Ionic 3 - Open geolocation without navigation with Google Maps / Apple Maps app - ios

Question

In my Ionic 3 app for Android and iOS, I need to open a specific geolocation with Google Maps (if installed) or Apple Maps. I discovered Launch Navigator which pretty much does the same.
Is there a way by which I can choose not to navigate to the specified location and only show a marker using Launch Navigator?
If not, are there any other alternatives to make this possible?

Answer 1

I had the same issue and this is what I came up with. There are three important steps
Check to see if the user is on iOS or Android
need to include Platform import { Platform } from 'ionic-angular';
If they are on iOS check for Google Maps
I'm using LaunchNavigator to check for the app
import { LaunchNavigator, LaunchNavigatorOptions } from '#ionic-native/launch-navigator';
Open the appropriate app with our GPS parameters
To open an external app we need the In App Browser
import { InAppBrowser } from '#ionic-native/in-app-browser';
then we have all we need to open Google Maps on iOS if it's available, with no navigation
if (this.platform.is('ios')) {
//try google maps first
this.launchNavigator.isAppAvailable(this.launchNavigator.APP.GOOGLE_MAPS).then(
response => {
if(response) {
window.open('comgooglemaps://?q=' + lat + ',' + lng + '(' + marker_name + ')', '_system');
}
else {
window.open('maps://?q=' + lat + ',' + lng, '_system');
}
},
failure => {
//check failed;
}
);
}
else if (this.platform.is('android')) {
window.open('geo://' + lat + ',' + lng + '?q=' + lat + ',' + lng + '(' + marker_name + ')', '_system');
}

Answer 2

Try this, it let the user to choose the app navigation (waze or map or...) to open, and add a marker on latitude and longitude given:
import { Platform } from '#ionic/angular';
...
constructor(
public platform: Platform
) {
}
public openMapsApp(lat: number, lng: number) {
const geocoords = lat + ',' + lng;
if (
this.platform.is('ios')
&& this.platform.is('iphone')
&& this.platform.is('ipad')
) {
window.open('maps://?q=' + geocoords, '_system');
return;
}
if (this.platform.is('desktop')) {
window.open('https://www.google.com/maps?q=' + geocoords);
return;
}
const label = encodeURI('7 East Street'); // encode the label!
window.open('geo:' + geocoords + '?q=' + geocoords + '(' + label + ')', '_system');
}