Is GTFS-realtime data in Google Maps Directions API - google-maps

I would like to know:
Is GTFS-realtime data available from the Google Maps Directions API?
If not, are there plans to include GTFS-realtime data in the Google Maps Directions API?
I am a member of a team developing a web application that integrates Google Maps Directions API. The website provides a "Trip Planner" form in which the user enters From, To, Date, and time data to display trip options into the website. Our website visitors are specifically interested in Bus transit options.
The integration is working wonderfully. However, the data returned by the Google API does not contain GTFS-realtime data. We know that the realtime is known to Google through GTFS feeds provided by the transit provider, and we see the realtime data when doing an identical search via https://www.google.com/maps.

I looked at the "Transit Specific Information" that is returned in the Google Maps API DirectionsResult Object (https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/directions#TransitInformation). There is no reference to real-time information in this documentation. Even if real-time information is supplied (and I suspect that it is not), there would be no way to distinguish between scheduled and predicted times.

Related

Google Geochart Without Geocoding

I can't find a clear answer for this one. I've read that there is no limit for Google Charts. However, I have read that there is a limit on using geocharts because of the usage of geocoding which falls under the Google Maps API. That said, under Google Geocharts Data policy, there is this:
Locations are geocoded by Google Maps. Any data that does not require
geocoding is not sent to any server. Please see the Google Maps Terms
of Service for more information on their data policy.
Is there any way that I can be sure that I am not using geocoding when I set the locations.
My locations are sent to the Geochart API as latitude-longitude, ISO-3166-1 alpha-2, or ISO-3166-2.
I just want to be sure that I am not using geocoding because I could have 25,000+ calls a day and do not want to have an issue with the Google Maps API Limits.

Extract raw data from google maps

What data can be extracted from google maps? It seemed to me that I can just poll information about places and geography through their api. I'm looking to pull down a map of a city from google maps and then make my own map from it in order to throw that data into a game engine. A brute force method would be extracting the bitmap images and then processing that information, but is there some standard of geographical information I should explore? And if so, can I get that information from google maps?
If you want your own copy of a map you might be best off looking at Open Street Map, the Google TOS will likely dissallow the use that you are looking for, while OSM is open source and you can download the entire data set at will should that be your desire.
For mapping applications I would look into QGIS, it's again free and a powerful tool.
You can extract datasets and metadata from Google Maps Engine for use on other platforms. You can use the Google Maps Engine API to programmatically access and download data and metadata/configurations from your Google Maps Engine account. This approach is best when you need to download a larger number of data sources from your Maps Engine account or if you’ve updated vector tables using the Maps Engine API.
To download data with the Maps Engine API, your application must handle OAuth 2.0 for authentication as well as the calls to retrieve data via the GME API.
So far the easiest solution in the data extraction industry is to use a Google Maps Web Scraping Template.
Google Maps web scraping template
is an advanced feature of the industry-leading free data extractor Octoparse. They built dozens of templates covering all popular websites, which are ready to use preformatted crawlers. You can use it to extract the business name, reviews, ratings, address, websites, phone number, and open hours, etc.
If you think the template doesn’t meet your needs, you can build your own crawler to extract other information.
Other advanced solutions to extract google maps data include using open-source projects on Github, using python framework/library, use a web scraper chrome extension, etc.
You can check out this article 5 Free Google Maps Data Extractors

Google Geo coding service for getting only geocodes

We have a pharmacy search application. We are trying to get the the input address from
user and find pharmacies around that address in a user specified raduis.
We are planning to geo code the address entered by user from a third party service.
After getting the geocodes we will search for pharmacies in our DB around that address and
display the results. With each result there will be a link which will open a new tab/window of maps.google.com displaying the location.
If we use the google geocoding API service to get geocodes will they charge for it ? I am not showing the map on my UI. Is that ok or violating the google terms ? Is the 2500 requests/day applicable for this scenario as well ? I am seeing that MapQuest is a service which will return only geocodes.
Thanks,
Avinash.
Double check with Google's Terms of Service, but generally they begin denying your API requests after you reach your limit. If you are a repeat offender, they may permanently prevent your IP from using their API. The limit is on the calls that you make to the Geocoding API and is unrelated to whether you display a map using their maps api. The following includes strategies for how to work within these limits: https://developers.google.com/maps/articles/geocodestrat
MapQuest just released their Open Geocoding Web Service, which is built using data provided by the OpenStreetMap community, and (currently) does not have a limit on the number of geocoding requests that can be made.

Google Maps Data API vs Google Maps API

What is the difference between Google Maps Data API and Google Maps API?
I noticed the former is deprecated but it is not replaced by the latter. It seems to me these two APIs are meant to do separate things, but it's not clear what that is.
I want to create a private clone of the public Google Maps and add custom annotations to search results.
Google Maps Data API was deprecated in favour of Google Fusion Tables, and provides a means whereby you can store data in spreadsheet-like tables and do a lot of clever stuff such as geocode addresses, and export as kml, query the data etc.
So, Google Fusion Tables provides storage for your data.
Google Maps API provides you with online mapping tools which can be used to display or capture information - which you could then go on and store in Fusion Tables.

Google Places API vs AJAX Search API and Local Search Control

I've started developing a small app which main goal is to draw a map using Google Maps API (v3), and to show business in the area drawn (bars, restaurants and so on).
I found the Google Places API that was supposed to be released this month but it hasn't been. As far as I know the point of that API is to offer results from the Google's database of business, so later we could put those business in the map.
However now I've found this sample which is using the AJAX Search API and Local Search Control for Google Maps to do the same thing.
So the question is, what is the point of the new Google Places API?
Thank you in advance!
The Places API returns a list of locations near a specific lat/lng, while the Local Search API allows for an arbitrary search of Google's database of business listings and other POIs.