How can you tell when an Android device has a Geocoder backend service?

Question

According to the Geocoder documentation, the class provides methods into a backend service which may or may not exist on the device. If the geocoder doesn\'t exist on the d

Answer 1

According to the Google Maps docs, "The Google Maps API provides a client geocoder for geocoding addresses". So I would say that since you are requiring the google maps API, you are requiring a geocoder.

Answer 2

Strictly speaking there could be another backend installed, just try if a geocoder is present

    final Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder(this);
    final String locName = "1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA";
    try {
        final List<Address> list = geocoder.getFromLocationName(locName, 1);
        if ( ! (list == null || list.isEmpty()) ) {
            final Address address = list.get(0);
            System.out.println("Geocoder backend present, (lat,lon) = (" + address.getLatitude() + ", " + address.getLongitude() + ")");
        }
        else {
            System.out.println("Geocoder backend not present");
        }
    } catch (IOException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }