Skip to main content

Building a store locator on iOS

In this tutorial, we show you how to use the Radar iOS SDK, forward geocode API, and geofence search API to build a store locator with a map.

Languages used#

  • Swift

Features used#

Steps#

Step 1: Sign up for Radar#

If you haven't already, sign up for Radar to get your API key. You can create up to 1,000 geofences and make up to 100,000 API requests per month for free.

Get API keys

Step 2: Import geofences#

On the Geofences page, import geofences for each store.

The CSV should include 8 columns:

  • description: A display name for the geofence. In this case, the store name.
  • tag: A group for the geofence. In this case, store.
  • externalId: An external ID for the geofence that maps to your internal database. In this case, the store ID.
  • type: The type of geofence geometry. In this case, circle.
  • radius: The radius in meters for type circle. In this case, 100.
  • coordinates: A JSON string representing a center in the format [longitude,latitude] for type circle. Note that longitude comes before latitude, a GeoJSON convention.
  • enabled: In this case, true.
  • metadata: A set of custom key-value pairs for the geofence. A JSON string representing a dictionary with up to 16 keys and values of type string, boolean, or number. In this case, {"parking": true} or {"parking": false}.
description,tag,externalId,type,radius,coordinates,enabled,metadataMcRadar's #1,store,1,circle,100,"[-73.986752,40.703919]",true,"{""parking"":true}"McRadar's #2,store,2,circle,100,"[-73.993156,40.700554]",true,"{""parking"":false}"McRadar's #3,store,3,circle,100,"[-73.983295,40.697693]",true,"{""parking"":false}"

Step 3: Install the Radar iOS SDK#

If you're starting from scratch, create a new Xcode project of type Single View App.

Install the Radar SDK using CocoaPods or Carthage (recommended) or by downloading the framework and dragging it into your project.

Initialize the SDK in your AppDelegate class with your publishable API key.

import UIKitimport RadarSDK
@UIApplicationMainclass AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...")
        return true    }
}

Step 4: Build the store locator UI#

Import MapKit and add a UISearchBar (for the address input) and MKMapView (for the map) to your ViewController.

Make your search bar a UISearchBarDelegate. Connect the search bar and map to the ViewController and set the ViewController as the delegate for the search bar.

Alternatively, we could display the results in a UITableView.

Step 5: Call the forward geocode API#

Implement the searchBarSearchButtonClicked: method of the UISearchBarDelegate to call the forward geocode API when a user enters an address into the search bar, then move the map to the coordinate of the address.

func searchBarSearchButtonClicked(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {  guard let text = searchBar.text else {      return  }
  Radar.geocode(address: text) { (status, addresses) in      if let coordinate = addresses?.first?.coordinate {          DispatchQueue.main.async {              let region = MKCoordinateRegion(center: coordinate, latitudinalMeters: 10000, longitudinalMeters: 10000)              self.map?.setRegion(region, animated: true)          }      }  }}

Alternatively, we could call the autocomplete API to autocomplete partial addresses as the user types.

Step 6: Call the geofence search API#

Finally, pass the coordinate to the geofence search API to retrieve stores, convert the stores to map annotations, and add the annotations to the map.

In this case, we pass radius: 10000 to retrieve stores within 10 kilometers, tag: "store" to retrieve only geofences with tag store, and limit: 10 to retrieve up to 10 stores at a time. Optionally, we could pass metadata: ["parking": true] to retrieve only stores with parking.

let near = CLLocation(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)
Radar.searchGeofences(near: near, radius: 1000, tags: ["store"], metadata: nil, limit: 10) { (status, location, geofences) in  guard status != .success, let geofences = geofences else {      return  }
  let annotations = geofences.map { (geofence) -> MKAnnotation in      let annotation = MKPointAnnotation()      let geometry = geofence.geometry as! RadarCircleGeometry      annotation.coordinate = geometry.center.coordinate      annotation.title = geofence._description      return annotation  }
  DispatchQueue.main.async {      self.map?.addAnnotations(annotations)  }}

Alternatively, we could call the place search API retrieve places from Radar's place database, rather than custom geofences.

Sample code#

// AppDelegate.swift
import UIKitimport RadarSDK
@UIApplicationMainclass AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {        Radar.initialize(publishableKey: "prj_test_pk_...")
        return true    }
}
// ViewController.swift
import UIKitimport MapKitimport RadarSDK
class ViewController: UIViewController, UISearchBarDelegate {
    @IBOutlet var searchBar: UISearchBar?    @IBOutlet var map: MKMapView?
    override func viewDidLoad() {        super.viewDidLoad()    }
    func searchBarSearchButtonClicked(_ searchBar: UISearchBar) {        guard let text = searchBar.text else {            return        }
        Radar.geocode(address: text) { (status, addresses) in            if let coordinate = addresses?.first?.coordinate {                DispatchQueue.main.async {                    let region = MKCoordinateRegion(center: coordinate, latitudinalMeters: 1000, longitudinalMeters: 1000)                    self.map?.setRegion(region, animated: true)                }
                let near = CLLocation(latitude: coordinate.latitude, longitude: coordinate.longitude)
                Radar.searchGeofences(near: near, radius: 1000, tags: ["store"], metadata: nil, limit: 10) { (status, location, geofences) in                    guard status != .success, let geofences = geofences else {                        return                    }
                    let annotations = geofences.map { (geofence) -> MKAnnotation in                        let annotation = MKPointAnnotation()                        let geometry = geofence.geometry as! RadarCircleGeometry                        annotation.coordinate = geometry.center.coordinate                        annotation.title = geofence._description                        return annotation                    }
                    DispatchQueue.main.async {                        self.map?.addAnnotations(annotations)                    }                }            }        }    }
}

Support#

Have questions or feedback on this documentation? Let us know! Email us at support@radar.com.