Getting driving distance between two points (lat, lon) using R and Google Map API

Question

I am trying to get the driving distance between two points with lat/lon given. I can manually put them into google map and get the driving distance but I want to do all this pr

Answer 1

I've written the googleway package to do this using Google Maps API

In particular, the google_directions() function will give you driving distances, directions, routes, legs, steps etc. And the google_distance() function will give you a distance matrix for all the origins/destinations

You need a Google API key to use their API

library(googleway)

## your valid API key
key <- "your_api_key_here"

directions <- google_directions(origin = c(37.193489,-121.07395),
                                destination = c(37.151616,-121.046586),
                                key = key, 
                                simplify = T)

directions$routes$legs
# [[1]]
# distance.text distance.value duration.text duration.value duration_in_traffic.text duration_in_traffic.value                 end_address
# 1        5.2 km           5250        3 mins            161                   3 mins                       156 I-5, Gustine, CA 95322, USA
# end_location.lat end_location.lng               start_address start_location.lat start_location.lng
# 1         37.15162        -121.0466 I-5, Gustine, CA 95322, USA           37.19349           -121.074
# steps
# 1 5.2 km, 5250, 3 mins, 161, 37.1516163, -121.0465852, Head southeast on I-5 S, ij_bFfg~aVpBgA`DkB~FeDbIwEpEgCtaAsj@nAs@lDqBxIaF~FgDlHcEjC{AdFuCrBkAhC{A|A{@|A}@bAk@rBkArBkA|A{@`DiB|A}@vDwBdAm@dAm@rBkA|A{@zA{@~J{FpC_B~A}@tBkAjHeEvGuDlMmHtBkAVO, 37.1934864, -121.0739565, DRIVING
#   traffic_speed_entry via_waypoint
#   1                NULL         NULL



google_distance(origins = list(c(37.193489,-121.07395)),
                destinations = list(c(37.151616,-121.046586)),
                key = key, 
                simplify = T,
                units = "imperial")

# $destination_addresses
# [1] "I-5, Gustine, CA 95322, USA"
# 
# $origin_addresses
# [1] "I-5, Gustine, CA 95322, USA"
# 
# $rows
# elements
# 1 3.3 mi, 5250, 3 mins, 161, 3 mins, 157, OK
# 
# $status
# [1] "OK"

Given the google_directions() function returns a polyline (the line you get on Google Maps when you search for a route), we can plot it on a Google Map

key <- 'your_map_api_key'

df_route <- decode_pl(directions$routes$overview_polyline$points)

google_map(data = df_route, key = key, height = 800, search_box = T) %>%
    add_markers()
## or you can use `add_polyline()` to view the entire line