Google Maps URL (.url)
A Google Maps .url file is a Windows Internet Shortcut whose target is a Google Maps link — a directions URL, a place link, or a shortened maps.app.goo.gl/goo.gl link — that RouteConverter reads as a route.
At a glance
| Extension | .url |
| Encoding | text |
| By | Google LLC |
History
Google Maps is Google's mapping and navigation service. RouteConverter's support targets the URL shapes Google Maps itself has used for sharing directions and places over the years, rather than one fixed, dated format.
Where it is used
Google Maps produces shareable links when a user requests directions, looks up a place, or uses the site's own "share" shortener; saving such a link as a Windows Internet Shortcut (a .url file, or an exported bookmark) is how RouteConverter picks it up as a route to convert.
Structure
A plain-text Windows Internet Shortcut: an [InternetShortcut] header followed by a URL= line. RouteConverter recognizes several shapes inside that URL: a classic directions link with saddr/daddr/geocode query parameters (and a plain q search parameter as a fallback), a /dir/... path listing stops in order, a /place/... path with an embedded !3d<lat>!4d<lon> coordinate pair, and shortened maps.app.goo.gl or goo.gl/maps links, which it resolves by following the HTTP redirect (up to 5 hops) to the real URL underneath.
How widespread
Google Maps is one of the most widely used mapping services, and sharing a directions or place link is a routine way people pass a route around; anyone converting one of these files is working with an ordinary, current Google Maps share link.
RouteConverter support
| Reads | Google Maps URL |
| Writes | Google Maps URL |
RouteConverter reads Google Maps directions, place and shortened links, and writes a directions link back out as a .url file (start and destination stops joined with saddr/daddr), capped by default at 15 positions per link.