27-Jan-2026 — add Google Places venue search with automatic details retrieval ref: #132

build 458 — commit a160de6

What's New for Users

Find Venue Search

The venue search has been upgraded with Google Places integration, making it much easier to find pubs, restaurants, and other venues:

• Renamed to "Find Venue"
• The search tab is now called "Find Venue" instead of "Search Previous" to better reflect its expanded capabilities
• Google Places Search
• When you type a venue name, the system now searches Google Places for matches, showing results with a red "Google" badge
• Automatic Details
• Selecting a Google result automatically fills in the name, address, postcode, coordinates, venue type, AND website URL
• Local Results First
• Results are sorted by distance from your walk's starting point, so nearby venues appear at the top
• Smart Deduplication
• If a venue is already saved in your database, only that entry shows (no duplicates from Google)

New Venue Types

Two new venue types have been added to the dropdown:

• Point of Interest
• For landmarks, monuments, museums, castles, etc.
• Location
• For generic locations like greens, commons, parks, crossroads, etc.

How It Works

1. Go to the venue section on a walk
2. Click "Find Venue" tab
3. Type the venue name (e.g., "Kings Arms" or "Pig at Bridge")
4. Select from the dropdown - stored venues show with coloured icons, Google results show with a red "G"
5. All details are automatically populated including the website URL

Technical Changes

• Integrated Google Places API (New) for venue text search
• Added places.websiteUri to field mask for URL retrieval
• Implemented result deduplication by name+postcode and coordinate proximity
• Added VenueSource enum (STORED, GOOGLE) for source tracking
• Extended VenueTypeValue enum with POINT_OF_INTEREST and LOCATION
• Added corresponding icons (faLandmark, faMapMarkerAlt) to walks-reference-data.service