name: android-maps-location description: Maps & location — Google Maps SDK, FusedLocationProvider, geofencing, permissions. user-invocable: true

Android Maps & Location

Cross-cutting skill — always activates alongside the project-type-specific skill.

Hard Rules

• •Use FusedLocationProviderClient — not LocationManager directly.
• •Request only the location accuracy you need (COARSE vs FINE).
• •Handle both approximate (COARSE) and precise (FINE) location grants (API 31+).
• •Remove location updates when not needed — do not leak location listeners.
• •Use foreground service with location type for background location access.
• •ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION requires separate permission request and justification.
• •Protect Google Maps API key with app restriction (SHA-1 + package name) in Cloud Console.
• •Do not hardcode API keys in source — use Secrets Gradle Plugin or local.properties.
• •Handle location permission denial gracefully — degrade to manual location entry.
• •Test with mock locations enabled and disabled.

Core Patterns

• •Request FINE + COARSE together — user can downgrade to approximate on API 31+.
• •Use LocationRequest.Builder with appropriate priority and interval.
• •Prefer geofencing over continuous polling for location-triggered actions.
• •Use Maps Compose library for Compose integration.
• •Cluster markers for dense map points — avoid rendering thousands of markers.
• •Cache geocoding results — avoid repeated API calls for the same coordinates.

References

• •references/google_maps.md
• •references/fused_location.md
• •references/geofencing.md
• •references/location_permissions.md