[General] Certain Google Map Links Not Working

[MattHodge]

Your Question

Hi There (me again!)

When copying place links from Google Maps in iOS, they are in this format:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/job5vSzNvY6Lrkn2A?g_st=ipc

Copying from the Google Maps UI on Desktop, they are in this format:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/oDQSnbpqFxTi6Uxy7

Pasting this into the Create Place > Place doesn't resolve their name, lat and long. (Nor do I get any errors in the UI, just nothing happens).

I wonder if the app can follow the redirect to properly resolve the shortcuts when creating a place?

Thanks!

Additional Context

No response

[itskovacs]

Hi 👋!

Need to decide whether the Place input should only parse data locally or be able to await requests. Factually, without the !3s parameter in the URL, parsing cannot be done using in-url data.

One possible solution could also be to explicitly indicate that maps.app.goo.gl links are not supported. Will think about this 👍

[MattHodge]

I stumbled across this repo: https://codeberg.org/retiolus/gmapsUnshortener/src/branch/main

Wonder if it gives any inspiration for how resolution could work.

[itskovacs]

The issue is not about resolving the URL, as this format is already supported by the backend in other queries.

The question is whether the Place input parser function should be used to trigger a resolve, given that I designed it for offline use using in-URL information 👍.

Wouldn't it be quicker to simply open the new place dialog, paste the name of what you were about to add (e.g., Eiffel Tower) and click the autocomplete button to make this query?

---

EDIT: Got me thinking, for iOS users, I could make an iCloud shortcut where users would enter a TRIP API KEY, to support this workflow:

1. Google Maps share...
2. Share to TRIP shortcut
3. Place is resolved and temporarily added to TRIP into a Stash

[MattHodge]

Just to give you a bit more details of my use case:

• My wife and I use alot of Google Maps saved places, and often research on Google Maps for holidays. We also use TripIt to plan the trips
• I liked the idea of combining it into a single system, and where I own the data is even better :) TRIP also looks way more flexible in relation to categorising and filtering
• I want to start leveraging the REST API (eg https://github.com/itskovacs/trip/blob/main/backend/trip/routers/places.py#L57-L100) to automate some place creation using some LLMs/MCP/N8N, as an example "share an instagram post to telegram bot which will create the place in TRIP using the API". This is something not possible with Googles APIs it seems (API to POST creation of saved places)

To get my wife (non-technical) to change her workflow, it needs to "just work": share from maps and save to TRIP.

Wouldn't it be quicker to simply open the new place dialog, paste the name of what you were about to add (e.g., Eiffel Tower) and click the autocomplete button to make this query?

Could be, I'll test that workflow

given that I designed it for offline use using in-URL information

Is it possible to attempt resolution and just show nothing in the backend and just silently fail if nothing happens (essentially current behaviour)

[MattHodge]

Ok the copying and pasting of names works pretty well, I'll keep with that workflow for now :)

[MattHodge]

I'll close this request, I can work around by copying + pasting the places name instead of the link shared from Google Maps.

[itskovacs]

I'll still think about this, probably there is a UX thing to do there to handle this. Will put in backlog to consider for later usage. I don't know if it's simply handling directly "maps.app.goo.gl" links or something else.

About your N8N workflow, this is something interesting and supports the need for a dedicated place creation function that uses a TRIP API Key. This way, your workflow could holds only a TRIP Key, so no needs to authenticate 👍. The key could be generate in the Settings.

[MattHodge]

That would be awesome :) Appreciate it

[itskovacs]

Commit c42c6058 introduces support for TRIP API Key integration, which can be enabled in the application settings:

This feature will be available in version 1.32.0. Documentation will be updated shortly to cover this integration.

To prepare your N8N workflow, use the following configuration:

• Method: POST
• URL: /api/by_token/place
• Headers: X-Api-Token: <token_value>
• Body: JSON object with a Place (refer to TRIP Docs - Batch creation for the format)

I'll work on implementing a function that supports GMaps link. The issue I currently have is if the category cannot be resolved from the GMaps Place types, which happen quite often. I am thinking about simply returning a HTTP 400 error "Category could not be inferred".

[MattHodge]

This is awesome! Really appreciate your responses and quick iteration on the project!

Will share my workflow once I get it working :)

[itskovacs]

Hi 👋,

Just a heads-up about new 1.32.0

• maps.app.goo.gl links are now supported (Google API Key mandatory)
• TRIP API Key integration is live