Question

Having the following code to draw circle (taken from Google Play Services “maps” sample):

    PolylineOptions options = new PolylineOptions();
    int radius = 5; //What is that?
    int numPoints = 100;
    double phase = 2 * Math.PI / numPoints;
    for (int i = 0; i <= numPoints; i++) {
        options.add(new LatLng(SYDNEY.latitude + radius * Math.sin(i * phase),
                SYDNEY.longitude + radius * Math.cos(i * phase)));
    }
    int color = Color.RED;
    mMap.addPolyline(options
            .color(color)
            .width(2));

This is what gets drawn on different part of the world:

As you see circles are not really circles and even second one is ellipse basically.

I guess that “anti-aliasing” of circle depending on number of points in int numPoints variable.

1. What is int radius = 5 variable in example code? I mean what measure it is?
2. And main question what would be correct way of drawing nice circle with given radius in meters? Something smiliar to what we had in api v1 with canvas.drawCircle()

UPDATE ——————–

OK after improving math I was able to draw “right” circle:

private void addCircle(LatLng latLng, double radius)
    {
        double R = 6371d; // earth's mean radius in km
        double d = radius/R; //radius given in km
        double lat1 = Math.toRadians(latLng.latitude);
        double lon1 = Math.toRadians(latLng.longitude);         
        PolylineOptions options = new PolylineOptions();
        for (int x = 0; x <= 360; x++)
        {                      
            double brng = Math.toRadians(x);
            double latitudeRad = Math.asin(Math.sin(lat1)*Math.cos(d) + Math.cos(lat1)*Math.sin(d)*Math.cos(brng));
            double longitudeRad = (lon1 + Math.atan2(Math.sin(brng)*Math.sin(d)*Math.cos(lat1), Math.cos(d)-Math.sin(lat1)*Math.sin(latitudeRad)));             
            options.add(new LatLng(Math.toDegrees(latitudeRad), Math.toDegrees(longitudeRad)));
        }           
        mMap.addPolyline(options.color(Color.BLACK).width(2));          
    }

However anti-aliasing of circle I guess is somewhat beyond control, and on some zoom levels circle might get ugly:

Answer 1

How to draw circle in Google Maps v2 (bitmap)

// 1. some variables:

    private static final double EARTH_RADIUS = 6378100.0;
    private int offset;

// 2. convert meters to pixels between 2 points in current zoom:

    private int convertMetersToPixels(double lat, double lng, double radiusInMeters) {

         double lat1 = radiusInMeters / EARTH_RADIUS;
         double lng1 = radiusInMeters / (EARTH_RADIUS * Math.cos((Math.PI * lat / 180)));

         double lat2 = lat + lat1 * 180 / Math.PI;
         double lng2 = lng + lng1 * 180 / Math.PI; 

         Point p1 = YourActivity.getMap().getProjection().toScreenLocation(new LatLng(lat, lng));
         Point p2 = YourActivity.getMap().getProjection().toScreenLocation(new LatLng(lat2, lng2));

         return Math.abs(p1.x - p2.x);
    }

// 3. bitmap creation:

    private Bitmap getBitmap() {

        // fill color
        Paint paint1 = new Paint(Paint.ANTI_ALIAS_FLAG);
        paint1.setColor(0x110000FF);
        paint1.setStyle(Style.FILL);

        // stroke color
        Paint paint2 = new Paint(Paint.ANTI_ALIAS_FLAG);
        paint2.setColor(0xFF0000FF);
        paint2.setStyle(Style.STROKE);

        // icon
        Bitmap icon = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(YourActivity.getResources(), R.drawable.blue);

        // circle radius - 200 meters
        int radius = offset = convertMetersToPixels(lat, lng, 200);

        // if zoom too small
        if (radius < icon.getWidth() / 2) {

            radius = icon.getWidth() / 2;
        }

        // create empty bitmap 
        Bitmap b = Bitmap.createBitmap(radius * 2, radius * 2, Config.ARGB_8888);
        Canvas c = new Canvas(b);

        // draw blue area if area > icon size
        if (radius != icon.getWidth() / 2) {

            c.drawCircle(radius, radius, radius, paint1);
            c.drawCircle(radius, radius, radius, paint2);
        }

        // draw icon
        c.drawBitmap(icon, radius - icon.getWidth() / 2, radius - icon.getHeight() / 2, new Paint());

        return b;
    }

// 4. calculate image offset:

    private LatLng getCoords(double lat, double lng) {

        LatLng latLng = new LatLng(lat, lng);

        Projection proj = YourActivity.getMap().getProjection();
        Point p = proj.toScreenLocation(latLng);
        p.set(p.x, p.y + offset);

        return proj.fromScreenLocation(p);
    }

// 5. draw:

        MarkerOptions options = new MarkerOptions();
            options.position(getCoords(lat, lng));
            options.icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.fromBitmap(getBitmap()));

            marker = YourActivity.getMap().addMarker(options);

and result: