@java.lang.Override
  public com.google.devtools.cloudtrace.v1.TraceSpan.SpanKind getKind() {
    com.google.devtools.cloudtrace.v1.TraceSpan.SpanKind result =
        com.google.devtools.cloudtrace.v1.TraceSpan.SpanKind.forNumber(kind_);
    return result == null
        ? com.google.devtools.cloudtrace.v1.TraceSpan.SpanKind.UNRECOGNIZED
        : result;
  }
<pre>
Distinguishes between spans generated in a particular context. For example,
two spans with the same name may be distinguished using `RPC_CLIENT`
and `RPC_SERVER` to identify queueing latency associated with the span.
</pre>

<code>.google.devtools.cloudtrace.v1.TraceSpan.SpanKind kind = 2;</code>

@return The kind.
java-trace/proto-google-cloud-trace-v1/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/cloudtrace/v1/TraceSpan.java