googlemaps

What it is and what it does

This is a Python wrapper around Google's Maps Platform web service APIs. It lets you call Google's geocoding, directions, distance matrix, elevation, geolocation, time zone, roads, places, address validation, and static maps endpoints from Python code without building HTTP requests manually. You instantiate a Client with your API key and call methods like geocode(), directions(), or reverse_geocode() to get structured responses.

The library handles authentication, request formatting, and response parsing. It includes automatic retry logic for transient 5xx failures. The package is community-supported and marked Beta; while it aims for backwards compatibility, the documentation reserves the right to make breaking changes while in version 0.x. It requires Python 3.5 or later and depends on the requests library for HTTP transport.

Use it for:

• Geocode addresses to latitude/longitude coordinates or reverse-geocode coordinates to addresses in batch or real-time workflows.
• Fetch driving, transit, walking, or cycling directions and distance matrices between multiple locations for routing or logistics applications.
• Look up time zones, elevation data, or validate postal addresses programmatically in data processing pipelines.
• Query nearby places, place details, or autocomplete place names for location-aware features in web or mobile backends.
• Build location-based services that combine multiple Maps APIs (e.g., find nearby places, then get directions to them).

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Python client library that wraps Google Maps Platform web service APIs, enabling geocoding, directions, distance matrices, elevation, time zones, places, and address validation from Python applications.

Yes, with conditions. The library is stable, permissively licensed, and actively maintained despite infrequent releases. High install friction (source-only distribution) and a 1296-day gap since the last PyPI release are notable drawbacks, but the repository shows recent activity. Install it if you need to call Google Maps APIs from Python and can tolerate building from source; verify that your Python version and the requests library version meet the documented requirements before deploying.

Install

googlemaps on PyPI

pip install googlemaps

uv add googlemaps

poetry add googlemaps

Installing googlemaps

Before you install

High install friction due to source distribution only (no wheels). Last release was 1296 days ago; repository is active with recent commits (2026-07-14) and 4969 stars, indicating ongoing maintenance despite infrequent PyPI updates.

License in practice

Licensed under Apache 2.0 (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—suitable for production applications.

Quickstart

pip install googlemaps

import googlemaps
from datetime import datetime

gmaps = googlemaps.Client(key='your-api-key')
result = gmaps.geocode('1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA')
directions = gmaps.directions('Sydney Town Hall', 'Parramatta, NSW', mode='transit', departure_time=datetime.now())

Requires a valid Google Maps API key from Google Cloud Console; requests 2.4.0 or higher needed for connect/read timeout support.

Verify before relying

• Whether requests library is automatically installed as a dependency or must be installed separately.
• Current status of Python 3.5 and 3.6 support given the package's age and modern Python ecosystem.
• Retry-on-failure behavior scope: which 5xx errors trigger automatic retry and what are the retry limits.

Package facts

Evidence: googlemaps-4.10.0.tar.gz

Tags

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