working out distances between two points using google maps api?

Question

Is it possible to send two lat long points to google to calculate the distance between the two?

Answer 1

Yes google can do this

google api docs

here's a piece of java script that get's the distance in km's for two points

function initialize() {
      if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
          map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas"));
          map.setCenter(new GLatLng(52.6345701, -1.1294433), 13);
          map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl());          
          map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl());
          geocoder = new GClientGeocoder();

          // NR14 7PZ
          var loc1 = new GLatLng(52.5773139, 1.3712427);
          // NR32 1TB
          var loc2 = new GLatLng(52.4788314, 1.7577444);          
          alert(loc2.distanceFrom(loc1) / 1000);
      }
    }