3 ms·

Google Distance Matrix API for Node.js – Find distance data between locations

23 points by etcher 12y ago

konspence 12y ago
This wrapper should grab more than just distance/duration.text (see https://github.com/edwlook/node-google-distance/blob/master/index.js#L41 https://github.com/edwlook/node-google-distance/blob/master/... - I'm assuming Google's API includes the distance as a number, and unit of measurement). If people want to use this API to convert to a different unit, they have to parse the text which would be very clunky.
- etcher 12y ago
  To use different units, you can specify 'imperial' (default) for miles/feet or 'metric' for kilometers/meters. The wrapper fetches all of the data returned from Google (except for the value fields): http://cl.ly/image/3M003N0s0z3q http://cl.ly/image/3M003N0s0z3q It actually might be a good idea to fetch the value fields as well, since that would make conversion to other metrics easier. Thanks for the suggestion.
  - konspence 12y ago
    I do think it would be valuable to fetch the value field, as then the user can format the text however they want - for example, I may want to say "96 minutes" instead of "1 hour 36 minutes". Additionally, it's much easier to compare two values (e.g. if one wanted to compare distances between X and Y versus X and Z).
    - etcher 12y ago
      Good point. The value field is fetched as of version 0.2.0.
      - konspence 12y ago
        Awesome! That looks nice. Thanks for taking feedback.
mck- 12y ago
The Google Distance Matrix has a limit of 10x10 locations (25x25 with business license) -- how do you get around that? I don't see any mention of API-key?
- etcher 12y ago
  The Google Distance API does not require an API key, but this is something that should be supported for business licenses and per-key quota limit tracking. Here are the quota limits: Users of the free API: 100 elements per query. 100 elements per 10 seconds. 2 500 elements per 24 hour period. Maps for Business customers: 625 elements per query. 1 000 elements per 10 seconds. 100 000 elements per 24 hour period. Read more: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distancematrix/#api_key https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distancemat...

23 points by etcher 12y ago

This wrapper should grab more than just distance/duration.text (see https://github.com/edwlook/node-google-distance/blob/master/index.js#L41 https://github.com/edwlook/node-google-distance/blob/master/... - I'm assuming Google's API includes the distance as a number, and unit of measurement). If people want to use this API to convert to a different unit, they have to parse the text which would be very clunky.

etcher 12y ago
To use different units, you can specify 'imperial' (default) for miles/feet or 'metric' for kilometers/meters. The wrapper fetches all of the data returned from Google (except for the value fields): http://cl.ly/image/3M003N0s0z3q http://cl.ly/image/3M003N0s0z3q It actually might be a good idea to fetch the value fields as well, since that would make conversion to other metrics easier. Thanks for the suggestion.
- konspence 12y ago
  I do think it would be valuable to fetch the value field, as then the user can format the text however they want - for example, I may want to say "96 minutes" instead of "1 hour 36 minutes". Additionally, it's much easier to compare two values (e.g. if one wanted to compare distances between X and Y versus X and Z).
  - etcher 12y ago
    Good point. The value field is fetched as of version 0.2.0.
    - konspence 12y ago
      Awesome! That looks nice. Thanks for taking feedback.

mck- 12y ago

The Google Distance Matrix has a limit of 10x10 locations (25x25 with business license) -- how do you get around that? I don't see any mention of API-key?

etcher 12y ago
The Google Distance API does not require an API key, but this is something that should be supported for business licenses and per-key quota limit tracking. Here are the quota limits: Users of the free API: 100 elements per query. 100 elements per 10 seconds. 2 500 elements per 24 hour period. Maps for Business customers: 625 elements per query. 1 000 elements per 10 seconds. 100 000 elements per 24 hour period. Read more: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distancematrix/#api_key https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distancemat...