Google Maps API for Travel Distance and Time

The Google Maps Platform contains a wealth of location information that allows you access to real world data and insights with maps, routes and places APIs. It can all be accessed via API and then used to create real-time experiences for your users. In this case, we are going to use the API responses to enrich our data.

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This assumes you have set up a Google Cloud project (instructions here) and enabled billing. Once signed up, you will receive an API key. 

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Provider Website: https://developers.google.com/maps

Provider Enrichment Docs: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/distance-matrix/start

‍Endpoint: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json?origins=Washington%2C%20DC&destinations=New%20York%20City%2C%20NY&units=imperial&key=YOUR_API_KEY'

‍Token / Registration Required: Yes

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Step 1. In Gigasheet, head to the Enrichments function and select Custom Enrichment. First we paste in the cURL request from the Google Maps Platform Distance Matrix API docs. Be sure your request starts with cURL by using the tabs at the top to select cURL. Next, replace "YOUR_API_KEY" with your token from the Google Maps Platform portal.

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Step 2. On the next screen we’ll insert the column variable from our Gigasheet sheet for the address. In this case, we highlight the destination, “New York City” text in the input (the %20 are escape characters for spaces), and then select our Address column and click +Insert Column Reference. We will also edit the source from “Washington DC” to “Austin”. Then click Next.

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Step 3. In this screen we see a preview of the results. Gigasheet makes requests for the first three rows and shows the Google Maps Platform Distance Matrix API  response. At this point select the fields you want to be inserted into your sheet. We recommend hitting Select All because you can always delete columns later.

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Step 4. Finally, confirm the number of requests is to your liking, and when ready click Run to kickoff the custom enrichment process. It’s ok to leave or close the sheet; the custom enrichment will keep running and you’ll receive an email once the job has been completed. You can monitor the progress of your enrichment, or cancel the job at the top of the sheet. 

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Step 5. Once completed, Gigasheet will send a completion toast and refresh the page. The result will show generation of new columns based on the Google Maps Platform Distance Matrix API. 

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Here are the distance measurements and travel time between the addresses.

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