A customized map can be key to delivering a frictionless experience that engages users and sets you apart in users’ minds–whether you’re a real estate company fine-tuning points of interest (POIs) on a map to help buyers decide where to live, or a regional pharmacy styling a map to ensure your locations stand out from the competition. That’s why we’ve focused on empowering you with these capabilities through features like POI density and POI filtering controls, zoom level customization, and even industry-optimized map styles. But we’re not done helping you take your map to the next level. Today, we’re making two updates generally available—a new Maps SDK for Android and the extension of Cloud-based maps styling features to our Android and iOS SDKs. Together they enhance the native mobile map experience and make it easier for you to deliver consistent, optimized maps across all your platforms. We’ll also give you an early look at additional features that we’re working on.

Update your Maps SDKs for Android for an enhanced user experience
Developers around the world depend on the Maps SDK for Android to power critical experiences like helping drivers make a delivery or helping retailers visually confirm an order’s shipping address. With consumers spending an increasing amount of time in apps, it’s more important than ever that mobile experiences meet the high consumer expectations that come with essential, everyday use. 

Today we released version 18.0.0 of the Maps SDK for Android, which delivers an enhanced map experience to app users, thanks to a new renderer. The new renderer introduces optimizations to our tile serving and rendering architecture, reducing payload size. This can help to reduce network load, on-device processing, and memory consumption for a more stable and smoother end-user experience. You’ll also see specific improvements with map labels. Now more fluid and clearly positioned, they pave the way for future marker management features. We’ve also enhanced overall gesture handling for better animations and smoother panning and zooming. 

Because the Maps SDK for Android continues to be distributed as part of the Google Play services SDK, you can upgrade to v18.0.0 along with all its improvements with no increase to your APK size.

A consistent cross-platform maps experience with Cloud-based maps styling for mobile
Earlier this year at Google I/O, we announced the general availability of Cloud-based maps styling for JavaScript. Since then customers have used the richer customization capabilities and efficient cloud-enhanced deployment workflow to power millions of mapping experiences, from a curated interactive map of Munich to fun virtual Easter egg hunts hosted by Cadbury. Starting today, Cloud-based maps styling features are supported in the GA versions of our Maps SDK for Android (v18+) and Maps SDK for iOS (V5.0+).

Cloud-based maps styling moves map customization code off the client and into the cloud–where it can be easily modified to use new features or test new configurations. This decoupling of client code and customization code makes it easy to manage a single branded and optimized style across any number of apps across all supported platforms. It also makes it possible to simultaneously publish changes to a map style across platforms and install bases with the click of a button. Cloud-based maps styling is the foundation for a growing set of new customization features including POI filtering and POI boosting, zoom level customization, landmarks, and commercial corridor styling.

Mobile developers can now take advantage of Cloud-based maps styling features and simple cross-platform customizations for their Dynamic Maps by creating a MapID in Google Cloud Console and using it within their Maps SDK for Android or Maps SDK for iOS. Dynamic maps loaded with a Map ID via our Maps SDK for Android or Maps SDK for iOS will be billed to the same SKU as Maps JavaScript API (Dynamic Maps) and covered under the same $200 monthly credit and volume pricing. Developers can upgrade to the new Maps SDK for Android and continue using client-styled maps for no charge as they always have. 

Additional capabilities we’re working on¹
We know you have a range of map customization needs to engage your users with differentiated experiences.  We’re working on developing more Cloud-based maps styling features–focused on marker capabilities, map elements, and data-driven styling–to help you do just that. We’re working on a new set of markers capabilities, easier pin customizations, marker collision management, performance optimizations, and the ability to build custom marker elements that you can use to quickly deploy deeply customized, highly optimized marker-driven experiences. For those seeking greater detail in their maps, we’re working on expanding the availability and customization of detailed street maps to even more cities. We’re also working on features to make it easier to programmatically style map elements by exposing new APIs to enable things like the simple creation of choropleths by styling Google geographical boundaries based on your data. 

This is just a peek into what we’re excited to be building for our developer community. While we’re working hard to bring these additional features to life, visit our website to learn more and our developer documentation to start customizing and enhancing your mobile maps. 

¹Product capabilities, timeframes, and features are subject to change.

Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) executive Mark Eimer explains how an ambitiously-timed rollout of a comprehensive suite of Google products helped the entire organization—from doctors to IT staff—achieve better security, cultivate a more equitable work environment, and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.

How does a recently merged, 17-hospital healthcare system fast-track a platform migration and hardware rollout securely and in a way that improves work for everyone, regardless of location or role? These are the questions that kept me up at night in early 2020, when the pandemic demanded a “big bang”—something our legacy laptops and operating systems couldn’t handle.

We began our work with Google in 2020 with the adoption of Chrome as our default browser. As we migrated platforms, keeping patient data safe was of the utmost importance to us, along with providing every staff member with the tools they needed to work virtually. Our staff often experienced issues accessing our web-based applications using Internet Explorer or Edge Browser, a problem that went away when we switched to Chrome. Chrome’s versatile compatibility also made it easier for my team to migrate all of our web-based operations, and Chrome’s security and manageability were key components to making this switch a huge win for the organization.

The success of this migration led us to extend our Google partnership to patient care applications—where Google’s expertise in AI and ML helps scale the use of diagnostics tools and improve other aspects of the patient journey.

Achieving security at every step 

Like so many other healthcare organizations, we’ve been concerned about ransomware attacks. This is part of why we moved to Google Workspace and distributed over 3,000 Chrome OS devices in kiosk mode in March of 2020, when many of us went remote due to the pandemic. We were very concerned about team members accessing corporate applications through home devices that were running EOL operating systems (WIN7), as well as a general lack of antivirus and encryption measures.

We were protected by the fact that Google’s software and hardware both had built-in security features that we needed to stave off sophisticated attackers. For example, Chrome OS automatically updates to the latest security update and encrypts data living outside the cloud on the hardware. These features protected us from security-related disruptions, letting us securely move a huge library of file shares and emails across thousands of accounts to Google Chrome OS in just four months.

A year later, in March 2021, we migrated the enterprise over to Google Workspace and saw an immediate reduction in spam by 30% from the inherent built-in AI/ML. This meant staff were less likely to receive (and click through) phishing attempts. My team could connect, create, and collaborate easily and securely—even as more of us were working from home and needed to access sensitive data remotely. 

Leveling the playing field

As an organization, we were surprised by how many team members didn’t have personal computers at home. We quickly decided that if we needed team members to work from home, the health network would have to supply hardware. Chromebooks’ lower price tag compared to PCs—on top of their built-in security controls—allowed us to purchase, deploy, and support that initial distribution of 3,000 Chromebooks to team members in less than three weeks, providing devices to every eligible remote employee instead of just a select few. This was vital to reaching our equitable technology goal as part of our diversity and inclusion initiative: everybody has the same tools to do good work.

When all employees have what they need to do their jobs well, we get better patient outcomes. Before we began this cloud adoption journey, patient and staff experiences were different within the hospitals and outside of them. 

Now it’s the same wherever our staff is, and we’ve seen efficiency and accessibility benefits extend to the patient side. For example, we built a web-based contact center that supports 80 locations that use Workspace and Chrome OS devices. Since customer service, admin, and providers are all on the same system, it has become a one-stop shop for patients.

Furthermore, through the Grow with Google program, we were able to provide another benefit to employees that drove our equity goals. Google trained 50 non-IT staff members—from environmental services, food and nutrition, and other non-tech areas who were interested in making a career change to IT—on the Google products we were using. They may not have thought about switching to a career in IT before the Grow with Google program came to our organization, but through this partnership, they now have that opportunity.

A strategic, long-term partner

With any large-scale rollout, the work doesn’t end once laptops are in employee hands. Google has shown their commitment to long-term collaboration as they continuously optimize their products for the unique needs of healthcare providers and go the extra mile in tailoring tools to our staff’s workflows. 

For example, on the Chrome OS side, the Google team has helped our registration desks and document centers with device integration for hardware like credit card readers and e-signature pads. They’ve also helped us meet security and privacy requirements mandated by state and federal governments around HIPAA, Medicaid, and Medicare reimbursements. Over this next year, we’ll look at a feature roadmap with Google Cloud to deliver further enhancements, iterating on the product itself to meet our needs for the present and the future.

Delivering the future of healthcare

The benefits we’ve seen around security and usability—and the ability to provide all staff with equal access to Google’s technology—are why we’re expanding our partnership with Google to both the administrative and clinical sides of HMH. In addition to further Google rollouts with corporate, next year we’re distributing Chromebooks to all 350 of our ambulatory clinics.

We’re also working with the Google professional services team to create a custom AI model that analyzes 3D mammogram images. This AI model will enable two providers to read mammograms—which adheres to international best practices but is currently rare in the US—without requiring additional time. Conducting double readings of mammograms will yield better health outcomes for our patients, such as a lower patient recall rate and an increased accuracy in detecting breast cancer.

We’re currently building the model using a variety of Google Cloud products, including Cloud Healthcare API. Once complete, this model is expected to be trained, deployed, and maintained in Google’s Vertex AI, allowing our providers to be more productive as they make clinical decisions with AI support. As the model is proven over time, we plan to make the predictive services accessible to other healthcare organizations.

With Google, we’re able to achieve a unified architecture for storing data as well as training and deploying AI models, which enable our staff to work more efficiently and securely from anywhere. While I may not be able to predict the future as accurately as AI can, I foresee our continued partnership with Google as a key part of HMH’s improved provider and patient outcomes.

Introduction

In our discussions with technology leaders from around the world for – The Digital Crunch Time: 2022 State of APIs and Applications – two themes emerged 

#1 Cloud — and hybrid cloud specifically — is becoming a driving factor of success with 59% of respondents saying they were looking to increase their hybrid cloud adoption within the next 12 months.

#2 82% of organizations with a mature API strategy and higher API adoption reported increased efficiency, collaboration, and agility. 

It’s clear that hybrid cloud – usually a combination of on-premise infrastructure (or private cloud) and a public cloud computing environment (like Google Cloud) – and APIs are becoming popular keys to success. The challenge now becomes – how to structure your teams and architect your platform to manage APIs at scale in hybrid environments?

In this two-part series, we’ll look at how successful organizations are managing APIs on a large scale across hybrid environments using Apigee. In this post we’ll look at how to structure the right team and set up the platform to help you thrive. In part 2 of this series, we will explore how to operate the platform with optimum clusters, scaling, and automation. 

Why is it difficult to manage APIs at scale in hybrid environments?

As your business grows, it makes sense that you will need to scale and build more APIs to keep pace. This can mean thousands of APIs with tens of thousands of transactions per second. And these APIs are often operated across completely different business units with many development teams. Like with any large scale operation, building a central governance across these hundreds of APIs is extremely challenging.

Operating APIs in a hybrid environment offers a number of benefits — less latency, compliance with regulations etc., — but to get the most out of them, you need a clinical and pragmatic approach to solving the two challenges outlined below. 

#1 How to structure your API teams?

One of the most successful patterns when structuring your API teams is a Center for Enablement team. This team is made up of many federated API producer teams throughout the enterprise with one central team of deep subject matter experts. This central team builds out the guardrails for the API program, develops reusable content, helps automate things like the CI/CD pipeline, and delivers best practices. 

Note that the level of implementation handled by the centralized team may vary. For example, they may have a full CI/CD pipeline to maintain, or they may simply provide templates for the federated dev teams to build their own pipeline. However implementation is coordinated, having this structure ensures a consistent API model with appropriate governance and security in place across the enterprise.

Another successful strategy is to reduce the size or redefine the role of the central teams over time. For example, one of our customers recently adopted a model where their largest business units are fully responsible for operating their own infrastructure using a GitOps model. In this case, the centralized team created the automation for installing and upgrading Apigee hybrid, but the business units themselves operated their own copy of the platform, allowing them complete autonomy. In this way, gradually increasing the autonomy for the federated teams will help avoid delivery bottlenecks while ensuring consistent governance.

You can visualize this change over time pretty easily using the following diagram.

#2 How to architect your platform? 

Another challenge is designing your Apigee organizations (top-level container that contains all your API proxies and related resources) and environments (software environment for creating and deploying API proxies). To tackle this, you first need to understand the relationship between different entities within an Apigee organization. Apigee organization is the top level entity – nothing shared between Apigee organizations. Using an organization in Apigee, customers can segregate resources and manage access to these resources based on their own requirements. In practice, this means that each Apigee organization has its own apps, API keys, developers, proxies, and so on. The diagram below provides a visual representation of how different entities in an Apigee organization interact with each other.

Another key factor to consider is the technical limits of the platform – designing around these limits leads to higher platform performance and stability.

In the design phase, it is vital to articulate fundamental requirements of your architecture and agree on these baseline principles with all the stakeholders involved. Some of these fundamental questions include:

• How many regions need to host runtimes?
  • Host runtime instances for organizations that handle production traffic in at least 2 regions to meet aggressive uptime SLAs. During upgrades, ensure only one of these regions upgrades at a time.
• What are the steps in your Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and how does Apigee fit into it?
  • Use Apigee organizations as the SDLC perimeter — such as a dev organization and a test organization — to give yourself the capacity for a large number of proxies. It is also common that the dev organization in this model has relatively permissive access for developers, allowing them to work more efficiently. 
• What level of access or separation do you need between business units or development teams?
  • Create separation between different teams by leveraging environments with conditional identity and access management to restrict access as necessary
  • If your team is very large and you plan to have multiple organizations, you may want to divide the operational ownership for these different Apigee organizations among different teams in your enterprise while keeping them operating under the centralized team.
    • In such a shared responsibility model, the largest consumers of the system stand up and operate their own instances. Teams with many APIs or distinct operational needs can use the automation from the central team to stand up and operate their own Apigee hybrid clusters. This reduces the burden on the centralized team while allowing business units to be self-sufficient and ensuring that the clusters are optimized to meet that team’s needs.
    • For very large scale programs where additional separation is necessary, consider creating separate organizations for each business unit, each of which has the full complement of SDLC orgs. Some customers have this level of scale, and often it makes logical sense to divide up into different Apigee orgs because it’s rare that 5000 APIs are all related and used together. 

By working off these baseline recommendations, you will come up with your own logical design of Apigee organizations and environments. Using Apigee organizations to represent your SDLC with business units — or functional areas or some other dividing mechanism — is a good way to design different environments.

For large scale deployments — involving thousands of proxies — we recommend dividing organizations into different logical business units while still following the SDLC model. In many cases, only the largest business units will need their own organizations, and it is possible to have a shared organization that contains multiple business units.

Conclusion

Like with any large scale IT project, there isn’t one“correct” way to operate APIs in a hybrid cloud environment. Finding the right approach for your enterprise starts with knowing the organizational requirements and tailoring Apigee for your use case. In the next installment of this series, we will explore how to operate Apigee with the optimal resources (clusters, automation, and monitoring etc.) for a large scale hybrid API program. 

Check out our documentation to learn more or start using Apigee hybrid.