Find Driving Directions, Distance and Time with Google Maps API and Apps Script

Use Google Apps Script with the Google Maps API to find the driving distance, time and the driving route between any two points. The origin and destination may either be specified as plain text or you can specify the latitude and longitude coordinates. Google Maps API can fetch directions for WALKING, DRIVING and BICYCLING modes.

function GoogleMapsAPI() {
  // Written by Amit Agarwal
  // Web: labnol.org

  var origin = '10 Hanover Square, NY 10005';
  var destination = 'Times Square';
  var travelMode = Maps.DirectionFinder.Mode.WALKING;

  var directions = Maps.newDirectionFinder()
    .setOrigin(origin)
    .setDestination(destination)
    .setMode(travelMode)
    .getDirections();

  if (directions.status !== 'OK') return 'Error: ' + directions.status;

  var route = directions.routes[0].legs[0];
  var time = route.duration.text;
  var distance = route.distance.text;
  var steps = route.steps
    .map(function (step) {
      return step.html_instructions.replace(/<[^>]+>/g, '');
    })
    .join('\n');

  Logger.log(steps);
}
Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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