Table of Contents
Google Maps Scraping in Pure Ruby
Knowledge of coding, browser emulation, proxies, and a reCAPTCHA solver are all essential when scraping Google Maps. You should also be prepared to adapt to any future updates Google makes to its dynamic content.
To begin, you will want to employ browser emulation to mimic a real user’s actions. Potentially useful solutions include Selenium and similar browser emulation tools.
Besides that, proxies are essential for protecting your office/home IP address. This allows you to access the web using the IP addresses of other users.
After a certain amount of use with such tools, Google may begin displaying reCAPTCHA and associating some of your IP addresses with it. You can install a reCAPTCHA solver if you don’t want to keep switching IP addresses every time you encounter one.
In addition, anticipate instances in which Google’s information may be updated. It is possible with regular testing.
The scraper can be developed and kept up and running, but it may be a lengthy process. Learn more about scraping Google Maps with Python and Selenium by reviewing this detailed guide: How to Scrape Google Maps with Python and Selenium.
Google Maps Scraping With Outscraper Ruby Package
A more tried-and-tested way of scraping Google Maps will be using the Outscraper Ruby library. It provides convenient access to the Outscraper API from applications written in the Ruby language, which allows you to use Outscraper’s services from your code.
You can start by installing the package and creating an account at Outscraper.
Installation
Install the gem and add it to the application’s Gemfile by executing:
bundle add outscraper
If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:
gem install outscraper
Initialization
Initialize the Outscraper client by importing the class and adding your secret API key. You can generate the API key on the profile page.
require 'Outscraper'
client = Outscraper::Client.new('SECRET_API_KEY')
Usage Examples
Here are examples of how you can scrape places from Google Maps by using search queries:
# Search for businesses in specific locations:
result = client.google_maps_search_v2('restaurants brooklyn usa', limit: 20, language: 'en', region: 'us')
It’s also possible to extract the data by using Place Id:
# Get data of the specific place by id
result = client.google_maps_search_v2('ChIJrc9T9fpYwokRdvjYRHT8nI4', language: 'en')
Try Outscraper SDK Now
You can simply scrape Google Maps scraping with Ruby because the Outscraper SDK has made it possible. You can try it right now with a Free Tier.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
bundle add outscraper
gem install outscraper
require 'Outscraper'
client = Outscraper::Client.new('SECRET_API_KEY'))
# Search for businesses in specific locations:
result = client.google_maps_search_v2('restaurants brooklyn usa', limit: 20, language: 'en', region: 'us')Scraping Google Maps requires good knowledge of coding, browser emulation, proxies, and reCAPTCHA solver. Additionally, you should also be ready to deal with changes that Google might make to its dynamic content.
Google Maps disallow scraping. Although, scraping and extracting public data is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
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