How do I integrate Salesforce with Google Maps?

Question

How do I integrate Salesforce with Google Maps? I\'m just looking for information on how to...

1. Search for contacts in Salesforce
2. Plot those on a googl

Answer 1

EDIT:

Thanks to tggagne's comment I've realized that people still see this answer. The code that was here is over 2.5 years old. If you want to see it - check the history of edits.

A lot has changed in the meantime, more mashup examples were created. Not the least of them being "SF Bus Radar" (github, youtube) app by Cory Cowgill (created on Dreamforce'11 I think).

Nonetheless - here's my updated example with server-side geocoding, new field of type Geolocation and usage of JSON parsers.

It tries to cache the geocoding results in the contact records. Bear in mind it might not be 'production-ready' (no Google Business API key = as all our requests come out from same pool of Salesforce IP servers there might be error messages). That's why I've left the client-side geocoding too.

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You'll need to make 2 changes in your environment before checking it out:

1. Add "Remote Site Setting" that points to https://maps.googleapis.com to enable callouts from Apex

2. Add field "Location" in Setup -> Customize -> Contacts -> fields. Type should be "Geolocation". I've selected display as decimals and precision of 6 decimal places.

   public with sharing class mapController {
   public String searchText {get;set;}
   public List contacts{get; private set;}
   
   public static final String GEOCODING_URI_BASE = 'https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?sensor=false&address=';
   
   // For purposes of this demo I'll geocode only couple of addresses server-side. Real code can use the commented out value.
   public static final Integer MAX_CALLOUTS_FROM_APEX = 3; // Limits.getLimitCallouts()
   
   public mapController(){
       searchText = ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('q');
   }
   
   public void find() {
       if(searchText != null && searchText.length() > 1){
           List> results = [FIND :('*' + searchText + '*') IN ALL FIELDS RETURNING 
               Contact (Id, Name, Email, Account.Name,
                   MailingStreet, MailingCity, MailingPostalCode, MailingState, MailingCountry, 
                   Location__Latitude__s, Location__Longitude__s)
               ];
           contacts = (List)results[0];
           if(contacts.isEmpty()){
               ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.INFO, 'No matches for "' + searchText + '"'));
           } else {
               serverSideGeocode();
           }
       } else {
           if(contacts != null) {
               contacts.clear();
           }
           ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.INFO, 'Please provide at least 2 characters for the search.'));
       }
   }
   
   public void clearGeocodedData(){
       for(Contact c : contacts){
           c.Location__Latitude__s = c.Location__Longitude__s = null;
       }
       Database.update(contacts, false);
       contacts.clear();
   }
   
   public String getContactsJson(){
       return JSON.serialize(contacts);
   }
   public String getDebugContactsJson(){
       return JSON.serializePretty(contacts);
   }
   
   private void serverSideGeocode(){
       List contactsToUpdate = new List();
       Http h = new Http();  
       HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
       req.setMethod('GET'); 
       req.setTimeout(10000);
   
       for(Contact c : contacts){
           if((c.Location__Latitude__s == null || c.Location__Longitude__s == null)){
               String address = c.MailingStreet != null ? c.MailingStreet + ' ' : '' +
                   c.MailingCity != null ? c.MailingCity + ' ' : '' +
                   c.MailingState != null ? c.MailingState + ' ' : '' +
                   c.MailingPostalCode != null ? c.MailingPostalCode + ' ' : '' +
                   c.MailingCountry != null ? c.MailingCountry : '';
               if(address != ''){
                   req.setEndpoint(GEOCODING_URI_BASE + EncodingUtil.urlEncode(address, 'UTF-8'));
                   try{
                       HttpResponse res = h.send(req);
                       GResponse gr = (GResponse) JSON.deserialize(res.getBody(), mapController.GResponse.class);
                       if(gr.status == 'OK'){
                           LatLng ll = gr.results[0].geometry.location;
                           c.Location__Latitude__s = ll.lat;
                           c.Location__Longitude__s = ll.lng;
                           contactsToUpdate.add(c);
                       } else {
                           ApexPages.addMessage(new ApexPages.Message(ApexPages.Severity.ERROR, 'Geocoding of "' + address + '" failed:' + gr.status));
                       }
                   }catch(Exception e){
                       ApexPages.addMessages(e);
                   }
               }
               // Bail out if we've reached limit of callouts (not all contacts might have been processed).
               if(Limits.getCallouts() == MAX_CALLOUTS_FROM_APEX) {
                   break;
               }
           }
       }
       if(!contactsToUpdate.isEmpty()) {
           Database.update(contactsToUpdate, false); // some data in Developer editions is invalid (on purpose I think).
           // If update fails because "j.davis@expressl&t.net" is not a valid Email, I want the rest to succeed
       }
   }
   
   // Helper class - template into which results of lookup will be parsed. Some fields are skipped!
   // Visit https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/#Results if you need to create full mapping.
   public class GResponse{
       public String status;
       public GComponents[] results;
   }
   public class GComponents{
      public String formatted_address;
      public GGeometry geometry;
   }
   public class GGeometry {
       public LatLng location;
   }
   public class LatLng{
       public Double lat, lng;
   }
   }
   

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Examples: "USA", "Singapore", "Uni", "(336) 222-7000". If it works in the global search box, it will work here.
        
        
            
                
            
            
                
                    {!c.Name}
                
                
                    {!c.MailingStreet} {!c.MailingCity} {!c.MailingCountry}
                
                
                
                    {!c.Location__Latitude__s}, {!c.Location__Longitude__s}
                
            
            
                

            
            
                
{!debugContactsJson}