How to convert a Google Places photo_reference into a URL

Question

I am currently developing a Restaurant finder application that allows the users to search for Restaurant's around them. I am using a List Adapter to display a list of nearby Restaurants, the only issue I am having is with displaying the photos of those Restaurants.

Looking at the Google Places Photos API I understand that for each Restaurant that has a photo there is a photo_reference attribute. So what I am trying to do is use the ImageLoader library to display all these photos in my list.

The problem here is that ImageLoader requires a URL of the photo but the Google Places API uses a photo_reference. How can I convert a photo_reference into a URL?

Answer 1

Simply put the photo_reference in a URL.

E.g. https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/photo?maxwidth=400&photoreference=CnRtAAAATLZNl354RwP_9UKbQ_5Psy40texXePv4oAlgP4qNEkdIrkyse7rPXYGd9D_Uj1rVsQdWT4oRz4QrYAJNpFX7rzqqMlZw2h2E2y5IKMUZ7ouD_SlcHxYq1yL4KbKUv3qtWgTK0A6QbGh87GB3sscrHRIQiG2RrmU_jF4tENr9wGS_YxoUSSDrYjWmrNfeEHSGSc3FyhNLlBU&key=YOUR_API_KEY

See the Place Photo Requests documentation for details.