# Geolocation Attachment

In this comprehensive example, we demonstrate how to build a location sharing feature. Chat users will
have the ability to send their location to a channel through a custom `Attachment` component that displays
coordinates using the [Google Maps API](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/overview).

The feature flow has three distinct steps:

- Select `Share Location` custom message action
- Confirm you wish to send your location to the current channel
- Render coordinates on a Google Maps overlay sent as a message attachment

## Custom Message Action

The first step in our location sharing flow is to add a custom message action that on click allows a chat
user to begin the process of sending their coordinates to the channel. For a more detailed explanation of
customizing message actions, see our [custom code example](/chat/docs/sdk/react/v11/guides/theming/actions/message_actions/).

In this example, our custom handler function will toggle a state variable that shows/hides a location sharing
confirmation modal.

```tsx
const [shareLocation, setShareLocation] = useState<boolean>(false);

const locationHandler = (
  message: StreamMessage,
  event: React.BaseSyntheticEvent,
) => {
  setShareLocation(true);
};

const customMessageActions = { "Share Location": locationHandler };

<MessageList customMessageActions={customMessageActions} />;
```

![Geolocation 1](@chat-sdk/react/v11/_assets/Geolocation1.png)

## Location Sharing Confirmation

Next, we display a popup that prompts the chat user to confirm whether or not they actually wish to
send their location to the current channel.

As soon as the modal component mounts, we fetch the connected user's latitude and longitude by calling
the `getCurrentPosition` method from the [Geolocation Web API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation_API).
The coordinates are then set into local state hooks. If the user confirms they wish to share their location, a
message attachment of type `map` is created with the `latitude` and `longitude` state variables attached.

```tsx
type ShareLocationModalProps = {
  setShareLocation: React.Dispatch<React.SetStateAction<boolean>>;
};

const ShareLocationModal: React.FC<ShareLocationModalProps> = (props) => {
  const { setShareLocation } = props;
  const { sendMessage } = useChannelActionContext();

  const [latitude, setLatitude] = useState<number>();
  const [longitude, setLongitude] = useState<number>();

  useEffect(() => {
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition((position) => {
      setLatitude(position.coords.latitude);
      setLongitude(position.coords.longitude);
    });
  }, []);

  const handleYes = async () => {
    const messageToSend: MessageToSend = {
      attachments: [{ type: "map", latitude, longitude }],
    };

    try {
      await sendMessage(messageToSend);
    } catch (err) {
      console.log(err);
    }

    setShareLocation(false);
  };

  const handleNo = () => setShareLocation(false);

  return (
    <div className="share-location">
      <div>Do you want to share your location in this conversation?</div>
      <div className="share-location-buttons">
        <button disabled={!latitude || !longitude} onClick={handleYes}>
          Yes
        </button>
        <button onClick={handleNo}>No</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};
```

![Geolocation 2](@chat-sdk/react/v11/_assets/Geolocation2.png)

## Custom Map Attachment

Now that we've created a message attachment of type `map`, we need to build a custom `Attachment` component that
conditionally renders this new type. If a message attachment is not of type `map`, meaning it's a standard library
type, we return the default `Attachment` component.

When our custom component receives an attachment of type `map`, we pass the geolocation coordinates into the
`GoogleMapReact` component. This library is a React-based wrapper around the Google Maps API and displays a map
and geolocation as a React component. See the [`google-map-react`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/google-map-react)
readme and documentation for more information.

Since the `GoogleMapReact` component can take some time to render as coordinates are extracted from the Geolocation
API, we render the component library's standard [`LoadingIndicator`](https://github.com/GetStream/stream-chat-react/blob/master/src/components/Loading/LoadingIndicator.tsx)
while we wait for `latitude` and `longitude` to be set.

<admonition type="tip">

In order to interact with the Google Maps API, you must [set up an account](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/cloud-setup)
and generate an API key.

</admonition>

<admonition type="note">

Since we've added new fields to our `map` type message attachment, we must extend the basic `Attachment` type
(renamed to `StreamAttachment` here) to support `latitude` and `longitude`.

</admonition>

```tsx
import GoogleMapReact from "google-map-react";

const googleMapsApiKey = process.env.REACT_APP_GOOGLE_MAPS as string;

type MapCenterProps = {
  lat: number;
  lng: number;
};

const MapCenter: React.FC<MapCenterProps> = () => (
  <div className="map-center" />
);

type ExtendedAttachment = {
  latitude?: number;
  longitude?: number;
};

type MapAttachmentProps<ExtendedAttachment> = {
  mapAttachment: StreamAttachment<ExtendedAttachment>;
};

const MapAttachment: React.FC<MapAttachmentProps<ExtendedAttachment>> = (
  props,
) => {
  const { mapAttachment } = props;

  const { latitude, longitude } = mapAttachment;

  if (!latitude || !longitude) {
    return (
      <div className="map-loading">
        <LoadingIndicator size={30} />
      </div>
    );
  }

  const center = {
    lat: latitude,
    lng: longitude,
  };

  return (
    <GoogleMapReact
      bootstrapURLKeys={{ key: googleMapsApiKey }}
      defaultCenter={center}
      defaultZoom={11}
      style={{ height: "250px", width: "250px" }}
      yesIWantToUseGoogleMapApiInternals
    >
      <MapCenter lat={center.lat} lng={center.lng} />
    </GoogleMapReact>
  );
};

const CustomAttachment: React.FC<AttachmentProps> = (props) => {
  const { attachments } = props;

  if (attachments[0]?.type === "map") {
    return <MapAttachment mapAttachment={attachments[0]} />;
  }

  return <Attachment {...props} />;
};
```

## Implementation

Now that each individual piece has been constructed, we can assemble all of the snippets into the final code example.

### The Code

```css
.map-loading {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  background: var(--grey-whisper);
  border-radius: 16px;
  height: 250px;
  width: 250px;
}

.map-center {
  background: var(--primary-color);
  border-radius: 6px;
  height: 12px;
  width: 12px;
}

.share-location {
  position: absolute;
  top: 50%;
  left: 50%;
  background: var(--white-snow);
  border: 2px solid var(--primary-color);
  border-radius: 8px;
  padding: 8px;
  z-index: 99;
}

.share-location-buttons {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: space-evenly;
  margin-bottom: 8px;
  margin-top: 16px;
}

.share-location-buttons button {
  border-radius: 16px;
  font-size: 16px;
  width: 80px;
}
```

```tsx
import GoogleMapReact from "google-map-react";

const googleMapsApiKey = process.env.REACT_APP_GOOGLE_MAPS as string;

type ShareLocationModalProps = {
  setShareLocation: React.Dispatch<React.SetStateAction<boolean>>;
};

const ShareLocationModal: React.FC<ShareLocationModalProps> = (props) => {
  const { setShareLocation } = props;
  const { sendMessage } = useChannelActionContext();

  const [latitude, setLatitude] = useState<number>();
  const [longitude, setLongitude] = useState<number>();

  useEffect(() => {
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition((position) => {
      setLatitude(position.coords.latitude);
      setLongitude(position.coords.longitude);
    });
  }, []);

  const handleYes = async () => {
    const messageToSend: MessageToSend = {
      attachments: [{ type: "map", latitude, longitude }],
    };

    try {
      await sendMessage(messageToSend);
    } catch (err) {
      console.log(err);
    }

    setShareLocation(false);
  };

  const handleNo = () => setShareLocation(false);

  return (
    <div className="share-location">
      <div>Do you want to share your location in this conversation?</div>
      <div className="share-location-buttons">
        <button disabled={!latitude || !longitude} onClick={handleYes}>
          Yes
        </button>
        <button onClick={handleNo}>No</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

type MapCenterProps = {
  lat: number;
  lng: number;
};

const MapCenter: React.FC<MapCenterProps> = () => (
  <div className="map-center" />
);

type ExtendedAttachment = {
  latitude?: number;
  longitude?: number;
};

type MapAttachmentProps<ExtendedAttachment> = {
  mapAttachment: StreamAttachment<ExtendedAttachment>;
};

const MapAttachment: React.FC<MapAttachmentProps<ExtendedAttachment>> = (
  props,
) => {
  const { mapAttachment } = props;

  const { latitude, longitude } = mapAttachment;

  if (!latitude || !longitude) {
    return (
      <div className="map-loading">
        <LoadingIndicator size={30} />
      </div>
    );
  }

  const center = {
    lat: latitude,
    lng: longitude,
  };

  return (
    <GoogleMapReact
      bootstrapURLKeys={{ key: googleMapsApiKey }}
      defaultCenter={center}
      defaultZoom={11}
      style={{ height: "250px", width: "250px" }}
      yesIWantToUseGoogleMapApiInternals
    >
      <MapCenter lat={center.lat} lng={center.lng} />
    </GoogleMapReact>
  );
};

const CustomAttachment: React.FC<AttachmentProps> = (props) => {
  const { attachments } = props;

  if (attachments[0]?.type === "map") {
    return <MapAttachment mapAttachment={attachments[0]} />;
  }

  return <Attachment {...props} />;
};

const App = () => {
  const [shareLocation, setShareLocation] = useState<boolean>(false);

  const locationHandler = (
    message: StreamMessage,
    event: React.BaseSyntheticEvent,
  ) => {
    setShareLocation(true);
  };

  const customMessageActions = { "Share Location": locationHandler };

  return (
    <Chat client={chatClient}>
      <ChannelList />
      <Channel Attachment={CustomAttachment}>
        <Window>
          {shareLocation && (
            <ShareLocationModal setShareLocation={setShareLocation} />
          )}
          <ChannelHeader />
          <MessageList customMessageActions={customMessageActions} />
          <MessageInput />
        </Window>
        <Thread />
      </Channel>
    </Chat>
  );
};
```

### The Result

**The `MapAttachment` component loading:**

![Geolocation 3](@chat-sdk/react/v11/_assets/Geolocation3.png)

**The `MapAttachment` component rendered:**

![Geolocation 4](@chat-sdk/react/v11/_assets/Geolocation4.png)

---

This page was last updated at 2025-08-15T14:16:01.149Z.

For the most recent version of this documentation, visit [https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react/v11/guides/theming/actions/geolocation_attachment/](https://getstream.io/chat/docs/sdk/react/v11/guides/theming/actions/geolocation_attachment/).