gmaps-image-fetcher 1.0.0

Stitch together Google Maps images from lat, long coordinates using the Static Maps API.

GMaps Image Fetcher

Simple tool to download and stitch together image tiles from Google Maps via the Static-Maps API

How it works

• Give the tool two sets of latitudes and longitudes for the north-west and south-east of the area you wish to download the imagery from
• The tool calculates how many individual image tiles it needs to get from Google's Static-Maps API and begins to download them
• All image tiles are stitched together and a preview showed onscreen
• The image is saved to a file in your chosen format (PNG, JPG, or BMP)

Installation

Prerequisites

• A GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY is required as per the T&Cs of Google's Static-Maps API (plenty of tutorials online showing you how to generate this, Google it)
• Please ensure to enable the Static Maps API also in your account

Install from PyPI

pip install gmaps-image-fetcher

Install from GitHub

pip install git+https://github.com/joseph-holland/gmaps-image-fetcher.git

Running

1. Set your GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY environment variable

   Windows

   set GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=AIzaS.............
   

   Linux/macOS

   export GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=AIzaS.............
   

2. Run the tool and give it the NW lat/lon and SE lat/lon as well as a zoom level (1= world, 20=buildings)

   gmaps-image-fetcher -nw 53.369745 -6.348743 -se 53.348326 -6.296656 -z 16
   

3. The tool will calculate how many image tiles it will need to retrieve and prompt if you wish to continue

   Retrieve 15 image tiles from Google static-maps API
   Do you want to continue y/n: y
   

4. It will then download the image tiles, stitch them together, show the image onscreen and save to the local directory

   

Command-line Options

Option	Description
-nw, --northwest	Northwest latitude/longitude coordinates
-se, --southeast	Southeast latitude/longitude coordinates
-z, --zoom	Zoom level from 1 (world) to 20+ (buildings), default is 18
-sc, --scale	Scale factor for Google Maps API (1 or 2), default is 1, 2 is for high resolution
-f, --format	Output image format (png, jpg, bmp), default is png
--delay	Delay between API requests in seconds, default is 0.5; used in case of Google API rate limits
-d, --debug	Enable debug output
-l, --logfile	Logfile to write
--version	Show the version number and exit

Examples

Save a high-resolution image with scale factor 2:

gmaps-image-fetcher -nw 53.369745 -6.348743 -se 53.348326 -6.296656 -z 16 -sc 2

Save as JPEG format for smaller file size:

gmaps-image-fetcher -nw 53.369745 -6.348743 -se 53.348326 -6.296656 -z 16 -f jpg

Increase delay between API calls to avoid rate limits:

gmaps-image-fetcher -nw 53.369745 -6.348743 -se 53.348326 -6.296656 -z 16 --delay 1.0

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.