A python script to download high resolution Google map images given a longitude, latitude and zoom level.

GoogleMapDownloader.py

#!/usr/bin/python
# GoogleMapDownloader.py 
# Created by Hayden Eskriett [http://eskriett.com]
#
# A script which when given a longitude, latitude and zoom level downloads a
# high resolution google map
# Find the associated blog post at: http://blog.eskriett.com/2013/07/19/downloading-google-maps/

import urllib
import Image
import os
import math

class GoogleMapDownloader:
    """
        A class which generates high resolution google maps images given
        a longitude, latitude and zoom level
    """

    def __init__(self, lat, lng, zoom=12):
        """
            GoogleMapDownloader Constructor

            Args:
                lat:    The latitude of the location required
                lng:    The longitude of the location required
                zoom:   The zoom level of the location required, ranges from 0 - 23
                        defaults to 12
        """
        self._lat = lat
        self._lng = lng
        self._zoom = zoom

    def getXY(self):
        """
            Generates an X,Y tile coordinate based on the latitude, longitude 
            and zoom level

            Returns:    An X,Y tile coordinate
        """
        
        tile_size = 256

        # Use a left shift to get the power of 2
        # i.e. a zoom level of 2 will have 2^2 = 4 tiles
        numTiles = 1 << self._zoom

        # Find the x_point given the longitude
        point_x = (tile_size/ 2 + self._lng * tile_size / 360.0) * numTiles // tile_size

        # Convert the latitude to radians and take the sine
        sin_y = math.sin(self._lat * (math.pi / 180.0))

        # Calulate the y coorindate
        point_y = ((tile_size / 2) + 0.5 * math.log((1+sin_y)/(1-sin_y)) * -(tile_size / (2 * math.pi))) * numTiles // tile_size

        return int(point_x), int(point_y)

    def generateImage(self, **kwargs):
        """
            Generates an image by stitching a number of google map tiles together.
            
            Args:
                start_x:        The top-left x-tile coordinate
                start_y:        The top-left y-tile coordinate
                tile_width:     The number of tiles wide the image should be -
                                defaults to 5
                tile_height:    The number of tiles high the image should be -
                                defaults to 5
            Returns:
                A high-resolution Goole Map image.
        """

        start_x = kwargs.get('start_x', None)
        start_y = kwargs.get('start_y', None)
        tile_width = kwargs.get('tile_width', 5)
        tile_height = kwargs.get('tile_height', 5)

        # Check that we have x and y tile coordinates
        if start_x == None or start_y == None :
            start_x, start_y = self.getXY()

        # Determine the size of the image
        width, height = 256 * tile_width, 256 * tile_height

        #Create a new image of the size require
        map_img = Image.new('RGB', (width,height))

        for x in range(0, tile_width):
            for y in range(0, tile_height) :
                url = 'https://mt0.google.com/vt?x='+str(start_x+x)+'&y='+str(start_y+y)+'&z='+str(self._zoom)

                current_tile = str(x)+'-'+str(y)
                urllib.urlretrieve(url, current_tile)
            
                im = Image.open(current_tile)
                map_img.paste(im, (x*256, y*256))
              
                os.remove(current_tile)

        return map_img

def main():
    # Create a new instance of GoogleMap Downloader
    gmd = GoogleMapDownloader(51.5171, 0.1062, 13)

    print("The tile coorindates are {}".format(gmd.getXY()))

    try:
        # Get the high resolution image
        img = gmd.generateImage()
    except IOError:
        print("Could not generate the image - try adjusting the zoom level and checking your coordinates")
    else:
        #Save the image to disk
        img.save("high_resolution_image.png")
        print("The map has successfully been created")


if __name__ == '__main__':  main()