhbQjZVsxbtfxb9rTUhZmQ !2e0 !7i 16384 !8i 8192 !4m6 !3m5 !1s 0x89c259a9b3117469:0xd134e199a405a163 !8m2 !3d 40.7484405 !4d -73.9856644 !16z L20vMDJuZF8
Empire State Building = 40°44'54.4"N, 73°59'08.4"W
40.7413886,-73.9891371 = 40°44'29.0"N, 73°59'20.9"W - Flatiron Building
40.7484405,-73.9856644 = 40°44'54.4"N, 73°59'08.4"W - Empire State Building
Result:
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview ? size = 640x360 & location = 48.8589363,2.295527 & fov = 130 & heading = 18 & pitch = 30 & key = API_KEY
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview ? size = 640x360 & pano = CAoSLEFGMVFpcE81WUZKcGNmeVFjX1FBa0dUUWJ6VVh3eUdZcDFXRnB6SF9mVmFw & fov = 130 & heading = 18 & pitch = 30 & key = API_KEY
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview/metadata ? location = 40.7143888,-74.0016005 & key=API_KEY
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/streetview/metadata ? pano = CAoSLEFGMVFpcE41a2JtNDEzWEh3QzN5clJWWWZKSkFHYUlreGRPNVRDa0lGc1N5 & key=API_KEY
Result:
{ "copyright" : "© Matthew MacVey", "date" : "2018-05", "location" : { "lat" : 40.7143888, "lng" : -74.0016005 }, "pano_id" : "CAoSLEFGMVFpcE41a2JtNDEzWEh3QzN5clJWWWZKSkFHYUlreGRPNVRDa0lGc1N5", "status" : "OK" }
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/textsearch/json ? query = Big-Ben & key = API_KEY
Result:
{ "html_attributions": [], "results": [ { "business_status": "OPERATIONAL", "formatted_address": "London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom", "geometry": { "location": { "lat": 51.50072919999999, "lng": -0.1246254 }, "viewport": { "northeast": { "lat": 51.50211262989271, "lng": -0.12381395 }, "southwest": { "lat": 51.49941297010727, "lng": -0.1269553499999999 } } }, "icon": "https://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/place_api/icons/v1/png_71/generic_business-71.png", "icon_background_color": "#7B9EB0", "icon_mask_base_uri": "https://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/place_api/icons/v2/generic_pinlet", "name": "Big Ben", "photos": [ { "height": 3970, "html_attributions": [ "<a href=\"https://maps.google.com/maps/contrib/108563206122115577170\">Miguel Ángel Romacho Contreras</a>" ], "photo_reference": "AUacShixy_iNsH-O1SgdK6sCUEpqgarAI8y-xpQ942CNSVrqddsB6cIyQ19VE6v6UijDZRptsWhZqA3IgQSyZ2ewIq2nxdtVhy2ywoE5FD7T6w_tP5_4T18UZKCZIR84F0bemWL_TZiSKyDUbzPnke_ciTSgH8EsyMV_8BLz6x2IpQ0iGoBO", "width": 5955 } ], "place_id": "ChIJ2dGMjMMEdkgRqVqkuXQkj7c", "plus_code": { "compound_code": "GV2G+74 London, United Kingdom", "global_code": "9C3XGV2G+74" }, "rating": 4.4, "reference": "ChIJ2dGMjMMEdkgRqVqkuXQkj7c", "types": [ "tourist_attraction", "point_of_interest", "establishment" ], "user_ratings_total": 54585 } ], "status": "OK" }
Places.initialize(appContext, mapsApiKey); String placeId = "ChIJT9j2eKVv5kcRp9MrU92slfY"; final PlacesClient placesClient = Places.createClient(activityContext); final List<Place.Field> fields = singletonList(Place.Field.LAT_LNG); final FetchPlaceRequest request = FetchPlaceRequest.newInstance(placeId, fields); placesClient.fetchPlace(request) .addOnSuccessListener(response -> { final Place place = response.getPlace(); final LatLng location = place.getLatLng()); }).addOnFailureListener(exception -> { logger.error("Place not found:", exception); });
final Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder(appContext); String searchString = "Big Ben"; final List<Address> addresses = geocoder.getFromLocationName(searchString, 1); LatLng location = null; if (null != addresses && !addresses.isEmpty()) { final Address address = addresses.get(0); location = new LatLng(address.getLatitude(), address.getLongitude()); }
Sometimes, Google Maps app generate unusual link with parameter "cid":
maps.google.com/?cid=13226830714359798441
CID (Customer ID Number) is a unique Google identifier of a business entity. In other words, Google uses this number to identify an account of a business and cluster business information across GMB, Ads, Analytics, Maps and other Google’s properties.
Using a webservice API, you can retrieve information about a place using the specified identifier:
maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/json ? cid = CID & key = API_KEY
But this method is unsafe for use in an Android application because all the keys are stored within the app, and theoretically, an attacker could extract them from there. However, using a Maps API key can be secured at the Google Console level by specifying 'Set an application restriction' and 'Android Fingerprint restriction.' Unfortunately, such restrictions cannot be applied to a key used for retrieving information through a webservice, creating a theoretical vulnerability for third-party use of this key.
However, there is another way to obtain the necessary information. It involves making a request to the provided link, parsing the HTML page of the response body, and extracting the metadata containing the place's name. From there, it's straightforward – using a geocoder, we can find the location.
Meta-information in the response html:
<meta content="Big Ben · London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom" itemprop="name"> <meta content="Big Ben · London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom" property="og:title"> <meta content="Big Ben · London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom" property="og:site_name">
Send request to CID-URL, receive response and extract meta from the body: https://gist.github.com/asilichenko/b0000eb1562c9e4e75b0d43d799260bc
import org.jsoup.Jsoup; import org.jsoup.nodes.Document; import java.io.IOException; import okhttp3.OkHttpClient; import okhttp3.Request; import okhttp3.Response; import okhttp3.ResponseBody; public class MetadataExtractor { private static final String META_ITEMPROP_NAME = "meta[itemprop=name]"; private static final String META_PROPERTY_OG_TITLE = "meta[property=og:title]"; private static final String META_PROPERTY_OG_SITE_NAME = "meta[property=og:site_name]"; private static final String CONTENT = "content"; private final OkHttpClient httpClient; public MetadataExtractor() { this.httpClient = new OkHttpClient(); } public Metadata extract(String url) { final Request request = new Request.Builder().url(url).build(); try (final Response response = httpClient.newCall(request).execute()) { if (!response.isSuccessful()) { throw new RuntimeException("Request failed: " + response.code()); } Metadata retval = null; final ResponseBody body = response.body(); if (null != body) { final String html = body.string(); final Document doc = Jsoup.parse(html); final String name = getMetaContent(doc, META_ITEMPROP_NAME); final String title = getMetaContent(doc, META_PROPERTY_OG_TITLE); final String siteName = getMetaContent(doc, META_PROPERTY_OG_SITE_NAME); retval = new Metadata(name, title, siteName); } return retval; } catch (IOException ioe) { throw new RuntimeException(ioe); } } /** * Get an attribute value from the first matched element * that has the attribute. */ private String getMetaContent(Document doc, String selector) { return doc.select(selector).attr(CONTENT); } public static class Metadata { public final String name; public final String title; public final String siteName; public Metadata(String name, String title, String siteName) { this.name = name; this.title = title; this.siteName = siteName; } } }
In this article, I have presented various scenarios illustrating when a shared link on Google Maps can be generated.
Here are the conclusions I've drawn about the data in the links:
Now, let's explore the various types of Google Maps links I've identified. I've simplified them by removing unnecessary details to focus on the fundamental structure.
/maps/search/48.718116,+2.627758
/maps/place/ -13.165331,-72.548991/ data = !8m2 !3d -13.1653311 !4d -72.5489906
/maps/place/ Empire+State+Building/ @40.7321378,-73.9691401,17.87z/ data = !8m2 !3d 40.7484405 !4d -73.9856644
/maps/place/ Empire+State+Building/ @40.7413886,-73.9891371,3a,75y,230.15h,116.97t/ data = !1s nhbQjZVsxbtfxb9rTUhZmQ !2e0 !8m2 !3d 40.7484405 !4d -73.9856644
/maps/place/Buckingham+Palace,+London+SW1A+1AA,+Great+Britain/
/maps/ @48.858345,2.2943299,0a,75y,312.57h,84.6t/ data = !1s _BgQhZS8mY-Zix5BdCt2mA !2e0
/maps?q=50.8136769,-2.4746919 /maps?q=London,+Great+Britain /maps?q=Gallagher+House,+2119+S+Homan+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60623,+USA
Finally, let's define the general scheme of link structure based on coordinates and panorama ID:
/maps/search/COORDINATES /maps/search/STRING === /maps/place/NAME /maps/place/NAME/ @COORDINATES_MAP/ data=COORDINATES_PLACE /maps/place/NAME/ @COORDINATES_PANORAMA/ data=PANORAMA_ID !COORDINATES_PLACE /maps/place/ COORDINATES/ data=COORDINATES === /maps/@COORDINATES /maps/@COORDINATES/data=PANORAMA_ID === /maps?q=COORDINATES /maps?q=STRING === maps.google.com/?cid=CID /maps?cid=CID
Thanks for your time and best of luck with your mapping and panoramic adventures!
