GitMad-Heat-Map

Directions for setting up api-key

For setting up your google maps API key that is authorized to use the Maps SDK for Android and the Places SDK for Android you need to do the following:

1. Follow the guide located here to get your api key. Only do Step One to get the actual API Key. Then click "Map", create your own project and name it anything you desire, and for payment, choose "Own Account" for now.
2. Follow the guide located here to store and access your api key so that it remains safe and out of the hands of potential baddies. Do only Stem One titled "Defining Key in build.gradle". IT IS IMPORTANT that you name the key in the file to `GitmadApp_ApiKey`.

After doing the above we will have done two things: created our own maps api key and created a way to store that key without anyone else being able to see or touch it. However, now we need to link these two things to get our app off and running. As of right now in our manifest we have a code snippet that attempts to link to google services. The code looks something like this:

<meta-data
      android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
      android:value="YOUR_API_KEY"/>

Earlier in the second article above we saw that we created a new way to access our key from a file not being tracked by github. We then access that key through our build.gradle file under our BuildTypes. It should look something like this:

    buildTypes {
      debug {
          buildConfigField 'String', "maps_api_key", GitmadApp_ApiKey
          resValue 'string', "maps_api_key", GitmadApp_ApiKey
      }
      release {
          minifyEnabled false
          proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
          buildConfigField 'String', "maps_api_key", GitmadApp_ApiKey
          resValue 'string', "maps_api_key", GitmadApp_ApiKey
      }
  }

The above snippet sets a string value in our app labeled maps_api_key to the value of our actual api key. From here we can then change the snippet above where we access the google maps services to look like this:

<meta-data
            android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
            android:value="@string/google_maps_key" />

After doing this your api key should be linked and you should be able to use the services provided by that key.

Connecting your app to Firebase

This app uses Firebase as a way to store and maintain information. We do not give away any credentials when it comes to our database and the information within it (and you shouldn't either), thus you should create your own Firebase project to store information in.

1. If you do not already have a user account of Firebase, create one here. Easy, short, simple.
2. Once you are logged in, create a new Firebase project. Feel free to name it whatever you want.
3. Enter into the project. You will know when you do this once you see "Authentication", "Database", "Storage", and more on the left side of the screen. If you are having trouble entering into the project you can try clicking the Firebase logo in the top left and then clicking on the project.
4. Click and enter the "Authentication" section. Click on the "Sign-in method" tab (within the authentication section) and then enable "Email/Password".
5. Click and enter the "Database" section. Create a new database. Select test mode.
6. Make sure to go to the "Realtime Database" which can be found in the dropdown next to the "Database" title. Click the "Rules" Tab, and make sure that both read and write are set to true.

That should be everything we need to do on Firebase. Now we are going to actually link it to the project.

7. In Android Studio click on "Tools" in the toolbar and within the dropdown select "Firebase". A sidebar should appear on the right side of the screen.
8. Click on the dropdown arrow for "Realtime Database" and then "Save and retrieve data".
9. Click on "Connect to Firebase".
10. If you are not signed in, sign in, and then choose the project you have created for this app.
11. If the "Add the Realtime Database to your app" button is present in step 2. Click it and accept changes.
12. Now do the same thing under the "Authentication" section in the Firebase side tab.
13. If you get an error after the Gradle is finished buidling titled "Failed to resolve: firebase-database-15.0.0", this is due to an error of the automatic integration through the Firebase tool. Open up the file where the error is located and change any lines that look like this:

      ```
        implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:16.0.1:15.0.0'
      ```
    

    to this:

      ```
         implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:16.0.1'
      ```
    

    i.e. if there are any other lines that have "16.0.1:15.0.0", change it to "16.0.1"

Cool, you should be set up to work with Firebase and can now write and read data from your Firebase account.

These are things that I think we could add quickly that would help out a lot:

Write a script to auto-remove location instances.

This will most likely be ran from some hosting service like heroku. Ask Lucas if you have any questions.

Add friends

I would give each individual person a unique key that is generated when they first create an account (to be honest you could use their user_id) and upload that to Firebase. Then if they wanted to add a friend they could add the id to their app and this would allow them to see their friend's location on the map. This will take a good amount of time and effort.