How to get a picture of a place from google maps or places API

Question

I'm using Google Places API to retrieve data about places, but couldn't find how to get a picture of that place, Google Places API just provides icon which is not the same. I need the photo you get when you search for a place in Google Maps in a web browser for example. There is usually more pictures from Panoramio, but Panoramio API can only search for pictures by location and not by a particular restaurant or hotel name for example. Any ideas?

Answer 1

The Places API just added the ability to request photos directly in the API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/places#places_photos

Answer 2

The Places API will give you the coordinates (latitude and longitude) in the place detail response; you can then send the coordinates to the Panoramio API.

For example (drawing from examples in the API docs):

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/json?reference=<big long key for place>&sensor=true&key=AIzaSyAiFpFd85eMtfbvmVNEYuNds5TEF9FjIPI

Response:

{
  "html_attributions" : [],
  "result" : {
    "address_components" : [
      {
        "long_name" : "48",
        "short_name" : "48",
        "types" : [ "street_number" ]
      },
      {
        "long_name" : "Pirrama Road",
        "short_name" : "Pirrama Road",
        "types" : [ "route" ]
      },
      {
        "long_name" : "Pyrmont",
        "short_name" : "Pyrmont",
        "types" : [ "locality", "political" ]
      },
      {
        "long_name" : "NSW",
        "short_name" : "NSW",
        "types" : [ "administrative_area_level_1", "political" ]
      },
      {
        "long_name" : "AU",
        "short_name" : "AU",
        "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
      },
      {
        "long_name" : "2009",
        "short_name" : "2009",
        "types" : [ "postal_code" ]
      }
    ],
    "formatted_address" : "5/48 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont NSW, Australia",
    "formatted_phone_number" : "(02) 9374 4000",
    "geometry" : {
      "location" : {
        "lat" : -33.8669710,
        "lng" : 151.1958750
      }
    },
    "icon" : "http://maps.gstatic.com/mapfiles/place_api/icons/generic_business-71.png",
    "id" : "4f89212bf76dde31f092cfc14d7506555d85b5c7",
    "international_phone_number" : "+61 2 9374 4000",
    "name" : "Google Sydney",
    "rating" : 4.60,
    "reference" : "CnRlAAAAAfV6JIqSzL8Cf4VnXn0EaI1d5k3IPhdkEonq0MxiUbQFFSVuptVbXbNH4mrevb0bc7G8yWqTUv76i4KTuO_Wf3OrRHjCJJwzQ0mNLjbYGSVqy2eqyrgOUkl6S_sJfTbHzWZYrfPy7KZaet0mM5S6thIQJYuy5v_JD--ZxXEJLWTQRRoU5UaciXBBo89K-bce18Ii9RsEIws",
    "types" : [ "store", "establishment" ],
    "url" : "http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=10281119596374313554",
    "vicinity" : "5/48 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont",
    "website" : "http://www.google.com.au/"
  },
  "status" : "OK"
}

We can see that the coordinates are "location" : { "lat" : -33.8669710, "lng" : 151.1958750 }

Then we can send a request to Panoramio, inserting the coordinates, plus a little wiggle room on either side (I did +/- 0.002 degrees, a shape 200 m x 200 m square at the equator, generally smaller). http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?set=public&from=0&to=20&minx=-33.868&miny=151.193&maxx=-33.864&maxy=151.197&size=medium&mapfilter=true

You may need to do some filtering of the responses to get the closest photo, but this should give you something to work with.

Answer 3

The Places API now supports the return of one place photo if available for a Place Search request and up to ten place photos for a Place Details request.

If a photos array is returned with your request, you can pass the photo_reference from a contained photo object to a Place Photo request with the maxheight and/or maxwidth, sensor and key parameters:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/photo?maxwidth=400&photoreference=CnRvAAAAwMpdHeWlXl-lH0vp7lez4znKPIWSWvgvZFISdKx45AwJVP1Qp37YOrH7sqHMJ8C-vBDC546decipPHchJhHZL94RcTUfPa1jWzo-rSHaTlbNtjh-N68RkcToUCuY9v2HNpo5mziqkir37WU8FJEqVBIQ4k938TI3e7bf8xq-uwDZcxoUbO_ZJzPxremiQurAYzCTwRhE_V0&sensor=false&key=AddYourOwnKeyHere

Please see the documentation for more details.