Find distance and driving time between locations stored in google spreadsheet by using Distance Matrix API

Code.gs

function onOpen() {//adds new menu item to active spreadsheet
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var entries = [
    {name : "Calculate distance", functionName : "findDistance"},
    {name : "Clear distance", functionName : "clearIDs"}];
  sheet.addMenu("Distance measure", entries);
}

function clearIDs() {
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  sheet.getSheetByName('Sheet1').getRange("C2:D").clearContent();//clear cells that contains measured distance
}

function findDistance() {
  var spreadSheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var sheet = spreadSheet.getSheetByName('Sheet1');//sheet with locations
  var originColumnNumber = 1;//column with origin location
  var destinationColumnNumber = 2;//column with destination location
  var distanceColumnNumber = 3;
  var durationColumnNumber = 4;
  var range = sheet.getDataRange();
  var data = range.getValues();
  var dataLength = data.length;
  var ignoreErrors = true;//set to false to see errors
  var ignoreHeaderRow = true;
  var firstRow = ignoreHeaderRow ? 1 : 0;

  for (var i = firstRow; i < dataLength; i++) {
    var row = data[i];
    var origin = row[originColumnNumber - 1];
    var destination = row[destinationColumnNumber - 1];
    var directions, distance, duration;
    
    if(row[distanceColumnNumber - 1] && row[durationColumnNumber - 1]) {//skipping calculated row
      continue;
    }
    
    try {
      directions = DISTANCE_AND_TIME(origin, destination);//Use DM_DISTANCE_AND_TIME if Distance Matrix Web Api needed. In that case don't forget to set 'apiKey' variable
      distance = directions[0][0];
      duration = directions[0][1];
    } catch(e) {
      if(ignoreErrors) {
        distance = 'N/A';
        duration = 'N/A';
      } else {
        throw e;
      }
    }
 
    sheet.getRange(i + 1, distanceColumnNumber).setValue(distance);
    sheet.getRange(i + 1, durationColumnNumber).setValue(duration);
    
    Utilities.sleep(500);
  }
}

/**
 * Find distance and driving time.
 *
 * @param {string} origin Starting point.
 * @param {string} destination Finishing point.
 * @return {string[]} distance and driving time.
 * @customfunction
 */
function DISTANCE_AND_TIME(origin, destination) {
  var distance, duration, directions;

  if(!origin || !destination) {
    throw new Error("Invalid arguments");
  }

  directions = Maps.newDirectionFinder()
    .setOrigin(encodeURIComponent(origin))
    .setDestination(encodeURIComponent(destination))
    .setMode(Maps.DirectionFinder.Mode.DRIVING)
    .setLanguage('en')
    .getDirections();
  
  if(directions.status !== "OK") {
    throw new Error(directions.status + ": " + directions.error_message);
  }
  
  distance = directions.routes[0].legs[0].distance.text;
  duration = directions.routes[0].legs[0].duration.text;
  
  return [[distance, duration]];
}

/**
 * Find distance and driving time using Distance Matrix API.
 *
 * @param {string} origin Starting point.
 * @param {string} destination Finishing point.
 * @return {string[]} distance and driving time.
 * @customfunction
 */
function DM_DISTANCE_AND_TIME(origin, destination) {
  var apiKey, url, directions, distance, duration;

  if(!origin || !destination) {
    throw new Error("Invalid arguments");
  }
  
  apiKey = "your_api_key";
  url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json" +
      "?key=" + apiKey +
      "&origins=" + encodeURIComponent(origin) +
      "&destinations=" + encodeURIComponent(destination) +
      "&mode=driving";
  
  directions = JSON.parse(UrlFetchApp.fetch(url));
  
  if(directions.status !== "OK") {
    throw new Error(directions.status + (directions.error_message ? (": " + directions.error_message) : ''));
  }
  
  if(directions.rows[0].elements[0].status !== "OK") {
    throw new Error(directions.rows[0].elements[0].status);
  }
  
  distance = directions.rows[0].elements[0].distance.text;
  duration = directions.rows[0].elements[0].duration.text;
  
  return [[distance, duration]];
}


/**
 * Distance Matrix command line like arguments.
 *
 * @param {string} key
 * @param {string} origin
 * @param {string} destination
 * @param {string} mode
 * @param {string} language
 * @param {string} region
 * @param {string} avoid
 * @param {string} units
 * @param {string} arrival_time
 * @param {string} departure_time
 * @param {string} traffic_model
 * @param {string} transit_mode
 * @param {string} transit_routing_preference
 * @param {string} t Return time.
 * @param {string} d Return distance
 * @param {string} dv Distance value instead of text
 * @param {string} tv Duration value instead of text
 * @return {string[]} distance and driving time.
 * @example DistanceMatrix("--origins","Lutsk","--destinations","Rivne","--language","uk"). If either '-t' or '-d' is set will return only time or distance accordingly. Returns both values by default
 *
 * @customfunction
 */
function DistanceMatrix() {
  var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
  var params = minimist(args, {
    'default': {
      key: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" //you can set your api key here
    }
  });
  var url_params = ['origins', 'destinations', 'mode', 'language', 'region', 'avoid', 'units', 'arrival_time', 'departure_time', 'traffic_model', 'transit_mode', 'transit_routing_preference'];
  var url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json?key=" + params.key;
  var dm_data = [];
  var response;
  
  url_params.forEach(function(param) {
    if(params[param]) {
      url += '&' + param + '=' + encodeURIComponent(params[param]);
    }
  });

  response = JSON.parse(UrlFetchApp.fetch(url));  
  
  if(response.status !== "OK") {
    throw new Error(response.status + (response.error_message ? (": " + response.error_message) : ''));
  }

  response.rows.forEach(function(row) {
    row.elements.forEach(function(element) {
      var element_data = [];

      if(element.status !== 'OK') {
        throw new Error(element.status);
      }
      
      if(params.d || !params.t) {
        element_data.push(params.dv ? element.distance.value : element.distance.text);
      }

      if(params.t || !params.d) {
        element_data.push(params.tv ? element.duration.value : element.duration.text);
      }
      
      dm_data.push(element_data);
    });
  });

  return dm_data;
}

minimist.gs

//using minimist module by substack https://github.com/substack/minimist
var minimist = function (args, opts) {
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    var flags = { bools : {}, strings : {}, unknownFn: null };

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      flags.allBools = true;
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      });
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    var aliases = {};
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        aliases[key].forEach(function (x) {
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    [].concat(opts.string).filter(Boolean).forEach(function (key) {
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            ? Number(val) : val
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        setKey(argv, key.split('.'), value);
        
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            // 'dotall' regex modifier. See:
            // http://stackoverflow.com/a/1068308/13216
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    return argv;
};

function hasKey (obj, keys) {
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    keys.slice(0,-1).forEach(function (key) {
        o = (o[key] || {});
    });

    var key = keys[keys.length - 1];
    return key in o;
}

function isNumber (x) {
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    if (/^0x[0-9a-f]+$/i.test(x)) return true;
    return /^[-+]?(?:\d+(?:\.\d*)?|\.\d+)(e[-+]?\d+)?$/.test(x);
}

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@Pathuma I only need to pass the arrival time

@Pathuma, now you may pass command line like arguments, e.g.

=DistanceMatrix("--origins", "Lutsk", "--destinations", "Rivne", "--mode", "transit", "--arrival_time", 1569786972)

Very helpful. @takvol, thank you!

Thanks, guys!

@takvol Thanks so much! I copied and pasted the first set of code into google sheets and put my API key in, but I'm not getting any value results at all. I only need to find the distance and I have "distance measure" up in the toolbar but how exactly does sheets know to put the results under the column that I named distances?

And I am trying to find the driving mile distances between one address in one column and a bunch of addresses in the column next to it. How can I get the results exactly like yours?

@glee345
Note that there are two places where apiKey is set: apiKey = and

var params = minimist(args, {
    'default': {
      key: "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" //you can set your api key here
    }
  });

next variables are responsible for column positions

  var originColumnNumber = 1;//column with origin location
  var destinationColumnNumber = 2;//column with destination location
  var distanceColumnNumber = 3;
  var durationColumnNumber = 4;

to see an error you can change ignoreErrors in the code from true to false: e.g var ignoreErrors = false;
Make sure distance matrix API is enabled
https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/google/distance-matrix-backend.googleapis.com
The function is designed to run row by row, so you need to have one starting point and one destination per row, or modify the script accordingly to your needs
You can also just use the script as regular cell function. example: =DISTANCE_AND_TIME(A5,B5) (no API required for this function) or =DM_DISTANCE_AND_TIME(A5,B5) (API required)

Dear takvol,

Thank you so much for your code, this is exactly what I am looking for. Now i need to add a state coloum and country coloum, by adding this thing will be more easy.

Thanks a lot @takvol ! Im trying to use this code to calculate straight distances between two locations, not routes. For example, I want to know the distance between New york and berlin to use for further calculation. But that calculation gives me an error "Error: ZERO_RESULTS (line 119)."

Is it even possible to calculate straight distances or is it always taking routes as defined in google maps (foot, car, transit, etc)?

Best
Micha