Design your way

Google APIs can be categorized in many different ways, but most experts in the industry tend to divide them in three separate groups:

– The HTTP APIs (RPC-based Geocoding API, RESTful Google Data API, SOAP AdWords APIs) that are interacted with directly from our server’s side;
– HTML/JavaScript APIs (Google Visualizations, Google Maps, Charts, etc.) that are interacted with on the client’s side
– App and Extension APIs (Android SDK, Chrome Extensions, Google Talk bots, and so on) which are in fact original API-first gadgets we use to enhance the power of our products.

Each and every conversation on APIs and why they’re useful ends up with a simple question: Why does Google offer such at the first place?

It would be an easy question to answer if all APIs were to be paid for, as Google would earn plenty from enhanced websites where people click on ads.

Another important reason is branding awareness (the rule of thumb says, each time you see a Google logo or a map embedded on a website you tend to tryst it more).

On the user’s side of the story, APIs provide end-to-end data control, as there is a dedicated Data Liberation Front team that ensures users can import/export data easily, use developer-ready extensions, and make their products more visible on Google.

Gmail API

Gmail APIs are in fact RESTful APIs developers use to access correspondence via Gmail inboxes. Basically, if you run a popular website or a mobile/web application, Gmail APIs are the only way to access your users’ Gmail data in an authorized way.

The access Gmail APIs provide is flexible and easy, with an interface reminiscent of how Messages, Labels, Threads, Drafts, and History are displayed in a Google inbox. The very same APIs allow you to include other features such as:

Reading arriving messages in Gmail
Sending emails
Modifying the labels applied to threads and messages
Searching for threads and messages
Creation of custom filters for automated archiving, forwarding, and labeling messages.

In order to start using Gmail API, you will only need access to the client library suitable for your language, and an app that is able to authenticate itself as a regular Gmail user.

When do you use Gmail APIs?

There are many types of web and mobile apps that can use Gmail APIs, including:

Read-only backup, indexing, and mailextraction apps
Labeling management apps
Apps for programmatic and automated email distribution
Apps used to migrate account data from other sources and providers
Apps that standardize the domain signature process for all users.

Gmail APIs are in fact a web service based on RESTful APIs with a specific JSON payload. In this part of the article, we are providing a complete overview of these APIs and their intended use, while for more details, we recommend you to refer directly to Google’s API references.

Google BigQuery API

When you don’t have the right software and hardware, querying and storing large datasets can be a daunting and expensive process. Google solved this problem with an enterprise-grade data warehouse called Google BigQuery, as the API enables rocket-fast SQL queries to process this data within Google’s standard infrastructure.

All you have to do is to transfer information to BigQuery, and let it handle the heavy lifting. At the same time, you will be able to control how data is processed and whether it meets your business needs, and apply unique processes that would produce metrics valuable to you.

The core value of Google BigQuery is that you can run the SQL queries for as many long datasets as you have or, as the company points out, process as many as billion rows at a time. We recommend BigQuery for users that process numerous big, append-only charts, as there are many tools that can be useful to them (the REST API, the bq command lines, Google App Scripts, and so on).

Google Books API

Google’s Books Family also provides users with open APIs allowing them to use its features within their site or application. This means that you can perform most operations programmatically, and interact in a lot of useful ways with Google Books’ website. For instance, there will be an embedded Viewer API that allows direct content transfers from one website to the other.

Google is continuously working on making information accessible and easy to understand, and that’s exactly the point of introducing API for the purpose. You need to understand, however, that most of the data used to power up Google Books is licensed, and cannot be distributed in a way Google would find convenient.

Another important thing to remember is that Google Books APIs are not classical replacements for commercial service ads. Google still reputes such services as its main source of profit and basis for building public APIs.

You can find the Terms of Service for Google APIs on the following link: http://ift.tt/2vyEM4z. Each attempt to violate these terms will result in user suspension, and may be due to legal actions and remedies.

Calendar API

Google Calendar is another extremely popular app used by millions, and an interactive and smart calendar that helps you schedule and remember events. The app also offers Open API for you to connect it to your app, and make sure users have new ways to engage with the service you provide them. As an example, the owner of a hiking app can use these APIs to schedule the roots on users’ Google Calendar.

How do Calendar APIs integrate with your web and mobile apps?

They are often used to find and check public calendar events. With the right authorization, the user will also be able to reach and edit private calendars and add events.

Calendar APIs also help deepen the integration with Google Calendar, as both web and mobile systems will be able to sync data completely between the apps.

Last, but not least Google’s Calendar APIs let you create, edit, and display important events and tweak a variety of calendar-related elements. Check Google’s repository for more documents on how to use them with different programming languages (they work well with NodeJs, Java, Java Script, .NET, PHP, Python, iOS, Ruby, Android, and Go).

Google Classroom API

If you want mission control for your classes, look no further than Google Classroom. The service is free for both students and teachers, and enables them to create courses, distribute content and tasks, provide feedback, and gather their data under the same roof. Basically, it makes learning easy, instant, and completely paperless.

With Google’s classroom APIs, users can integrate their domains and accounts into a single education app from where they will organize and hold classes, prepare aliases, and distribute invitations for students, teachers, and other interested parties. Student’s roasters are managed through a REST interface, while access to the classroom is governed with OAuth 2.0.

Google Custom Search

Custom Search are JSON/Atom APIs for developers that let them enhance their apps and websites with the capacity to display and retrieve original Google search results. Using the API, you will have all results displayed in Atom and JSON formats.

How does it work? Google’s Custom Search Engine is in fact a RESTful API service for developers used to locate and display search result data in both Atom and JSON formats. On the developer’s behalf, this means empowering any app/website to serve clients by searching and collecting data available on Google.

Google Drive API

We all know and like Google Drive, the world’s best rated cloud storage app that works with files in all formats, and saves them automatically on the Internet. The SDK service also offers APIs of its own (HTTP ones) for developers to sync files stored in Google Drive with third-party websites and applications.

Consequently, the user will have the possibility to enable streamlined interaction between multiple apps and services, with his files being located on a single cloud location.

Google Fit API

Fit is another of Google’s open-to-use ecosystems, this time used to upload lifestyle and fitness data within a central repository. This means that users will have all of their data concentrated in a single location, and will be able to access it from any device:

Regardless of the sensor or wearable widget you’re using, your fitness data will be instantly saved on your fitness app.
Fitness info created and gathered by different apps will be accessible from the fitness app.
The fitness data won’t be lost when changing or upgrading your device.

If planning to develop a wellness, lifestyle, or fitness app, you also have to consider a mechanism for gathering meaningful user information. These are the principles you should have in mind:

Give users a clear explanation of why you’re collecting their data.
If users wish to have that data deleted from the system, take their wish into consideration.
If using Google Fit to collect and read fitness data, users should be informed about it.
In case you’re developing an app that is not exclusively used for fitness purposes, skip using Google Fit APIs to collect, store, or advertise biometric, medical, or any similar type of personal records.
Before you start using Google Fit API, read carefully the company’s Terms and Conditions.

Google Font API

This set of developer API makes Google Fonts metadata available to all users, so that they can query fonts and create dynamic fonts with them. The REST APIs provide fonts as JSON data, and make sure each family will get a list of available styles and scripts their app supports (or Font subsets, as they’re also known).

You will also be able to sort out family lists alphabetically, by styles, trends, dates, or popularity rates. Upon need, you can always expand the lists with more data.

You can use Google’s Font API for any type of website, and benefit from some of its numerous advantages: cross-browser functionality, ease of use, open-source and top quality fonts, and so on.

You can even add a link to special style sheets directly on the HTML document, and then refer users to the same font in CSS style. You will also have numerous font libraries open to use: to start with, there is the Google’s Font Directory and the JavaScript WebFont Loader co-developed by TypeKit.

Google Genomics API

Google Genomics APIs are used by developers to store, explore, share and process DNA information across Google’s in-cloud ecosystem. These APIs were designed to handle different reference-based alignments, DNA sequence reads, and variant calls. The toolset was controlled by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, and is only compliant with selected types of software.

Google Identity Toolkit API

The best-known Google APIs are probably the authentication ones, namely the company’s secure sign-in system that ensures users won’t have to log in separately in order to use different Google Apps. In practice, this means signing in to your Google account, and being able to use Google+, Gmail, Google Calendar, Play Store, YouTube, and similar services.

On the developer’s side, Google Sign-In ensures easy and streamlined connection to users and customers, as they will be provided with a secure payment method (Android Pay), and enabled to import contact data automatically and share it with other Google contacts. These APIs are foremost user-centric ones, which means there is a lot of functionality left to the user to tweak and convert to his needs.

Google Monitoring API

Google’s monitoring APIs are known as The Stackdriver Monitoring API v3, and make sure developers will be able to access900 Stackdriver Metrics from Google Cloud and also Amazon Web Services. There is an open possibility to create your own custom metrics, and organize and group resources in a way which is convenient for you.

The monitoring APIs also let developers integrate them with other applications, and use a variety of unique methods such as calculating data costs, retrieving information, managing contacts, fixing users issues, and many more.

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