Hacking Google Maps and Google Earth (ExtremeTech)

The Google

Web API

T

he Google database contains a massive range of information. Some of

it is, of course, based on the web pages that make up the World Wide

Web. In addition, Google has worked hard to add other information

to the database, such as names, contact details, and classifications for busi-

nesses and organizations. As you use the Google Maps API, you will proba-

bly want to combine your Google Maps information with data extracted

from these other sources.

To do this, you must interface to the Google system through the Google

Web API, which provides access to the Google web index of web sites to

users working in Java, .NET, Perl, and other environments.

This chapter tells you how to acquire the Google Web API, examines the

basics of this API, and shows how you can use it to incorporate additional

information to help support the data you will be presenting in your Google

Maps applications.

Downloading the Google Web API

To use the API, you first need to download the Google Web developer’s kit

(from http://www.google.com/apis/), which includes the following

components:

➤A Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file that defines

the interface to the Google Web Service. The information contained

in the WSDL file can be used by any compatible web services client

environment using the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

➤A Java library that provides a wrapper around the interface to the

Google Web system. The Java wrapper makes it very easy to build

Java-based applications that access the information in the Google

database.

➤An example .NET project that invokes the Google Web API.

➤Full documentation for using the Google Web API.

̨Download the

Google Web API

̨Learn about API

parameters, data

returns, and

limitations

̨View search

examples using Perl

and Java

chapter

in this chapter