Directions Service

  • This example demonstrates fetching and displaying driving directions between two locations using the Google Maps Directions Service.

  • Users can select start and end points from dropdown menus to generate a route on the map.

  • The sample utilizes the DirectionsService object to request directions and the DirectionsRenderer object to display them.

  • It provides code implementations in both JavaScript and TypeScript.

  • You can clone the sample code and run it locally using Git and Node.js.

This example demonstrates the use of the DirectionsService object to fetch directions between different cities.

Read the documentation.

TypeScript

function initMap(): void {
  const directionsService = new google.maps.DirectionsService();
  const directionsRenderer = new google.maps.DirectionsRenderer();
  const map = new google.maps.Map(
    document.getElementById("map") as HTMLElement,
    {
      zoom: 7,
      center: { lat: 41.85, lng: -87.65 },
    }
  );

  directionsRenderer.setMap(map);

  const onChangeHandler = function () {
    calculateAndDisplayRoute(directionsService, directionsRenderer);
  };

  (document.getElementById("start") as HTMLElement).addEventListener(
    "change",
    onChangeHandler
  );
  (document.getElementById("end") as HTMLElement).addEventListener(
    "change",
    onChangeHandler
  );
}

function calculateAndDisplayRoute(
  directionsService: google.maps.DirectionsService,
  directionsRenderer: google.maps.DirectionsRenderer
) {
  directionsService
    .route({
      origin: {
        query: (document.getElementById("start") as HTMLInputElement).value,
      },
      destination: {
        query: (document.getElementById("end") as HTMLInputElement).value,
      },
      travelMode: google.maps.TravelMode.DRIVING,
    })
    .then((response) => {
      directionsRenderer.setDirections(response);
    })
    .catch((e) => window.alert("Directions request failed due to " + status));
}

declare global {
  interface Window {
    initMap: () => void;
  }
}
window.initMap = initMap;
index.ts

JavaScript

function initMap() {
  const directionsService = new google.maps.DirectionsService();
  const directionsRenderer = new google.maps.DirectionsRenderer();
  const map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), {
    zoom: 7,
    center: { lat: 41.85, lng: -87.65 },
  });

  directionsRenderer.setMap(map);

  const onChangeHandler = function () {
    calculateAndDisplayRoute(directionsService, directionsRenderer);
  };

  document.getElementById("start").addEventListener("change", onChangeHandler);
  document.getElementById("end").addEventListener("change", onChangeHandler);
}

function calculateAndDisplayRoute(directionsService, directionsRenderer) {
  directionsService
    .route({
      origin: {
        query: document.getElementById("start").value,
      },
      destination: {
        query: document.getElementById("end").value,
      },
      travelMode: google.maps.TravelMode.DRIVING,
    })
    .then((response) => {
      directionsRenderer.setDirections(response);
    })
    .catch((e) => window.alert("Directions request failed due to " + status));
}

window.initMap = initMap;
index.js

CSS

/* 
 * Always set the map height explicitly to define the size of the div element
 * that contains the map. 
 */
#map {
  height: 100%;
}

/* 
 * Optional: Makes the sample page fill the window. 
 */
html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

#floating-panel {
  position: absolute;
  top: 10px;
  left: 25%;
  z-index: 5;
  background-color: #fff;
  padding: 5px;
  border: 1px solid #999;
  text-align: center;
  font-family: "Roboto", "sans-serif";
  line-height: 30px;
  padding-left: 10px;
}

style.css

HTML

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Directions Service</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css" />
    <script type="module" src="./index.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="floating-panel">
      <b>Start: </b>
      <select id="start">
        <option value="chicago, il">Chicago</option>
        <option value="st louis, mo">St Louis</option>
        <option value="joplin, mo">Joplin, MO</option>
        <option value="oklahoma city, ok">Oklahoma City</option>
        <option value="amarillo, tx">Amarillo</option>
        <option value="gallup, nm">Gallup, NM</option>
        <option value="flagstaff, az">Flagstaff, AZ</option>
        <option value="winona, az">Winona</option>
        <option value="kingman, az">Kingman</option>
        <option value="barstow, ca">Barstow</option>
        <option value="san bernardino, ca">San Bernardino</option>
        <option value="los angeles, ca">Los Angeles</option>
      </select>
      <b>End: </b>
      <select id="end">
        <option value="chicago, il">Chicago</option>
        <option value="st louis, mo">St Louis</option>
        <option value="joplin, mo">Joplin, MO</option>
        <option value="oklahoma city, ok">Oklahoma City</option>
        <option value="amarillo, tx">Amarillo</option>
        <option value="gallup, nm">Gallup, NM</option>
        <option value="flagstaff, az">Flagstaff, AZ</option>
        <option value="winona, az">Winona</option>
        <option value="kingman, az">Kingman</option>
        <option value="barstow, ca">Barstow</option>
        <option value="san bernardino, ca">San Bernardino</option>
        <option value="los angeles, ca">Los Angeles</option>
      </select>
    </div>
    <div id="map"></div>

    <!-- 
      The `defer` attribute causes the script to execute after the full HTML
      document has been parsed. For non-blocking uses, avoiding race conditions,
      and consistent behavior across browsers, consider loading using Promises. See
      https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/load-maps-js-api
      for more information.
      -->
    <script
      src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=AIzaSyB41DRUbKWJHPxaFjMAwdrzWzbVKartNGg&callback=initMap&v=weekly"
      defer
    ></script>
  </body>
</html>
index.html

Try Sample

Clone Sample

Git and Node.js are required to run this sample locally. Follow these instructions to install Node.js and NPM. The following commands clone, install dependencies and start the sample application. 

  git clone -b sample-directions-simple https://github.com/googlemaps/js-samples.git
  cd js-samples
  npm i
  npm start

Other samples can be tried by switching to any branch beginning with sample-SAMPLE_NAME. 

  git checkout sample-SAMPLE_NAME
  npm i
  npm start