Web Scraping Google Maps Places with Nodejs

What will be scraped

Google Maps Local Results API

This section is to show the difference between our Google Maps Local Results API and DIY solution.

The difference is that you don't have to write code from scratch and maintain it. You may also experience blocking from Google and changing selectors which will break the parser. Instead, you just need to iterate the structured JSON and get the data you want. Check out the playground.

First, we need to install google-search-results-nodejs. To do this you need to enter in your console: npm i google-search-results-nodejs

📌Note: To make our search more relevant we need to add GPS coordinates parameter. It has to be constructed in the next sequence: @ + latitude + , + longitude + , + zoom. This will form a string that looks like this: e.g. @47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z. The zoom parameter is optional but recommended for higher precision (it ranges from 3z, map completely zoomed out - to 21z, map completely zoomed in). We have a dedicated video on our YouTube channel explaining What's and Why's about Google Maps GPS Coordinates.

const SerpApi = require("google-search-results-nodejs");
const search = new SerpApi.GoogleSearch(process.env.API_KEY); //your API key from serpapi.com

const searchString = "starbucks"; // what we want to search

const params = {
  engine: "google_maps", // search engine
  q: searchString, // search query
  hl: "en", // parameter defines the language to use for the Google search
  ll: "@47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z", // parameter defines GPS coordinates of location where you want your query to be applied
  type: "search", // parameter defines the type of search you want to make
};

const getJson = () => {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    search.json(params, resolve);
  });
};

const getResults = async () => {
  const allPlaces = [];
  while (true) {
    const json = await getJson();
    if (json.local_results) {
      allPlaces.push(...json.local_results)
    } else break;
    if (json.serpapi_pagination?.next) {
      !params.start ? (params.start = 20) : (params.start += 20);
    } else break;
  }
  return allPlaces;
};

getResults.then((result) => console.dir(result, { depth: null }));

Code explanation

Declare constants from required libraries:

const SerpApi = require("google-search-results-nodejs");
const search = new SerpApi.GoogleSearch(API_KEY);

Next, we write down what we want to search and the necessary parameters for making a request:

const searchString = "starbucks";

const params = {
  engine: "google_maps",
  q: searchString,
  hl: "en",
  ll: "@47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z", // parameter defines GPS coordinates of location where you want your query to be applied
  type: "search", // parameter defines the type of search you want to make
};

Next, we wrap the search method from the SerpApi library in a promise to further work with the search results:

const getJson = () => {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    search.json(params, resolve);
  })
}

And finally, we declare and run the function getResult that gets places info from all pages and returns it:

const getResults = async () => {
  const allPlaces = [];
  while (true) {
    const json = await getJson();
    if (json.local_results) {
      allPlaces.push(...json.local_results)
    } else break;
    if (json.serpapi_pagination?.next) {
      !params.start ? (params.start = 20) : (params.start += 20);
    } else break;
  }
  return allPlaces;
};

getResults().then((result) => console.dir(result, { depth: null }))

Output

[
   {
      "position":1,
      "title":"Starbucks",
      "place_id":"ChIJrxaZdhlBkFQRk-hWRsy4sWA",
      "data_id":"0x54904119769916af:0x60b1b8cc4656e893",
      "data_cid":"6967553286011807891",
      "reviews_link":"https://serpapi.com/search.json?data_id=0x54904119769916af%3A0x60b1b8cc4656e893&engine=google_maps_reviews&hl=en",
      "photos_link":"https://serpapi.com/search.json?data_id=0x54904119769916af%3A0x60b1b8cc4656e893&engine=google_maps_photos&hl=en",
      "gps_coordinates":{
         "latitude":47.544705,
         "longitude":-122.38743199999999
      },
      "place_id_search":"https://serpapi.com/search.json?data=%214m5%213m4%211s0x54904119769916af%3A0x60b1b8cc4656e893%218m2%213d47.544705%214d-122.38743199999999&engine=google_maps&google_domain=google.com&hl=en&start=80&type=place",
      "rating":4.2,
      "reviews":310,
      "price":"$$",
      "type":"Coffee shop",
      "address":"6501 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98136, United States",
      "open_state":"Closed ⋅ Opens 5AM",
      "hours":"Closed ⋅ Opens 5AM",
      "operating_hours":{
         "wednesday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "thursday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "friday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "saturday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "sunday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "monday":"5am–5:30pm",
         "tuesday":"5am–5:30pm"
      },
      "phone":"+1 206-938-6371",
      "website":"https://www.starbucks.com/store-locator/store/18390/",
      "description":"Iconic Seattle-based coffeehouse chain. Seattle-based coffeehouse chain known for its signature roasts, light bites and WiFi availability.",
      "service_options":{
         "dine_in":true,
         "drive_through":true,
         "delivery":true
      },
      "thumbnail":"https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipOSvSFJ7cD_s3pemaRs_TjEQe2_aVAy_NhUZVgN=w80-h106-k-no"
   },
   ...and other results
]

DIY Preparation

First, we need to create a Node.js* project and add npm packages puppeteer, puppeteer-extra and puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth to control Chromium (or Chrome, or Firefox, but now we work only with Chromium which is used by default) over the DevTools Protocol in headless or non-headless mode.

To do this, in the directory with our project, open the command line and enter npm init -y, and then npm i puppeteer puppeteer-extra puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth.

*If you don't have Node.js installed, you can download it from nodejs.org and follow the installation documentation.

📌Note: Also, you can use puppeteer without any extensions, but I strongly recommended using it with puppeteer-extra with puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth to prevent website detection that you are using headless Chromium or that you are using web driver. You can check it on Chrome headless tests website. The screenshot below shows you a difference.

Process

SelectorGadget Chrome extension was used to grab CSS selectors by clicking on the desired element in the browser. If you have any struggles understanding this, we have a dedicated Web Scraping with CSS Selectors blog post at SerpApi.

The Gif below illustrates the approach of selecting different parts of the results.

DIY Code

📌Notes:

• To make our search more relevant we need to add GPS coordinates parameter. It has to be constructed in the next sequence: @ + latitude + , + longitude + , + zoom. This will form a string that looks like this: e.g. @47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z. The zoom parameter is optional but recommended for higher precision (it ranges from 3z, map completely zoomed out - to 21z, map completely zoomed in). We have a dedicated video on our YouTube channel explaining What's and Why's about Google Maps GPS Coordinates.
• Sometimes Google displays results from local places using pagination, and sometimes it loads more results as you scroll. This code works for both cases. If pagination is displayed in your case, you need to uncomment the while loop and internal lines in the getLocalPlacesInfo function.

const puppeteer = require("puppeteer-extra");
const StealthPlugin = require("puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth");

puppeteer.use(StealthPlugin());

const requestParams = {
  baseURL: `http://google.com`,
  query: "starbucks",                                          // what we want to search
  coordinates: "@47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z",                 // parameter defines GPS coordinates of location where you want your query to be applied
  hl: "en",                                                    // parameter defines the language to use for the Google maps search
};

async function scrollPage(page, scrollContainer) {
  let lastHeight = await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight`);

  while (true) {
    await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollTo(0, document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight)`);
    await page.waitForTimeout(2000);
    let newHeight = await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight`);
    if (newHeight === lastHeight) {
      break;
    }
    lastHeight = newHeight;
  }
}

async function fillDataFromPage(page) {
  const dataFromPage = await page.evaluate(() => {
    return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(".bfdHYd")).map((el) => {
      const placeUrl = el.parentElement.querySelector(".hfpxzc")?.getAttribute("href");
      const urlPattern = /!1s(?<id>[^!]+).+!3d(?<latitude>[^!]+)!4d(?<longitude>[^!]+)/gm;                     // https://regex101.com/r/KFE09c/1
      const dataId = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.id)[0];
      const latitude = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.latitude)[0];
      const longitude = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.longitude)[0];
      return {
        title: el.querySelector(".qBF1Pd")?.textContent.trim(),
        rating: el.querySelector(".MW4etd")?.textContent.trim(),
        reviews: el.querySelector(".UY7F9")?.textContent.replace("(", "").replace(")", "").trim(),
        type: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(1) > span:first-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        address: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(1) > span:last-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        openState: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(3) > span:first-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        phone: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(3) > span:last-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        website: el.querySelector("a[data-value]")?.getAttribute("href"),
        description: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(2)")?.textContent.replace("·", "").trim(),
        serviceOptions: el.querySelector(".qty3Ue")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").replaceAll("  ", " ").trim(),
        gpsCoordinates: {
          latitude,
          longitude,
        },
        placeUrl,
        dataId,
      };
    });
  });
  return dataFromPage;
}

async function getLocalPlacesInfo() {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
    headless: false,
    args: ["--no-sandbox", "--disable-setuid-sandbox"],
  });

  const page = await browser.newPage();

  const URL = `${requestParams.baseURL}/maps/search/${requestParams.query}/${requestParams.coordinates}?hl=${requestParams.hl}`;

  await page.setDefaultNavigationTimeout(60000);
  await page.goto(URL);

  await page.waitForNavigation();

  const scrollContainer = ".m6QErb[aria-label]";

  const localPlacesInfo = [];

  // while (true) {
    await page.waitForTimeout(2000);
    // const nextPageBtn = await page.$("#eY4Fjd:not([disabled])");
    // if (!nextPageBtn) break;
    await scrollPage(page, scrollContainer);
    localPlacesInfo.push(...(await fillDataFromPage(page)));
    // await page.click("#eY4Fjd");
  // }

  await browser.close();

  return localPlacesInfo;
}

getLocalPlacesInfo().then(console.log);

Code explanation

Declare constants from required libraries:

const puppeteer = require("puppeteer-extra");
const StealthPlugin = require("puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth");

Next, we "say" to puppeteer use StealthPlugin:

puppeteer.use(StealthPlugin());

Next, we write what we want to search and the necessary parameters for making a request:

const requestParams = {
  baseURL: `http://google.com`,
  query: "starbucks",
  coordinates: "@47.6040174,-122.1854488,11z", 
  hl: "en", 
};

Next, we write down a function for scrolling places container on the page:

async function scrollPage(page, scrollContainer) {
  let lastHeight = await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight`);

  while (true) {
    await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollTo(0, document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight)`);
    await page.waitForTimeout(2000);
    let newHeight = await page.evaluate(`document.querySelector("${scrollContainer}").scrollHeight`);
    if (newHeight === lastHeight) {
      break;
    }
    lastHeight = newHeight;
  }
}

Next, we write down a function for getting places info from page:

async function fillDataFromPage(page) {
  const dataFromPage = await page.evaluate(() => {
    return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(".bfdHYd")).map((el) => {
      const placeUrl = el.parentElement.querySelector(".hfpxzc")?.getAttribute("href");
      const urlPattern = /!1s(?<id>[^!]+).+!3d(?<latitude>[^!]+)!4d(?<longitude>[^!]+)/gm;                     // https://regex101.com/r/KFE09c/1
      const dataId = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.id)[0];
      const latitude = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.latitude)[0];
      const longitude = [...placeUrl.matchAll(urlPattern)].map(({ groups }) => groups.longitude)[0];
      return {
        title: el.querySelector(".qBF1Pd")?.textContent.trim(),
        rating: el.querySelector(".MW4etd")?.textContent.trim(),
        reviews: el.querySelector(".UY7F9")?.textContent.replace("(", "").replace(")", "").trim(),
        type: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(1) > span:first-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        address: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(1) > span:last-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        openState: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(3) > span:first-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        phone: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(3) > span:last-child")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").trim(),
        website: el.querySelector("a[data-value]")?.getAttribute("href"),
        description: el.querySelector(".W4Efsd:last-child > .W4Efsd:nth-of-type(2)")?.textContent.replace("·", "").trim(),
        serviceOptions: el.querySelector(".qty3Ue")?.textContent.replaceAll("·", "").replaceAll("  ", " ").trim(),
        gpsCoordinates: {
          latitude,
          longitude,
        },
        placeUrl,
        dataId,
      };
    });
  });
  return dataFromPage;
}

And finally, a function to control the browser, and get information:

async function getLocalPlacesInfo() {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
    headless: false,
    args: ["--no-sandbox", "--disable-setuid-sandbox"],
  });

  const page = await browser.newPage();

  const URL = `${requestParams.baseURL}/maps/search/${requestParams.query}/${requestParams.coordinates}?hl=${requestParams.hl}`;

  await page.setDefaultNavigationTimeout(60000);
  await page.goto(URL);

  await page.waitForNavigation();

  const scrollContainer = ".m6QErb[aria-label]";

  const localPlacesInfo = [];

  // while (true) {
    await page.waitForTimeout(2000);
    // const nextPageBtn = await page.$("#eY4Fjd:not([disabled])");
    // if (!nextPageBtn) break;
    await scrollPage(page, scrollContainer);
    localPlacesInfo.push(...(await fillDataFromPage(page)));
    // await page.click("#eY4Fjd");
  // }

  await browser.close();

  return localPlacesInfo;
}

getLocalPlacesInfo().then(console.log);

Now we can launch our parser. To do this enter node YOUR_FILE_NAME in your command line. Where YOUR_FILE_NAME is the name of your .js file.

Output

📌Note: If you see something like [Object] in your console you can use console.dir(result, { depth: null }) instead console.log(). Watch Node.js documentation for more info.

[
[
   {
      "title":"Starbucks",
      "rating":"4.2",
      "reviews":"233",
      "type":"Coffee shop",
      "address":"545 Bellevue Square",
      "openState":"Closed ⋅ Opens 7AM",
      "phone":"+1 425-452-5534",
      "website":"https://www.starbucks.com/store-locator/store/18615/",
      "description":"Iconic Seattle-based coffeehouse chain",
      "serviceOptions":"Dine-in   Takeaway   No delivery",
      "gpsCoordinates":{
         "latitude":"47.617077",
         "longitude":"-122.2019599"
      },
      "placeUrl":"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Starbucks/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x54906c8f50e36025:0x5175a46aeadfbc0f!8m2!3d47.617077!4d-122.2019599!16s%2Fg%2F1thw6fd9!19sChIJJWDjUI9skFQRD7zf6mqkdVE?authuser=0&hl=en&rclk=1",
      "dataId":"0x54906c8f50e36025:0x5175a46aeadfbc0f"
   },
   {
      "title":"Starbucks",
      "reviews":"379",
      "type":"Coffee shop",
      "address":"1785 NE 44th St",
      "openState":"Closed ⋅ Opens 4:30AM",
      "phone":"+1 425-226-7007",
      "website":"https://www.starbucks.com/store-locator/store/10581/",
      "description":"Iconic Seattle-based coffeehouse chain",
      "serviceOptions":"Dine-in   Drive-through   Delivery",
      "gpsCoordinates":{
         "latitude":"47.5319688",
         "longitude":"-122.1942498"
      },
      "placeUrl":"https://www.google.com/maps/place/Starbucks/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x549069a98254bd17:0xb2f64f75b3edf4c3!8m2!3d47.5319688!4d-122.1942498!16s%2Fg%2F1tdfmzpb!19sChIJF71UgqlpkFQRw_Tts3VP9rI?authuser=0&hl=en&rclk=1",
      "dataId":"0x549069a98254bd17:0xb2f64f75b3edf4c3"
   },
   ...and other results
]

Links

• Code in the online IDE
• Google Maps Local Results API

If you want to see some projects made with SerpApi, please write me a message.

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