h2. Usage

directions = GoogleDirections.new(origin, destination)

where origin and destination are strings of addresses or places that Google can find an address for. Example: "816 Meridian St., 37207"

Get drive time or distance of whole trip

drive_time_in_minutes = directions.drive_time_in_minutes
distance_in_miles = directions.distance_in_miles

Get the XML Google returns with every turn, or the API call URL

xml = directions.xml  
xml_call = directions.xml_call

h3. Error situations

status: NOT_FOUND

If Google can't recognize your places, the distance_in_miles and drive_time_in_minutes will each return 0. You can call

directions.status

status: OVER_QUERY_LIMIT

If Google thinks you've hit their API too many times in day, or too rapidly, for your given IP address and API key; they might return OVER_QUERY_LIMIT. In this case distance_in_miles and drive_time_in_minutes will each return 0. You can call

directions.status

h2. Installation

h3. gem

rails 3.0/4.0

gem 'google_directions' in your Gemfile

bundle install

from command line

h3. Compatibility

Tested on Rails 2.3.8 Tested on Rails 4.0.1

h3. Google maps API key

You'll need a Google Map API key

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html

Include it as the constant GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY in an app configuration file (environment.rb, config/initializers/api_keys.rb)

h3. Need turn-by-turn directions?

Not yet included in this gem, but you can do it with nokogiri to parse the XML that comes back when you do

GoogleDirections.new(origin, destination).xml

And then nokogiri can cycle through each and you can pick out what you need.

h2. License

Anyone can use this code in any way.