Googleway Vignette

D Cooley

2016-05-30

Google Directions API

Google Maps allows users to find directions between locations.

The Google Maps Directions API is a service available to developers that calculates directions between locations, and outputs the data as JSON.

The googleway package allows R users to find a route between two locations, and decode the ‘polyline’ sections of the outputs, into a data.frame of latitude and longitude coordinates that represent all the waypoints of the directions.

Example

Searching Google Maps for directions from Melbourne to Sydney generates the route:

Melbourne to Sydney

Melbourne to Sydney

The same query using the developers API generates the data in JSON

Melbourne to Sydney JSON

Melbourne to Sydney JSON

This result can be returned using the get_route() function.

Note you can return the output as JSON or a data.frame.

library(googleway)

## you will need a valid Google Directions Developers API key
df <- get_route(origin = "Melbourne, Australia",
                destination = "Sydney, Australia",
                key = key,
                mode = "driving",
                output_format = "data.frame")

The data used to draw the route is the overview_polyline

Melbourne to Sydney polyline

Melbourne to Sydney polyline

whichc is located in df$routes$overview_polyline$points.

df$routes$overview_polyline$points
# [1] "rqxeF_cxsZgr@xmCekBhMunGnWc_Ank@vBpyCqjAfbAqmBjXydAe{AoF{oEgTqjGur@ch@qfAhUuiCww@}kEtOepAtdD{dDf~BsgIuj@}tHi{C{bGg{@{rGsmG_bDbW{wCuTyiBajBytF_oAyaI}K}bEkqA{jDg^epJmbB{gC}v@i~D`@gkGmJ_kEojD_O{`FqvCetE}bGgbDm_BqpD}pEqdGiaBo{FglEg_Su~CegHw`Cm`Hv[mxFwaAisAklCuUgzAqmCalJajLqfDedHgyC_yHibCizK~Xo_DuqAojDshAeaEpg@g`Dy|DgtNswBcgDiaAgEqgBozB{jEejQ}p@ckIc~HmvFkgAsfGmjCcaJwwD}~AycCrx@skCwUqwN{yKygH}nF_qAgyOep@slIehDcmDieDkoEiuCg|LrKo~Eb}Bw{Ef^klG_AgdFqvAaxBgoDeqBwoDypEeiFkjBa|Ks}@gr@c}IkE_qEqo@syCgG{iEazAmeBmeCqvA}rCq_AixEemHszB_SisB}mEgeEenCqeDab@iwAmZg^guB}cCk_F_iAmkGsu@abDsoBylBk`Bm_CsfD{jFgrAerB{gDkw@{|EacB_jDmmAsjC{yBsyFaqFqfEi_Ei~C{yAmwFt{B{fBwKql@onBmtCq`IomFmdGueD_kDssAwsCyqDkx@e\\kwEyUstC}uAe|Ac|BakGpGkfGuc@qnDguBatBot@}kD_pBmmCkdAgkB}jBaIyoC}xAexHka@cz@ahCcfCayBqvBgtBsuDxb@yiDe{Ikt@c{DwhBydEynDojCapAq}AuAksBxPk{EgPgkJ{gA}tGsJezKbcAcdK__@uuBn_AcuGsjDwvC_|AwbE}~@wnErZ{nGr_@stEjbDakFf_@clDmKkwBbpAi_DlgA{lArLukCBukJol@w~DfCcpBwnAghCweA}{EmyAgaEbNybGeV}kCtjAq{EveBwuHlb@gyIg\\gmEhBw{G{dAmpHp_@a|MsnCcuGy~@agIe@e`KkoA}lBspBs^}sAmgIdpAumE{Y_|Oe|CioKouFwuIqnCmlDoHamBiuAgnDqp@yqIkmEqaIozAohAykDymA{uEgiE}fFehBgnCgrGmwCkiLurBkhL{jHcrGs}GkhFwpDezGgjEe_EsoBmm@g}KimLizEgbA{~DwfCwvFmhBuvBy~DsqCicBatC{z@mlCkkDoaDw_BagA}|Bii@kgCpj@}{E}b@cuJxQwkK}j@exF`UanFzM{fFumB}fCirHoTml@CoAh`A"

Having retreived the polyline, we can now decode it

polyline <- "rqxeF_cxsZgr@xmCekBhMunGnWc_Ank@vBpyCqjAfbAqmBjXydAe{AoF{oEgTqjGur@ch@qfAhUuiCww@}kEtOepAtdD{dDf~BsgIuj@}tHi{C{bGg{@{rGsmG_bDbW{wCuTyiBajBytF_oAyaI}K}bEkqA{jDg^epJmbB{gC}v@i~D`@gkGmJ_kEojD_O{`FqvCetE}bGgbDm_BqpD}pEqdGiaBo{FglEg_Su~CegHw`Cm`Hv[mxFwaAisAklCuUgzAqmCalJajLqfDedHgyC_yHibCizK~Xo_DuqAojDshAeaEpg@g`Dy|DgtNswBcgDiaAgEqgBozB{jEejQ}p@ckIc~HmvFkgAsfGmjCcaJwwD}~AycCrx@skCwUqwN{yKygH}nF_qAgyOep@slIehDcmDieDkoEiuCg|LrKo~Eb}Bw{Ef^klG_AgdFqvAaxBgoDeqBwoDypEeiFkjBa|Ks}@gr@c}IkE_qEqo@syCgG{iEazAmeBmeCqvA}rCq_AixEemHszB_SisB}mEgeEenCqeDab@iwAmZg^guB}cCk_F_iAmkGsu@abDsoBylBk`Bm_CsfD{jFgrAerB{gDkw@{|EacB_jDmmAsjC{yBsyFaqFqfEi_Ei~C{yAmwFt{B{fBwKql@onBmtCq`IomFmdGueD_kDssAwsCyqDkx@e\\kwEyUstC}uAe|Ac|BakGpGkfGuc@qnDguBatBot@}kD_pBmmCkdAgkB}jBaIyoC}xAexHka@cz@ahCcfCayBqvBgtBsuDxb@yiDe{Ikt@c{DwhBydEynDojCapAq}AuAksBxPk{EgPgkJ{gA}tGsJezKbcAcdK__@uuBn_AcuGsjDwvC_|AwbE}~@wnErZ{nGr_@stEjbDakFf_@clDmKkwBbpAi_DlgA{lArLukCBukJol@w~DfCcpBwnAghCweA}{EmyAgaEbNybGeV}kCtjAq{EveBwuHlb@gyIg\\gmEhBw{G{dAmpHp_@a|MsnCcuGy~@agIe@e`KkoA}lBspBs^}sAmgIdpAumE{Y_|Oe|CioKouFwuIqnCmlDoHamBiuAgnDqp@yqIkmEqaIozAohAykDymA{uEgiE}fFehBgnCgrGmwCkiLurBkhL{jHcrGs}GkhFwpDezGgjEe_EsoBmm@g}KimLizEgbA{~DwfCwvFmhBuvBy~DsqCicBatC{z@mlCkkDoaDw_BagA}|Bii@kgCpj@}{E}b@cuJxQwkK}j@exF`UanFzM{fFumB}fCirHoTml@CoAh`A"

library(googleway)
df <- decode_pl(polyline)
head(df)
##         lat      lon
## 1 -37.81418 144.9632
## 2 -37.80598 144.9404
## 3 -37.78867 144.9380
## 4 -37.74520 144.9341
## 5 -37.73494 144.9270
## 6 -37.73554 144.9023
# library(leaflet)
# 
# leaflet(df) %>%
#   addTiles() %>%
#   addPolylines(lat = ~lat, lng = ~lon)