Worked with version of GMaps that Google chose to serve up to me on 2021.Apr.18.

Scrape estimated route times from Google Maps. Write a tab-delimited file of the data.

To build and run

• Download and install Github desktop
• Download and Git tools from https://git-scm.com/download (if you like working from the command line)
• Download and install Java Development Kit : https://developers.redhat.com/products/openjdk/download (You will need a Redhat account.)
  • Use Java 14 (jdk-14.0.1-x64 MSI)
  • Set JAVA_HOME environment variable. e.g., JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\RedHat\java-14-openjdk-14.0.1-1
• Download and install maven from https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi and https://maven.apache.org/install.html
  • Extract into C:\Users\[you]\mvn\ to avoid 'path to long' error
  • Add to path, e.g., C:\Users[you]\mvn\apache-maven-3.6.2\bin
• Download and install Spring Tool Suite from https://spring.io/tools/sts/all (or editor/IDE of your choice)
  • Extract into C:\Users\[you]\sts to avoid 'path to long' error.
• Install Firefox driver
  • Download geckodriver from https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases
  • Extract from zip
  • Add to path, e.g., C:\Users\[you]\Downloads\geckodriver-v0.19.0-win64
• Can also install Google Chrome Selenium driver, but is less reliable
  • Download ChromeDriver from https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads (click on "Latest Release" link)
  • Extract from zip
  • Add to path : C:\Users\[you]\Downloads\ ... appropriate directory ...
• In git bash
  • cd yourDirectoryContainingRepositories (e.g., C:\Users<you>\Documents\Github)
  • git clone https://github.com/chrisxkeith/commute-time-aggregator.git
• Create text input file with parameters
  • C:\Users\[you]\Documents\routeinfo.txt
  • See loadCollectionParams() method for file format. It's a fixed order of input lines.
• In git bash
  • cd commute-time-aggregator/DurationCollector
  • mvn clean install exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="com.ckkeith.duration_collector.DurationCollector"
  • The first time you run, it will take a while to download all the required jar files.
  • It will take a minute or two for the browser to come up.
  • Some browsers may keep your previous Maps settings (e.g., public transit vs. driving). Watch the browser for a couple of minutes to make sure that you are getting the data you expect. You can, while the automation in running, click on the car icon if necessary.
• In STS
  • File > Import
  • maven > existing maven projects
  • C:\Users<you>\Documents\Github\commute-time-aggregator\DurationCollector
  • pom.xml

To increase the odds that you'll get data

• Make sure that your browser is up-to-date.
• Don't click in browser window.
• Don't switch networks (e.g., log into a VPN).
• Try not to hover the mouse pointer over the browser window. Use keyboard to change between windows.
• Don't close browser window.

Notes

• Can break any time Google decides to change the HTML structure of their Maps page.
• Writes duration, time stamp and route to tab-separated file in Documents/route-data/
• Presentation at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ulf6LNdhSGW9QETfhoIF9arNxw70buukseLuLyKfpf0/edit#slide=id.p