I've got a complex directions URL and embed URL that I would like to get polylines for. Once I can get them into polylines or something similar I can convert to final format: GeoJSON.
-or-
I have looked at the API's and I can't find anything that accepts or would decode the PB (what is this? it's not a protocol buffer). So far this is as far as I've got:
//php
$pb_array = explode('!', $pb);
foreach($pb_array as $key => $value){
echo "$key - $value<br/>";
}
===
1 - 1m73
2 - 1m12
3 - 1m3
4 - 1d1472548.9575794793
5 - 2d-72.8191002664707
6 - 3d43.87505426780168
7 - 2m3
8 - 1f0
9 - 2f0
10 - 3f0
11 - 3m2
12 - 1i1024
13 - 2i768
14 - 4f13.1
15 - 4m58
16 - 3e0
17 - 4m5
18 - 1s0x0%3A0xa58b3d6041ba69f8
19 - 2sGuilford+Welcome+Center
20 - 3m2
21 - 1d42.8120069
22 - 2d-72.56614689999999
23 - 4m3
24 - 3m2
25 - 1d43.3893165
26 - 2d-72.40772249999999
27 - 4m5
28 - 1s0x4cb52e78df455c83%3A0xb6946ec850907db8
29 - 2s130+Lower+Michigan+Road%2C+Pittsfield%2C+VT+05762
30 - 3m2
31 - 1d43.76898
32 - 2d-72.815214
33 - 4m4
34 - 1s0x0%3A0xea2de48bba82cc86
35 - 3m2
36 - 1d44.042544
37 - 2d-72.6046997
38 - 4m5
39 - 1s0x0%3A0x6bb602ed58bf4413
40 - 2sJay+Peak+Resort
41 - 3m2
42 - 1d44.9379515
43 - 2d-72.5045433
44 - 4m5
45 - 1s0x4cb392aaa4333a07%3A0x160aef1559868340
46 - 2sDolly+Copp+Campground+Rd%2C+Gorham%2C+NH+03581
47 - 3m2
48 - 1d44.335842199999995
49 - 2d-71.21837339999999
50 - 4m5
51 - 1s0x4cb392684201a94d%3A0xfa4a6f490a05429d
52 - 2sMt+Washington+Auto+Road%2C+1+Mount+Washington+Auto+Road%2C+Gorham%2C+NH+03581
53 - 3m2
54 - 1d44.288384099999995
55 - 2d-71.22459599999999
56 - 4m5
57 - 1s0x4cb38e798f42c3d9%3A0xc3b88e4dac01db12
58 - 2sMt+Washington
59 - 3m2
60 - 1d44.270585399999995
61 - 2d-71.3032723
62 - 4m5
63 - 1s0x89e2a7fa444124d5%3A0xe3ed24b6f864eba0
64 - 2sWells%2C+ME
65 - 3m2
66 - 1d43.322232899999996
67 - 2d-70.5805209
68 - 4m5
69 - 1s0x89e2ba813e828c71%3A0x8cdf74380f6a933d
70 - 2sLibby's+Oceanside+Camp%2C+York+Street%2C+York%2C+ME
71 - 3m2
72 - 1d43.147162
73 - 2d-70.626173
74 - 5e1
75 - 3m2
76 - 1sen
77 - 2sus
78 - 4v1472497940601
The closest hints I could find are from this thread. I will keep looking but I'm stuck.
I'm trying to create an API based solution that has an input of one of these URL's and returns a GeoJSON.
would decode the PB (what is this? it's not a protocol buffer)
For the record, because this overflow question keeps popping up on google results: it is a protocol buffer. PB litteraly stands for protocol buffer.
It's just a different ASCII encoding (a compact URL encoding reminiscent of the binary encoding, not the usual JSON-like text encoding. When you squint at it it's not that much different than torrent's structure encoding), and Google doesn't provide us the .proto file.
For each field:
.proto file)So to unpack the fields you're seeing (even if we don't have the .proto file):
1m73 message of type 1, containing 73 elements (the whole message set)
1m12 submessage of type 1, contains 12 elements (probably information about the view box in the map box)
1m3 sub-sub-message type 1, contains 3 elements (probably map coordinates)
1d1472548.9575794793 first double field (probably zoom level)2d-72.8191002664707 second double field (probably longitude)3d43.87505426780168 third double field (probably latitude)2m3 second sub-sub-sub message (no idea given that it's not filled. Maybe a starting point if you code a route instead of a single point ?)
1f0, 2f0, 3f0 the three members, currently just zero3m2 third block (looks like a screen resolution)
1i1024, 2i768 : 1024x768 ? (and probably the omited field 3 would have been the color depth if present ??)4f13.1 no idea, but it's a float4m58 next message with 58 elements (to me it looks like a bunch of POI that we need to display in the box)
3e0 an enum, set to zero (this one would be completely impossible to interpret without a proto or without experimenting, as you need the list of enums)
4m5 five more elements probably a map poi
- 1s0x0%3A0xa58b3d6041ba69f8 string '0x0:0xa58b3d6041ba69f8', note the use of Url_encoded character. In turn it looks like a pair of hex numbers, maybe a GUID ?
- 2sGuilford+Welcome+Center string, the name with plus instead of blank (like most URLs)
- 3m2 two elements to come
- 1d42.8120069 and 2d-72.56614689999999 doubles probably map coordinates
4m3 again a message of type 4 in this level, so probably another poi
- 3m2, 1d43.3893165, 2d-72.40772249999999 but this one only specifies coordinates, and nothing else
4m5 another poi
- 1s0x4cb52e78df455c83%3A0xb6946ec850907db8 different pair of hex, GUID
...you got the idea...
5e1 another bunch of information probably general settings
3m2 this setting is a message (and looks like a locale)
1sen, 2sus locale is en_US4v1472497940601 some other large number...Note: the original proto that Google doesn't show us, is probably a single multi level structure. Thus, the sub-sub-message ID don't have always the same meaning: they aren't global ID, but ID within the parent message.