Places Service without a Map object?

[ldobrovic]

Hello,

I'm curious about if it is possible to create a Places service (in order to get Place details) without also creating a Map component? Like how you can create an Autocomplete service just from using the useMapsLibrary() hook. I'm trying to build a places autocomplete without any maps functionality, and so I want to make sure that by mounting a Map component I'm not bloating my app and/or running up my API billing.

Thanks!

[usefulthink]

Yes, that won't be a problem at all. If you don't use the <Map> component, there'll also be no google.maps.Map instance created and no cost for your account.

You can just build your component using useMapsLibrary('places') and use it without a map. The APIProvider is still required though.

[pr-1]

This is okay but we cannot use places.PlacesService without the Map component ?

[usefulthink]

You can absolutely use the PlacesService without a map. When creating the google.maps.places.PlacesService, you have to provide either a google.maps.Map instance or an HTMLElement where attributions can be rendered into. You could also use the new google.maps.places.Place class that doesn't have this requirement.

Be aware that you need to show an attribution if you are using data from the Places API on a page that doesn't contain a Google map (see here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies#logo).