Automating going to Google Streetview

[musicgold]

Hi,

I have a long list of property addresses in an Excel sheet, and I have to view those properties using Google Street View.

I am looking at ways to speed up the process. One step that can be eliminated is putting the address into google map’s search box and clicking the Search Maps button. I think that can be done using VB/VBA code. However, I am not sure how I can automate going to the street view from the regular map view. Is there a macro that can help me?

Also is there any better idea to do this task?

Thanks,

MG

 

[Ed in Aus]

this is pretty much what your after... let me know hoe you go

http://mapki.com/wiki/Google_Map_Parameters

Small snippet of the article that would be handy for anyone readin this

q=
Query - anything passed in this parameter is treated as if it had been typed into the query box on the maps.google.com page. In particular:

A precise address is looked up and a marker and info box is displayed at the specified point.
A town name, or the first half of a postcode causes the region to be displayed with to marker or info box.
An exact location can be specified as latitude,longitude, in decimal form (52.123N,2.456W or 52.123,-2.456) or as degrees, minutes and seconds (52 7 22.8N,2 27 21.6W or 52 7 22.8,-2 27 21.6) or as degrees and minutes (52 7.38N,2 27.36W or 52 7.38,-2 27.36).
Any text added in parentheses () is displayed in the info window and sidebar in bold. You can use %A0 as a "no break space" to prevent line breaks happening where you don't want them. You can also use %A0 to force a line break by appending enough of them (this will vary based on the lengths of the lines before and after these breaks) to the end of a line, followed immediately by a space ('+' in the URL). An example would be the following URL: http://maps.google.com?q=New+York,+...vious%A0line%A0is%A0now%A0sufficiently%A0long!)
The words "to" and "from" cause the driving directions function to be activated.
The word "near" or "loc:" causes the local search function to be activated.
space-ampersand-space (use +%26+ or %20%26%20 in URLs, not +&+ or +&+ otherwise the ampersand gets treated as a separator) can be used between the names of two streets to specify an intersection.
One notes that the plus, q=24.18170+120.86604 apparently works the same as a comma, q=24.18170,120.86604 . (Note that a plus in a URL represents a space)
A location can also be specified after an @, in decimal form (@52.123,-2.456). This gives a lower zoom level than using the same values without the at sign. Using this format interferes with other options of the query parameter. The @ sign instead of "near" or "loc:" tends to cause only a single business result to be displayed, compare (Church near Hallows Road Blackpool, Lancashire) which returns over 1000 results to (Church @ Hallows Road Blackpool, Lancashire) which returns one result.

 

[musicgold]

Ed in Aus,

Thanks. I have found a way to go directly to Street View. Consider the following link #1 which pulls up the street view for a location.

1. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&layer=c&cbll=31.335198,-89.287204&cbp=11,0,0,0,0

However, note that in this format I have to provide the longitude and latitude of the location.
My excel sheet does not have that info. It only contains plain addresses. I created the following link and tried to load it, but I don’t get the street view of the location.

2. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=638+Bouie+St+Hattiesburg+MS+United+States&layer=c&cbp=11,0,0,0,0

Is there any way to go Street View without gps coordinates?

Thanks.

 

[stoconnor]

Ed in Aus,

Thanks. I have found a way to go directly to Street View. Consider the following link #1 which pulls up the street view for a location.

1. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&layer=c&cbll=31.335198,-89.287204&cbp=11,0,0,0,0

However, note that in this format I have to provide the longitude and latitude of the location.
My excel sheet does not have that info. It only contains plain addresses. I created the following link and tried to load it, but I don’t get the street view of the location.

2. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=638+Bouie+St+Hattiesburg+MS+United+States&layer=c&cbp=11,0,0,0,0

Is there any way to go Street View without gps coordinates?

Thanks.

Based on a first blush look at the wiki article Ed pointed to, it appears that you have some options, but I haven't studied the full details.

The option that provides for the least amount of user input required but likely a lot of effort on the backend, hunting down the gps coordinates for every location and adding that to the spreadsheet, with some sort of maintenance plan once it's been developed. I am assuming that you'll have enough data in the spreadsheet to work this out. It may involve hunting down the streetview pages themselves and reverse engineering the location data.

Other options, far more sketchy as I haven't researched it thoroughly, appear to involve some search results being displayed, thereby forcing the user to select the "right" choice from a list. Not desirable in some circumstances as this is prone to error and misunderstanding.

That's all I can provide.