Android MapView - tiles not loading with Debug API key

Question

Hi All

I am having some issues getting tiles to load into my MapView in android development. I have searched and looked at similar problems on here but with no luck so far.

I have looked at the instructions here and have got hold of my debug API key. I have entered this into my MapView.

I have checked that my emulator and my debug device have got an internet connection.

I have move my Internet permission tag in my manifest file to be before the application tag.

I don't know what else to check.

I am also unsure of the best way to develop this. It seems that I can't debug with a properly signed app as the debug keystore needs the same password - android. This would imply that each time I go to do a release build I have to change the key - which seems very fragile!

Is there any way of developing and releasing builds with my own generated maps API key?

Some code for you to look at:

Main.xml:

<com.google.android.maps.MapView
    android:id="@+id/mapView" 
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:apiKey="??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??"
    />

AndroidManifest.xml:

<manifest 
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" 
package="com.my.package.name"
>

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3"></uses-sdk>

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

<application 
    android:icon="@drawable/icon" 
    android:label="@string/app_name" 
    android:debuggable="true"
    >

    <activity 
        android:name=".MyMainClass" 
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <uses-library android:name="com.google.android.maps" />

</application>
</manifest> 

Any Help much appreciated.

Answer 1

android:apiKey="??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??:??"

The fact that you have the colons in there suggests that perhaps you mistook what you're supposed to paste in.

The colons are in the MD5 fingerprint of the signing key. You then need to paste that stuff into a form on a Google Web site and get back the actual signing key, which will look like:

android:apiKey="00yHj0k7_7vzHbUFXzY2j94lYYCqW3NAIW8EEEw"