"IBitmapDescriptorFactory is not initialized" error

Question

I'm trying to get a marker with an custom icon in Google Maps Android API v2. I just changed one of the examples Google provides. I added .icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.fromResource(R.drawable.arrow)) to RawMapViewDemoActivity in method setUpMap().

private void setUpMapIfNeeded() {
    if (mMap == null) {
        mMap = ((MapView) findViewById(R.id.map)).getMap();
        if (mMap != null) {
            setUpMap();
        }
    }
}

private void setUpMap() {
    mMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions()
        .position(new LatLng(0, 0))
        .title("Marker")
        .icon(BitmapDescriptorFactory.fromResource(R.drawable.arrow)));
}

But I'm always getting an "IBitmapDescriptorFactory is not initialized".

12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.mapdemo/com.example.mapdemo.RawMapViewDemoActivity}: java.lang.NullPointerException: IBitmapDescriptorFactory is not initialized
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2059)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2084)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:130)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1195)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4745)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:786)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:553)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: IBitmapDescriptorFactory is not initialized
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.google.android.gms.internal.at.a(Unknown Source)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.google.android.gms.maps.model.BitmapDescriptorFactory.d(Unknown Source)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.google.android.gms.maps.model.BitmapDescriptorFactory.fromResource(Unknown Source)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.example.mapdemo.RawMapViewDemoActivity.setUpMap(RawMapViewDemoActivity.java:67)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.example.mapdemo.RawMapViewDemoActivity.setUpMapIfNeeded(RawMapViewDemoActivity.java:58)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at com.example.mapdemo.RawMapViewDemoActivity.onCreate(RawMapViewDemoActivity.java:43)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5008)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1079)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2023)
12-18 15:40:54.356: E/AndroidRuntime(12591):    ... 11 more

In BitmapDescriptorFactory it says:

Prior to using any methods from this class, you must do one of the following to ensure that this class is initialized:

• Wait for a GoogleMap to become available from a MapFragment or MapView that you have added to your application. You can verify that the GoogleMap is available by calling the getMap() method and checking that the returned object is not null.

• Call MapsInitializer.initialize(Context). As long as a com.google.android.gms.common.GooglePlayServicesNotAvailableException GooglePlayServicesNotAvailableException isn't thrown, this class will be correctly initialized.

I did the first one, but still getting this error. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Call MapsInitializer.initialize(getApplicationContext()) in the onCreate()