Goplaces

What it does

Goplaces is a command-line interface (CLI) tool that interacts with the Google Places API. It allows you to search for locations, retrieve details about them, and manage place data. The tool prioritizes human-readable output by default but supports JSON output for scripting purposes. It streamlines tasks like travel planning and data entry involving Google Maps locations.

When to use it

• Searching for nearby businesses (e.g., "coffee shops open now").
• Finding places within a specific radius of a location (e.g., "pizza" near latitude 40.8, longitude -73.9).
• Retrieving detailed information about a place using its Place ID, including reviews.
• Resolving a place name to its Google Places API identifier (e.g., resolving "Soho, London").
• Automating data extraction from the Google Places API for scripting or analysis.

Key capabilities

• Search: Finds places matching a search query with options for open now status and minimum rating.
• Bias: Allows biasing searches to specific geographic coordinates and radius.
• Pagination: Supports retrieving results across multiple pages using page tokens.
• Resolve: Converts place names into Place IDs.
• Details: Retrieves detailed information about a place, including reviews.
• JSON Output: Provides output in JSON format for scripting.

Example prompts

• goplaces search "coffee" --open-now --min-rating 4 --limit 5
• goplaces resolve "Soho, London" --limit 5
• goplaces details <place_id> --reviews

Tips & gotchas

• API Key Required: You must configure the GOOGLE_PLACES_API_KEY environment variable.
• Type Filter Limitation: The --type filter only sends the first value provided, as the Google Places API accepts a single type parameter.
• Color Output: Use --no-color or set the NO_COLOR environment variable to disable ANSI color output.