Google Maps API Driving Directions - google-maps

I use Google Maps API and I have a map with 20 points on it.
Can I find an API call to give me driving directions and draw lines between them?

Yes, it can be done. The Google Maps API Documentation describes how to this very accurately:
"You can add the ability to calculate directions (using a variety of methods of transportation) by using the GDirections object. The GDirections object requests and receives direction results using either query strings (e.g. "New York, NY to Chicago, IL") or textual lat/lons.
The GDirections object also supports multi-part directions using a series of waypoints. Directions may be displayed as either a polyline drawing the route on a map, as a series of textual description within a <div> element (e.g. "Turn right onto the Williamsburg Bridge ramp") or both."
Unfortunately driving directions are not yet available for all countries. You may want to check the following spreadsheet to see if driving directions are available for a particular location:
Google Code - Map Coverage Filtered

Related

Retrieve Google Polygons LatLng Coordinates

When you search an area on Google Maps (eg.London) it shows you a highlighted polygon of London. What I need to do is to retrieve the LatLng coordinates of this polygon. Looking on Google's API Documentation I didn't find anything matching that need. Is it possible in another way/ workaround to do it?
With regards to the highlighted polygon (boundaries) like maps.google.com does, this is not yet available in Google Maps Platform APIs, however, there is a popular Feature Request with almost 400 stars in our Google Issue Tracker. I suggest you to star this feature request and to receive notifications about further updates of this feature. Here's the feature request Feature: Automatic polygon generation to specified geographic boundary (e.g. state, country).
On the other hand, you can check this documentation to get the latlng points of the polygon.
Hope this information find you helpful and good luck on your application!

Plotting a Google defined "route"

When using the Google Places Autocomplete to return a "route" type, such as a street, I want to take that route and plot several markers along it on the map.
Example: Take the entire route of "Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, Canada" and place markers all along that street from the beginning to end.
Currently searching for "Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, Canada" returns a single Lat/Long point for the entire route.
This needs to be done in a way that doesn't involve me manually selecting each point as I need this to function for any Google "route" on the globe.
I am stumped as to way to do this using Google Maps API v3.. perhaps there is another service that can help me get the Lat/Long points I need which I can then feed to the Google Maps API?
What you are looking for is currently not possible with the Google Maps API v3. You could add an enhancement request to the issues list, but doesn't seem likely to happen.
The geocoder actually returns 3 points along the road for your query ("Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, Canada"). You can get the coordinates of the street using the directions service, but you have to manually find the start and end, and possibly walking directions, maybe even add waypoints. But you said you didn't want to do that...

Is it possible to put a location marker on a google map without requesting it from the google server?

Really quick/simple question that will determine which map API i use for my project.
I dont need an example- ill figure that out, i just need to know if the capabilities are there.
If i have store geocode (latitude, longitude) coordinates in a database, can i put one of those little red markers on a google map without having to actually make a geocoding request from google?
Additional question:
Also, would it count towards any quotas every time i display one of their maps, even if i give them the geocoded coordinates? Because i mean technically their map still has to find those coordinates...
Q1: Yes — you tell the API the coordinates of where to put the marker, rather than get Google to find those coordinates.
Q2: The usage limits are published by Google. You can have up to 25000 map loads per day. If you don't use the geocoder because you provide the coordinates yourself, then you don't use a geocoder access.

Find neighbors delimitations with google maps or google api

I need to find points that define delimitations of neighbors from Chicago.
My question is: How can I find a list with latitudes/longitudes of all the points that delimit neighbors. For example:
Gold Coast from Chicago is a polygon with 6 points as seen on google map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&source=embed&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=206241844247425110008.0004b43f0262868b8037f
What is the best way to extract this points so I can draw poly-lines over google map with google API for specific neighbors?
Edited:
So with addresses, which you already have, you can create a Maps API site:
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/
and use the Geocoding API to get the latitude and longitude of each of the addresses.
Added: Seems based on your comment that you're looking for neighborhood boundary data. Google Maps doesn't provide that data. There are different venders that do, one I have heard of is the Zillow Neighborhood API. I have never used it so I don't know much about it.

Topographical or relief data in Map APIs

I was wondering if anyone knew of any map APIs that offer topographical or relief data? I've had a quick look at Google and Bing APIs, but could find nothing there.
Google allow you to view a map as TERRAIN, which means you can see the topography of a map, but I want to be able to get at that data - i.e. if I were to draw a line between 2 points on Google Maps, I want to know how high above see level points along that line are.
Is this possible with any map APIs out there?
Thanks for your time!
Here's a simple example of height along a route.
I use USGS to obtain the elevation data, Google Maps API to plot the route and Google Charts to draw the elevation profile.
Full details in the associated tutorial.
Here are a few web services that provide elevation data:
USGS Elevation Query Web Service
EarthTools
GeoNames
Also, this site can search each of them