How to decode the Google Directions API polylines field into lat long points in Objective-C for iPhone?

Question

I want to draw routes on a map corresponding to directions JSON which I am getting through the Google Directions API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/directions/start

I have figured out how to extract the latitude and longitude from the steps field, however this doesn't follow curvy roads very well. I think what I need is to decode the polyline information, I found Googles instructions on how to encode polylines: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/utilities/polylinealgorithm

I did find some code here for Android and also Javascript on decoding the polylines, for example:

Map View draw directions using google Directions API - decoding polylines

android get and parse Google Directions

But I can't find same for Objective-C iPhone code, can anybody help me with this? I'm sure I can do it myself if I have to, but it sure would save me some time if it's already available somewhere.

EDIT: the key here is being able to decode the base64 encoding on a character by character basis. To be more specific, I get something like this in JSON from Google which is encoded using base64 encoding among other things:

...   "overview_polyline" : {
        "points" : "ydelDz~vpN_@NO@QEKWIYIIO?YCS@WFGBEBICCAE?G@y@RKBEBEBAD?HTpB@LALALCNEJEFSP_@LyDv@aB\\GBMB"
       },
...

Note: I should mention that this question refers to Google Maps API v1, it is much easier to do this in v2 using GMSPolyLine polyLineWithPath as many answers below will tell you (thanks to @cdescours).

Hilten

Use this #28784534 – Enswathe

Check this answer https://mcmap.net/q/349524/-how-to-decode-the-google-directions-api-polylines-field-into-lat-long-points-in-objective-c-for-iphone – Teyde

Answer 1

I hope it's not against the rules to link to my own blog post if it's relevant to the question, but I've solved this problem in the past. Stand-alone answer from linked post:

@implementation MKPolyline (MKPolyline_EncodedString)

+ (MKPolyline *)polylineWithEncodedString:(NSString *)encodedString {
    const char *bytes = [encodedString UTF8String];
    NSUInteger length = [encodedString lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSUInteger idx = 0;

    NSUInteger count = length / 4;
    CLLocationCoordinate2D *coords = calloc(count, sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
    NSUInteger coordIdx = 0;

    float latitude = 0;
    float longitude = 0;
    while (idx < length) {
        char byte = 0;
        int res = 0;
        char shift = 0;

        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 63;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLat = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        latitude += deltaLat;

        shift = 0;
        res = 0;

        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 0x3F;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLon = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        longitude += deltaLon;

        float finalLat = latitude * 1E-5;
        float finalLon = longitude * 1E-5;

        CLLocationCoordinate2D coord = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(finalLat, finalLon);
        coords[coordIdx++] = coord;

        if (coordIdx == count) {
            NSUInteger newCount = count + 10;
            coords = realloc(coords, newCount * sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
            count = newCount;
        }
    }

    MKPolyline *polyline = [MKPolyline polylineWithCoordinates:coords count:coordIdx];
    free(coords);

    return polyline;
}

@end

Equidistance

Upon revisiting this code, I see that I've violated DRY quite blatantly. Feel free to clean up my mess if it causes you great emotional pain. :) – Equidistance

It's not against my rules, thanks for the link. This looks like exactly what I need. I'm giving you the check mark -- assuming it does work for me :) – Hilten

Dude, we really need like source files to go with the blog! – Hilten

This does in fact work, thanks! Is there some reason you're using calloc/free here instead of a more normal obj-c coding? I see what you mean about being un-DRY (WET perhaps?) but I think I can live with the pain... – Hilten

I'm using calloc/free on account of CLLocationCoordinate2D being a struct, not an Objective-C object. It's also because +[MKPolyline polylineWithCoordinates:count] expects a contiguous C array of CLLocationCoordinate2D and calloc is the best way to do this. :) I might refactor the code and update my answer shortly. – Equidistance

Ah, I see. It's just so rare that I see alloc/free calls anymore I hardly knew what to think! Anyway, great work -- also thanks for reminding me that I can write the code in C for stuff like this! – Hilten

@AlanMoore I am also using this code but i am getting problem in drawing route between paths .It starts at starting point and draws line as per route but when turn comes it confused and then line goes into infinity continously in direction not to the destination point. Any idea about this i also asked question about this plz chk . #10836419 – Camey

I feel like there might be a bug on the line that says: float deltaLat = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));. Since res is a (signed) int, the right-shift operator usually does an arithmetic shift rather than a logical shift. Doesn't this introduce problems if the second-to-most significant bit is 1 in the original decimal value? Or is it never? If it could be, maybe that could be the source of your problems, Pavan More? This should happen on small enough negative coordinates, if I'm not mistaken. – Doityourself

Sorry, I meant "if the second-to-most significant bit is 0 in the original decimal value". – Doityourself

Good job, also good idea to give credit where it's due, looks like adaptation of jeffreysambells.com/2010/05/27/…. – Cumulus

@Mahakala: I think you're right, that does look like the code that I modified. Thanks for finding that! – Equidistance

Checkout my answer below, it's short and tested. – Teyde

Thanks @SedateAlien for posting this. :-) I'm using the compression algorithm without their maps and this was just what I needed! You rock! – Peirce

for Swift here - #31332777 – Castanets

Answer 2

The best and lightest answer should be to use the method provided by Google in the framework :

[GMSPolyline polylineWithPath:[GMSPath pathFromEncodedPath:encodedPath]]

Knorr

I think this might be the best answer, now that its available! – Hilten

Answer 3

If you are working with Google Map on iOS and want to draw the route including the polylines, google itself provides an easier way to get the GMSPath from polyline as,

GMSPath *pathFromPolyline = [GMSPath pathFromEncodedPath:polyLinePoints];

Here is the complete code:

+ (void)callGoogleServiceToGetRouteDataFromSource:(CLLocation *)sourceLocation toDestination:(CLLocation *)destinationLocation onMap:(GMSMapView *)mapView_{
    NSString *baseUrl = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=%f,%f&destination=%f,%f&sensor=false", sourceLocation.coordinate.latitude,  sourceLocation.coordinate.longitude, destinationLocation.coordinate.latitude,  destinationLocation.coordinate.longitude];

    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[baseUrl stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    NSLog(@"Url: %@", url);

    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

    [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue] completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError) {

        GMSMutablePath *path = [GMSMutablePath path];

        NSError *error = nil;
        NSDictionary *result = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:&error];

        NSArray *routes = [result objectForKey:@"routes"];

        NSDictionary *firstRoute = [routes objectAtIndex:0];

        NSDictionary *leg =  [[firstRoute objectForKey:@"legs"] objectAtIndex:0];

        NSArray *steps = [leg objectForKey:@"steps"];

        int stepIndex = 0;

        CLLocationCoordinate2D stepCoordinates[1  + [steps count] + 1];

        for (NSDictionary *step in steps) {

            NSDictionary *start_location = [step objectForKey:@"start_location"];
            stepCoordinates[++stepIndex] = [self coordinateWithLocation:start_location];
            [path addCoordinate:[self coordinateWithLocation:start_location]];

            NSString *polyLinePoints = [[step objectForKey:@"polyline"] objectForKey:@"points"];
            GMSPath *polyLinePath = [GMSPath pathFromEncodedPath:polyLinePoints];
            for (int p=0; p<polyLinePath.count; p++) {
                [path addCoordinate:[polyLinePath coordinateAtIndex:p]];
            }


            if ([steps count] == stepIndex){
                NSDictionary *end_location = [step objectForKey:@"end_location"];
                stepCoordinates[++stepIndex] = [self coordinateWithLocation:end_location];
                [path addCoordinate:[self coordinateWithLocation:end_location]];
            }
        }

        GMSPolyline *polyline = nil;
        polyline = [GMSPolyline polylineWithPath:path];
        polyline.strokeColor = [UIColor grayColor];
        polyline.strokeWidth = 3.f;
        polyline.map = mapView_;
    }];
}

+ (CLLocationCoordinate2D)coordinateWithLocation:(NSDictionary*)location
{
    double latitude = [[location objectForKey:@"lat"] doubleValue];
    double longitude = [[location objectForKey:@"lng"] doubleValue];

    return CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(latitude, longitude);
}

Murphey

This is pretty much the accurate answer. Using the overview_polyline points does create a decent polyline but as you zoom in, the polyline does not follow the road. – Skimmer

Answer 4

Swift 3.0

let polyline = GMSPolyline(path: GMSPath.init(fromEncodedPath: encodedPolyline))

Currajong

thnnnnxxxxxxxxxxxxxx – Soliloquize

Answer 5

Python Implementation

This isn't in Objective-C, but this thread is where Google drops you if you're looking to decode polyline strings from Google Maps. In case anyone else needs it (much like I did), here's a Python implementation for decoding polyline strings. This is ported from the Mapbox JavaScript version; more info found on my repo page.

def decode_polyline(polyline_str):
    index, lat, lng = 0, 0, 0
    coordinates = []
    changes = {'latitude': 0, 'longitude': 0}

    # Coordinates have variable length when encoded, so just keep
    # track of whether we've hit the end of the string. In each
    # while loop iteration, a single coordinate is decoded.
    while index < len(polyline_str):
        # Gather lat/lon changes, store them in a dictionary to apply them later
        for unit in ['latitude', 'longitude']: 
            shift, result = 0, 0

            while True:
                byte = ord(polyline_str[index]) - 63
                index+=1
                result |= (byte & 0x1f) << shift
                shift += 5
                if not byte >= 0x20:
                    break

            if (result & 1):
                changes[unit] = ~(result >> 1)
            else:
                changes[unit] = (result >> 1)

        lat += changes['latitude']
        lng += changes['longitude']

        coordinates.append((lat / 100000.0, lng / 100000.0))

    return coordinates

Andonis

The official python client library does provide a utility for this decode_polyline (also encoding by encode_polyline). See github.com/googlemaps/google-maps-services-python/blob/master/… – Clingy

Answer 6

- (MKPolyline *)polylineWithEncodedString:(NSString *)encodedString {
    const char *bytes = [encodedString UTF8String];
    NSUInteger length = [encodedString lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSUInteger idx = 0;
    NSUInteger count = length / 4;
    CLLocationCoordinate2D *coords = calloc(count, sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
    NSUInteger coordIdx = 0;
    float latitude = 0;
    float longitude = 0;
    while (idx < length) {
        char byte = 0;
        int res = 0;
        char shift = 0;
        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 63;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLat = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        latitude += deltaLat;

        shift = 0;
        res = 0;

        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 0x3F;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLon = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        longitude += deltaLon;

        float finalLat = latitude * 1E-5;
        float finalLon = longitude * 1E-5;

        CLLocationCoordinate2D coord = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(finalLat, finalLon);
        coords[coordIdx++] = coord;

        if (coordIdx == count) {
            NSUInteger newCount = count + 10;
            coords = realloc(coords, newCount * sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
            count = newCount;
        }
    }

    MKPolyline *polyline = [MKPolyline polylineWithCoordinates:coords count:coordIdx];
    free(coords);
    return polyline;
}
- (MKPolygonRenderer *)mapView:(MKMapView *)mapView viewForOverlay:(id <MKOverlay>)overlay {
  //  MKPolygonRenderer *polylineView = [[MKPolygonRenderer alloc] initWithOverlay:overlay];
    MKPolylineView *polylineView = [[MKPolylineView alloc] initWithPolyline:overlay];
    polylineView.strokeColor = [UIColor redColor];
    polylineView.lineWidth = 4.0;
    [self zoomToPolyLine:mapview polyline:overlay animated:YES];
    return polylineView;
}
-(void)zoomToPolyLine: (MKMapView*)map polyline: (MKPolyline*)polyline animated: (BOOL)animated
{
    [map setVisibleMapRect:[polyline boundingMapRect] edgePadding:UIEdgeInsetsMake(25.0, 25.0, 25.0, 25.0) animated:animated];
}
- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager didUpdateToLocation:(CLLocation *)newLocation fromLocation:(CLLocation *)oldLocation
{
   // NSLog(@"didUpdateToLocation: %@", newLocation);
    CLLocation *currentLocation = newLocation;
    if (currentLocation != nil) {
      currlong  =  [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%.8f", currentLocation.coordinate.longitude];
       currlt = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%.8f", currentLocation.coordinate.latitude];
    }
    NSString *origin = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@%@",currlt,@",",currlong];

    //I have just mention static location
    NSString *drivein = @"23.0472963,72.52757040000006";
    NSString *apikey = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=%@&destination=%@",origin,drivein];

    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:apikey];
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    NSURLResponse *response;
    NSError *error;
    NSData *responseData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:request returningResponse:&response error:&error];
    NSString *responseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    if(!error)
    {
        NSData *data = [responseString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSDictionary *jsonResponse = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data
                                                                     options:kNilOptions
                                                                       error:&error];
        NSArray *routesArray = [jsonResponse objectForKey:@"routes"];
        NSLog(@"route array %@",routesArray);
        if ([routesArray count] > 0)
        {
            NSDictionary *routeDict = [routesArray objectAtIndex:0];
            NSDictionary *routeOverviewPolyline = [routeDict objectForKey:@"overview_polyline"];
            NSString *points = [routeOverviewPolyline objectForKey:@"points"];
            MKPolyline *line = [self polylineWithEncodedString:points];
            [mapview addOverlay:line];
        }
    }
    MKCoordinateRegion viewRegion = MKCoordinateRegionMakeWithDistance(currentLocation.coordinate, 500, 500);
    MKCoordinateRegion adjustedRegion = [mapview regionThatFits:viewRegion];
    [mapview setRegion:adjustedRegion animated:YES];
    mapview.showsUserLocation = YES;

    MKPointAnnotation *point = [[MKPointAnnotation alloc] init];
    point.coordinate = currentLocation.coordinate;
    point.title = @"Your current Locations";
    point.subtitle = @"You are here!";
    [mapview addAnnotation:point];
    [locationmanger stopUpdatingLocation];
}

Cyrene

Answer 7

Here's how I do it in my directions app. keyPlace is your destination object

- (void)getDirections {

  CLLocation *newLocation;// = currentUserLocation;
  MKPointAnnotation *annotation = [[[MKPointAnnotation alloc] init] autorelease];
  annotation.coordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(newLocation.coordinate.latitude, newLocation.coordinate.longitude);
  annotation.title = @"You";
  [mapView addAnnotation:annotation];

  CLLocationCoordinate2D endCoordinate;

  NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=%f,%f&destination=%f,%f&sensor=false&mode=walking", newLocation.coordinate.latitude, newLocation.coordinate.longitude, keyPlace.lat, keyPlace.lon]];
  ASIHTTPRequest *request = [ASIHTTPRequest requestWithURL:url];
  [request startSynchronous];

  if ([[request.responseString.JSONValue valueForKey:@"status"] isEqualToString:@"ZERO_RESULTS"]) {
    [[[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error"
                                 message:@"Could not route path from your current location"
                                delegate:nil
                       cancelButtonTitle:@"Close"
                       otherButtonTitles:nil, nil] autorelease] show];
    self.navigationController.navigationBar.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
    return; 
  }

  int points_count = 0;
  if ([[request.responseString.JSONValue objectForKey:@"routes"] count])
    points_count = [[[[[[request.responseString.JSONValue objectForKey:@"routes"] objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"legs"] objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"steps"] count];

  if (!points_count) {
    [[[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error"
                                 message:@"Could not route path from your current location"
                                delegate:nil
                       cancelButtonTitle:@"Close"
                       otherButtonTitles:nil, nil] autorelease] show];
    self.navigationController.navigationBar.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
    return;     
  }
  CLLocationCoordinate2D points[points_count * 2];

  int j = 0;
  NSArray *steps = nil;
  if (points_count && [[[[request.responseString.JSONValue objectForKey:@"routes"] objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"legs"] count])
    steps = [[[[[request.responseString.JSONValue objectForKey:@"routes"] objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"legs"] objectAtIndex:0] objectForKey:@"steps"];
  for (int i = 0; i < points_count; i++) {

    double st_lat = [[[[steps objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:@"start_location"] valueForKey:@"lat"] doubleValue];
    double st_lon = [[[[steps objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:@"start_location"] valueForKey:@"lng"] doubleValue];
    //NSLog(@"lat lon: %f %f", st_lat, st_lon);
    if (st_lat > 0.0f && st_lon > 0.0f) {
      points[j] = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(st_lat, st_lon);
      j++;
    }
    double end_lat = [[[[steps objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:@"end_location"] valueForKey:@"lat"] doubleValue];
    double end_lon = [[[[steps objectAtIndex:i] objectForKey:@"end_location"] valueForKey:@"lng"] doubleValue];

    if (end_lat > 0.0f && end_lon > 0.0f) {
      points[j] = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(end_lat, end_lon);
      endCoordinate = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(end_lat, end_lon);
      j++;
    }
  }

  MKPolyline *polyline = [MKPolyline polylineWithCoordinates:points count:points_count * 2];
  [mapView addOverlay:polyline];


}

#pragma mark - MapKit
- (MKAnnotationView *)mapView:(MKMapView *)mapView viewForAnnotation:(id <MKAnnotation>)annotation {
  MKPinAnnotationView *annView = [[[MKPinAnnotationView alloc] initWithAnnotation:annotation reuseIdentifier:@"currentloc"] autorelease];
  annView.canShowCallout = YES;
  annView.animatesDrop = YES;
  return annView;
}

- (MKOverlayView *)mapView:(MKMapView *)mapView
            viewForOverlay:(id<MKOverlay>)overlay {
  MKPolylineView *overlayView = [[[MKPolylineView alloc] initWithOverlay:overlay] autorelease];
  overlayView.lineWidth = 5;
  overlayView.strokeColor = [UIColor purpleColor];
  overlayView.fillColor = [[UIColor purpleColor] colorWithAlphaComponent:0.5f];
  return overlayView;
}

Pyrophoric

This is good, but it's pretty much does the same as what I've already done. I find that this doesn't do too good on a curved road, I think I need to get the polylines field to follow the road properly. – Hilten

Answer 8

In case anyone would need the decoding-code in VBA, here is a (working) port:

    Function decodeGeopoints(encoded)
  decodeGeopoints = ""
  ' This code is a port to VBA from code published here:
  ' http://blog.synyx.de/2010/06/routing-driving-directions-on-android-part-1-get-the-route/

  '//decoding
  'List poly = new ArrayList();

  '// replace two backslashes by one (some error from the transmission)
  'encoded = encoded.replace("\\", "\");
  encoded = Replace(encoded, "\\", "\")

  'int index = 0, len = encoded.length();
  Dim index As Long
  index = 0
  Dim leng As Long
  leng = Len(encoded)

  'int lat = 0, lng = 0;
  Dim lat As Long
  lat = 0
  Dim lng As Long
  lng = 0

  'while (index < len) {
  While (index < leng)
     'int b, shift = 0, result = 0;
     Dim b, shift, result As Long
     b = 0
     shift = 0
     result = 0

     'do {
     Do
        'b = encoded.charAt(index++) - 63;
        index = index + 1
        b = Asc(Mid(encoded, index, 1)) - 63
        'result |= (b & 0x1f) << shift;
        result = result Or ((b And 31) * (2 ^ shift))

        'shift += 5;
        shift = shift + 5
     '} while (b >= 0x20);
     Loop While (b >= 32)
     'int dlat = ((result & 1) != 0 ? ~(result >> 1) : (result >> 1));
     Dim dlat As Long
     If (result And 1) <> 0 Then
      dlat = Not Int(result / 2)
     Else
      dlat = Int(result / 2)
     End If

     'lat += dlat;
     lat = lat + dlat

     'shift = 0;
     shift = 0
     'result = 0;
     result = 0
     'do {
     Do
       'b = encoded.charAt(index++) - 63;
       index = index + 1
       b = Asc(Mid(encoded, index, 1)) - 63
       'result |= (b & 0x1f) << shift;
        result = result Or ((b And 31) * (2 ^ shift))
       'shift += 5;
        shift = shift + 5
     '} while (b >= 0x20);
     Loop While (b >= 32)
     'int dlng = ((result & 1) != 0 ? ~(result >> 1) : (result >> 1));
     Dim dlng As Long
     If (result And 1) <> 0 Then
      dlng = Not Int(result / 2)
     Else
      dlng = Int(result / 2)
     End If

     'lng += dlng;
     lng = lng + dlng

     'GeoPoint p = new GeoPoint((int) (((double) lat / 1E5) * 1E6), (int) (((double) lng / 1E5) * 1E6));
     Dim myLat, myLng As Double
     myLat = (lat / 100000)
     'myLat = myLat * 1000000
     myLng = (lng / 100000)
     'myLng = myLng * 1000000

     'poly.add(p);
     decodeGeopoints = decodeGeopoints & Comma2Dot(myLng) & "," & Comma2Dot(myLat) & ",0 "
  '}
  Wend

End Function

Cockcrow

Actually this should be rather an edit but seems like comments are preferred on SO, so a short explanation/hint for those having errors with decoding some 'special' polylinestrings: In case you encounter errors produced at b = Asc(Mid(encoded, index, 1)) - 63 you may want to try to remove encoded = Replace(encoded, "\\", "\") from the function above and do the replace of backslashes before you call decodeGeopoints and not inside the function. This prevents the slashes beeing replaced several times in some cases which leads to an error. – Teucer

Answer 9

For Google maps it already have a straight forward method , polylineWithPath, so I prefer this snippet.

-(void)drawPathFrom:(CLLocation*)source toDestination:(CLLocation*)destination{

    NSString *baseUrl = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=%f,%f&destination=%f,%f&sensor=true", source.coordinate.latitude,  source.coordinate.longitude, destination.coordinate.latitude,  destination.coordinate.longitude];

    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[baseUrl stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    NSLog(@"Url: %@", url);
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

    [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue] completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError) {
        if(!connectionError){
            NSDictionary *result        = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];
            NSArray *routes             = [result objectForKey:@"routes"];
            NSDictionary *firstRoute    = [routes objectAtIndex:0];
            NSString *encodedPath       = [firstRoute[@"overview_polyline"] objectForKey:@"points"];

            GMSPolyline *polyPath       = [GMSPolyline polylineWithPath:[GMSPath pathFromEncodedPath:encodedPath]];
            polyPath.strokeColor        = [UIColor redColor];
            polyPath.strokeWidth        = 3.5f;
            polyPath.map                = _mapView;
        }
    }];

}

Causerie

Answer 10

Swift 4.2 / Swift 5

let gmsPolyline = GMSPolyline(path: GMSPath(fromEncodedPath: encodedPolyline))
gmsPolyline.map = map

Kuehn

Answer 11

This is my own revisitation of Sedate Alien's answer. It is the same implementation save for removing duplicated code and using NSMutableData instead of manually allocating stuff.

@implementation MKPolyline (EncodedString)

+ (float)decodeBytes:(const char *)bytes atPos:(NSUInteger *)idx toValue:(float *)value {
  char byte  = 0;
  int  res   = 0;
  char shift = 0;

  do {
    byte   = bytes[(*idx)++] - 0x3F;
    res   |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
    shift += 5;
  }
  while (byte >= 0x20);

  (*value) += ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));

  return (*value) * 1E-5;
}

+ (MKPolyline *)polylineWithEncodedString:(NSString *)encodedString {
  const char             *bytes  = [encodedString UTF8String];
  NSUInteger              length = [encodedString lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
  NSUInteger              idx    = 0;
  NSMutableData          *data   = [NSMutableData data];
  float                   lat    = 0;
  float                   lon    = 0;
  CLLocationCoordinate2D  coords = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(0, 0);

  while (idx < length) {

    coords.latitude  = [self decodeBytes:bytes atPos:&idx toValue:&lat];
    coords.longitude = [self decodeBytes:bytes atPos:&idx toValue:&lon];

    [data appendBytes:&coords length:sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D)];
  }

  return [MKPolyline polylineWithCoordinates:(CLLocationCoordinate2D *)data.bytes count:data.length / sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D)];
}

@end

Lightweight

Answer 12

The other answers here seem to be about using Apple Maps, for using Google Maps I found I had to make some modifications to @SedateAlien's great category.

MODIFIED CATEGORY

+ (GMSPolyline *)polylineWithEncodedString:(NSString *)encodedString {
    const char *bytes = [encodedString UTF8String];
    NSUInteger length = [encodedString lengthOfBytesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSUInteger idx = 0;

    NSUInteger count = length / 4;
    CLLocationCoordinate2D *coords = calloc(count, sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
    NSUInteger coordIdx = 0;

    float latitude = 0;
    float longitude = 0;
    while (idx < length) {
        char byte = 0;
        int res = 0;
        char shift = 0;

        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 63;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLat = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        latitude += deltaLat;

        shift = 0;
        res = 0;

        do {
            byte = bytes[idx++] - 0x3F;
            res |= (byte & 0x1F) << shift;
            shift += 5;
        } while (byte >= 0x20);

        float deltaLon = ((res & 1) ? ~(res >> 1) : (res >> 1));
        longitude += deltaLon;

        float finalLat = latitude * 1E-5;
        float finalLon = longitude * 1E-5;

        CLLocationCoordinate2D coord = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(finalLat, finalLon);
        coords[coordIdx++] = coord;

        if (coordIdx == count) {
            NSUInteger newCount = count + 10;
            coords = realloc(coords, newCount * sizeof(CLLocationCoordinate2D));
            count = newCount;
        }
    }

    GMSMutablePath *path = [[GMSMutablePath alloc] init];

    int i;
    for (i = 0; i < coordIdx; i++)
    {
        [path addCoordinate:coords[i]];
    }

    GMSPolyline *polyline = [GMSPolyline polylineWithPath:path];
    free(coords);

    return polyline;
}

USAGE

// Here I make the call to the Google Maps API to get the routes between two points...

....

// Get the encoded array of points.
NSString *points = routes[@"routes"][0][@"overview_polyline"][@"points"];

// Use the modified category to get a polyline from the points.
GMSPolyline *polyline = [GMSPolyline polylineWithEncodedString:points];

// Add the polyline to the map.
polyline.strokeColor = [UIColor redColor];
polyline.strokeWidth = 10.f;
polyline.map = theMapView;
}

Conti

Answer 13

If anybody else is trying to do this in swift, here's @RootCode's answer adapted to swift (2.3):

let path = GMSMutablePath()
let steps = directionsToShowOnMap.steps
for (idx, step) in steps.enumerate() {
    path.addCoordinate(coordinateFromJson(step["start_location"]))
    if let polylinePoints = step["polyline"].string, subpath = GMSPath(fromEncodedPath: polylinePoints) {
        for c in 0 ..< subpath.count() {
            path.addCoordinate(subpath.coordinateAtIndex(c))
        }   
    }
    if idx == steps.count - 1 {
        path.addCoordinate(coordinateFromJson(step["end_location"]))
    }
}
let polyline = GMSPolyline(path: path)
polyline.strokeColor = UIColor.blueColor()
polyline.strokeWidth = 3
polyline.map = mapView

and then:

private func coordinateFromJson(location: JSON) -> CLLocationCoordinate2D {
    return CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(location["lat"].double!, location["lng"].double!)
}

Exegetic