Google Maps POI & Review Scraping
Complete guide to scraping Google Maps POI data and reviews — 70+ tools across 20 categories. Compiled June 2026.

Official Google APIs
Places API (New), Business Profile API, pricing, field masks

Places API (New) — Overview & Pricing
Places API (New)
The current-generation API replacing the legacy Places API. Uses a mandatory field mask in every request — omitting it returns an error. Billing is determined by the highest-tier field requested.
Three-Tier SKU Billing
Tier
What's Included
Cost
Essentials
Place ID, name, address, location, types, business status
Lowest
Pro
Phone, website, opening hours, price level, photos
Medium
Enterprise
Reviews, ratings, userRatingCount, editorial summary, atmosphere data
Highest (~$17-35/1K requests)
Subscription Plans
Plan
Cost
Calls
Savings
Pay-as-you-go
Variable
Unlimited
Baseline
Starter
$100/mo
50K
Moderate
Pro
$1,200/mo
250K
Up to $5,000 vs PAYG
Enterprise
Custom
Custom
Negotiated
Key API Operations
Place Details — full data for a known place_id
Text Search — search by query string (e.g., "restaurants in Berlin")
Nearby Search — search within a radius of coordinates
Autocomplete — predictive place suggestions
Place Photos — retrieve photos by reference
Rate Limits
Enforced per API method per project (unlike legacy API which aggregated all methods). Default ~600 requests/minute; increases require contacting Google support.
Free Tier Status (2026)
Warning: The previously documented "$200 monthly credit" and "10,000 free calls" claims were both refuted during adversarial verification. Verify directly at mapsplatform.google.com/pricing.
Data Fields (50+)
Name, formatted address, address components, phone, international phone, website, opening hours (regular + secondary), business status, price level, rating, user rating count, reviews (text/author/rating/time/language — max 5 per place), photos, types, coordinates, viewport, place ID, URL, UTC offset, plus 20+ boolean amenities (delivery, dineIn, takeout, outdoorSeating, liveMusic, allowsDogs, etc.).
New-Only Fields (Not in Legacy API)
regularSecondaryOpeningHours, 
paymentOptions, 
parkingOptions, 
subDestinations, 
fuelOptions, 
evChargeOptions, 
shortFormattedAddress, 
primaryType, 
primaryTypeDisplayName
Sources
Usage and Billing
Data Fields Reference
Operations Overview
Maps Platform Pricing

Google Business Profile API
Google Business Profile API
Access all reviews (not limited to 5) — but only for locations you own or manage. Requires OAuth2 authentication.
Key Endpoints
Endpoint
Purpose
accounts.locations.reviews.list
All reviews for one location
accounts.locations.batchGetReviews
Batch review extraction across locations
Returns: reviewId, starRating, comment text, creation/update timestamps. Free for business owners.
Google Takeout Alternative
Business owners can download all reviews from their GBP as JSON via Google Takeout (free, official).
Source: Business Profile API — Review Data

Reverse-Engineered Internal Endpoints
Protobuf APIs, tbm=map, APP_INITIALIZATION_STATE, pagination

Protobuf Endpoints & Internal APIs
Google Maps Internal Protobuf API
Google Maps communicates with its backend using Protocol Buffer (protobuf) encoding over HTTP. Several internal endpoints have been documented.
tbm=map Search Endpoint
Adding 
tbm=map to a Google search returns protobuf-over-JSON instead of HTML. Single HTTP request, no browser rendering needed.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=map&hl=en&q=restaurants+in+berlin&tch=1&ech=1
Returns: nested arrays parseable with JSON indexing — business names, ratings, review counts, categories, addresses, coordinates, thumbnails.
/maps/preview/place — Place Details
Returns protobuf-over-JSON place details via a 
pb parameter with feature ID embedded. More stable than HTML scraping — follows internal schema, not frontend layout.
/maps/vt/pb — Tile Endpoint
Map tile requests containing ~730 fields across ~125 protobuf messages. Uses 
!-separated text-based protobuf with type characters (s, i, d, f, j, u, v, x, y, g, h, n, o, e, z, B, b, m).
window.APP_INITIALIZATION_STATE
Google Maps embeds data in 
window.APP_INITIALIZATION_STATE in the HTML response. No headless browser needed:
JSON.parse(window.APP_INITIALIZATION_STATE[3][2].split("'\n")[1])
Source: r/webscraping
Protobuf Pagination Details
PSI parameter: stored in 
window.APP_OPTIONS[11], changes after each page reload — no static URL construction possible
Altitude formula: 
altitude = (27.3611 * 6371010 * 768 * cos(lat)) / (2^zoom * 256)
Pagination: 
!7i20 = 20 results/page, 
!8i[offset] = offset (increments of 20)
Responses: served through 
f.txt endpoint with "XHR1" signature
Data Available
Potentially everything visible in the Maps UI: full review text with timestamps, all photos, Q&A, popular times histograms, wait times, related places, owner responses — far exceeding the official API's 5-review limit.
Fragility Warning
Google's cryptographic constants rotate continuously. SearchGuard makes "reverse-engineered bypasses obsolete within minutes." One Reddit user reported successfully building a pure HTTP/protobuf scraper that reduced costs from $50K/mo to $1K/mo — but maintenance is constant.

Protobuf Tools & Decoders
Protobuf Tools
Tool
Language
Purpose
Link
pbtk
Python
Extract and fuzz protobuf structures from Chrome
GitHub
google-maps-pb-decoder
Ruby
Decode pb URL params to JSON
GitHub
deproto
Python
Decode, manipulate, re-encode protobuf strings (round-trip conversion)
GitHub
XHR/Network Interception
Intercept browser XHR requests during Google Maps navigation; responses contain protobuf-encoded data with "XHR1" signature. Use CDP 
Network.requestWillBeSent event + 
history.replaceState() hooks. Supported by Puppeteer request interception and Playwright route handlers.
Sources
SerpAPI — Reverse Engineering Maps Pagination
$5K Google Maps XSS via Protobuf
Scrape.do — Maps Scraping Guide

Browser Automation & DIY Techniques
Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, community tricks from Reddit

Headless Browser Automation (Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium)
Browser Automation Frameworks
The foundation technique used by most scrapers. A browser renders Maps, executes JS, and extracts from the DOM.
Playwright (Most Popular)
Microsoft's library. Used by gosom/google-maps-scraper, HasData, many commercial tools. Supports Chromium, Firefox, WebKit.
Languages: Python, Node.js, Java, .NET
Anti-detect: stealth plugins available
Parallel tabs: 10+ tabs in one browser, ~1.7s/URL
Codegen: record browser interactions, auto-generate scraper code
Puppeteer (Node.js)
Google's Node.js browser automation. 
puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth provides 17 evasion modules.
Best stealth ecosystem (17 modules)
XHR interception via 
Network.requestWillBeSent
Caveat: anti-bot companies study the stealth package
Selenium (Legacy)
Original framework. 
undetected-chromedriver patches for detection evasion.
Languages: Python, Java, C#, Ruby, JS
Larger fingerprint, easier to detect
Still used by HasData and Zubdata scrapers
Extraction Strategies
Strategy
Token Cost
When to Use
CSS selectors (
querySelectorAll)
~52/item
Known structure — default choice
aria-label attributes
~52/item
More resilient — accessibility attrs are stabler than CSS classes
body.innerText
~5K/page
Discovery — learn structure once, then switch
Network/XHR interception
Minimal
Capture protobuf responses directly — best approach
Accessibility tree (filtered)
~28K/page
Find buttons, forms, interactive elements
Screenshot
~132K
CAPTCHA solving, visual debugging only

DIY Scraping Techniques (Reddit & Community)
Community-Sourced Techniques
Practical techniques from Reddit, HN, and forums — the stuff not in vendor blog posts.
Grid-Scanning / Map Splitting (Essential)
Overcome the 120-result limit per search by dividing areas into smaller grid cells. Auto-adjust zoom to ~16 per cell. Can use QGIS + Python to generate coordinate grids. Tune tightness to urban density.
https://www.google.com/maps/search/{query}/@{lat},{long},16z
Used by every serious scraper (gosom, Apify actors, Octoparse). Hexagonal grid sampling is the academic version.
"Search in This Area" Automation
Moving the map and clicking "search in this area" reveals different/more results than initial search. Automate by systematically panning across coordinates.
HTTP-Only / No Browser Approach (50x Cheaper)
Replicate Google Maps' internal protobuf HTTP calls directly — no headless browser. One HN user reduced costs from $50K/mo to $1K/mo. "Built entirely with cURL, avoiding headless browsers since they're really slow." Google rarely updates their map API structure.
Dual-Architecture Engine
Use high-performance HTTP extraction for bulk data, only spin up headless browsers for dynamic elements. Extracts Booking URL, FID, CID from metadata. Faster than pure Playwright/Puppeteer.
Place ID Pre-Extraction
Get Place IDs first (cheap/fast), then pipe them for direct detail extraction without browser search overhead — data comes back "almost instantly."
CID-Based Direct Access
CID (Customer ID) is a 64-bit decimal that never changes, even through rebrand/relocation. More permanent than Place ID (which expires after 12 months).
https://www.google.com/maps/place/?cid=<CID_NUMBER>
Find CID: URL 
?cid= parameter, or inspect Knowledge Panel for "ludocid".
Reference: Scrap.io CID Guide, CID Converter
LLM-Powered Query Expansion
Use LLMs to generate search term synonyms to overcome per-query result limits. "dentist" becomes "dental clinic", "oral surgeon", "dental practice", "orthodontist" etc. Multiplies coverage without geographic splitting.
Other Community Tricks
Ctrl+S page saving: Bot performs search, saves entire page, parses offline later
Google Search local pack mining: Harvest Maps data from regular Google SERPs (lower detection risk)
udm=1 parameter: Returns Google Places tab results — but needs browser context for location
Geocoding API grid trick: Grid area, geocode lat/lng to addresses, dedupe. 80%+ coverage
"No website" filter: Gold mine for web dev agencies — scrape businesses without websites
Sources
r/webscraping — Scraping GMaps at Scale
r/SaaS — Dual-Architecture GMaps Scraper
r/webscraping — Google Maps Data Extraction

Commercial Platforms & Search API Proxies
Outscraper, Apify, Bright Data, SerpAPI, Serper.dev, etc.

Commercial Scraping Platforms
Commercial Scraping Platforms
Outscraper (Best Value)
Pricing
$1-3/1K records (basic); ~$14/1K full enrichment
Free Tier
500 records (first 500 reviews free)
Fields
74 fields incl. name, address, phone, hours, rating, reviews, photos, emails
Reviews
Full text, not limited to 5
Real-world
Reddit user: $50 for 20K listings, ~6,500 usable after dedup
Apify (Marketplace)
Pricing
$1.50-4/1K places (varies by actor)
Free
$5 monthly platform credit
Fields
25+ core + enrichment actors for emails/social
Tips
Set 
maxCrawledPlaces to 9999999 for all results. Niche searches have 75-80% junk rate
Actors
compass/crawler-google-places, beatanalytics/google-maps-reviews-scraper
Bright Data (Enterprise)
Dataset
200.7M+ pre-scraped records at $0.0025/record ($250/100K)
Scraper API
From $500/mo + proxy costs
Proxy Network
72M+ residential IPs — industry's largest
Other Commercial Services
Service
Pricing
Key Feature
Scrap.io
From EUR 35/mo (10K leads)
Simplest UX, radius/polygon search, count preview, 200M+ places
ScrapFly
~$3.37/1K requests
General-purpose, credit-based, 99% success rate
LocalAPI
Free tier: 50 searches
Only API exposing Popular Times histograms
HasData
API plans
Cloud-powered, built-in email finder
Leads-Extractor.com
Various
Dedicated Maps scraper
MapSHunt.com
Various
Prioritizes businesses with websites, crawls for emails/social
LocalProspects
Various
Auto-crawls for owner name, emails, mobile phones
GeoScraper
Unlimited/mo
Reviews scraper + email/social extraction
Minelead
Various
Email finder for Maps businesses
Estrattore Dati
Various
Email and phone extraction
Cost Comparison (per 1,000 POI records)
Platform
Basic POI
With Reviews
With Enrichment
Outscraper
$1-3
$5-8
~$14
Apify
$1.50-4
$3-6
$5-10
Bright Data (dataset)
$2.50
Included
Included
Scrap.io
~$3.50
Extra
Extra
ScrapFly
$3.37+
Same
Same
PhantomBuster
$50-80
N/A
N/A
Google Places API
$17-35
Enterprise tier
Enterprise tier

Search API Proxies (SerpAPI, Serper, etc.)
Search API Proxies
Services that handle scraping/anti-bot, returning clean JSON from Google Maps queries.
Service
Pricing
Speed
Notes
SerpAPI
$50/5K queries
Standard
Market leader. Active DMCA lawsuit from Google (Dec 2025)
Serper.dev
~$1/1K queries; $0.30/1K at volume
~2.87s
2,500 free queries. SERP-based Maps results
Scrapingdog
$0.33/1K
3.05s
100% success rate (benchmarked), fastest
Scrape.do
$1.16/1K
1.73s
AI Overview detection
ScraperAPI
$50/4K searches
Standard
Maps in all plans
ScrapeBadger
Competitive
Standard
Review support
DataForSEO
Pay-per-task
Standard
Maps SERP + reviews endpoints
Oxylabs SERP
From $49/mo
Standard
Enterprise SERP API
ValueSERP
Various
~40s (slow)
Some user complaints
Zenserp
From $30/mo
Standard
Multi-engine support
SerpAPI Details
Accepts standard Google Maps query syntax (
q=restaurants+in+Berlin), returns structured JSON with: title, address, phone, rating, reviews, hours, service_options, GPS coordinates, place_id, data_cid, price, type, photos, thumbnails.
Separate endpoint for individual place reviews.
Legal warning: Google v. SerpAPI (Dec 2025) — active DMCA lawsuit with ruling pending.

Open-Source Scrapers & Python Libraries
GitHub repos, populartimes, gomaps, review scrapers

Open-Source GitHub Scrapers
Open-Source Scrapers
Repository
Language
Stars
Fields
Key Feature
gosom/google-maps-scraper
Go
4,200
33+
120 places/min, CLI/Web/REST, K8s-ready, email extraction, SOCKS5/HTTP/HTTPS proxy rotation
omkarcloud/google-maps-scraper
Python
2,700+
50+
Social profiles (LinkedIn/Twitter/FB/IG), ad spend detection, $28 Pro
HasData/google-maps-scraper
Python
-
7
3 backends: Selenium, Playwright stealth, HasData API
google-reviews-scraper-pro
Python
-
Reviews
Multi-language reviews + images, MongoDB, bypassed Feb 2026 "limited view"
conor-is-my-name
Docker
-
Various
Designed for n8n + Postgres. Multi-container, 1 req/min/IP = ~144K/day
webAutomationLover
Userscript
-
Various
Tampermonkey, auto-scrolls, exports .xlsx. No server needed
alltheplaces
Python/Scrapy
-
POI
20M+ POIs from 4,100+ spiders. CC-0 license, weekly updates
tripadvisor-scraper
Python
-
Reviews
Alternative review source via TripAdvisor GraphQL
Feb 2026 "Limited View" Lockdown
Google introduced a "limited view" restriction on review pages. google-reviews-scraper-pro bypassed it via search-based navigation (no login needed). Review pagination uses offset increments of 10, supports 4 sort modes (relevant/newest/highest/lowest).

Python Libraries & Popular Times Tools
Python Libraries
Library
Status
API Key?
Fields
Notes
googlemaps (official)
Active
Yes
50+ (API)
Official wrapper. Same pricing/limits as API
gomaps
Dormant (Sep 2023)
No
9
Name, URL, address, coords, website, phone, rating, hours, Popular Times. Likely broken
Popular Times & Foot Traffic Tools
Popular Times is NOT available via any official Google API. Must be scraped or obtained from third-party services. Historical data is also inaccessible.
populartimes (m-wrzr) — 900 Stars
pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/m-wrzr/populartimes
Returns: weekly hourly popularity (0-100 scale), wait times, time spent, current popularity. Requires API key with billing. MIT license. Unstable as Maps updates.
LivePopularTimes (GrocerCheck)
Extension adding live busyness data to populartimes. Functions: 
get_populartimes_by_address (no API call), 
get_populartimes_by_PlaceID (API + scrape), 
get_places_by_search.
BestTime.app (Commercial)
Endpoints
Forecasts (hourly 0-100%), Live Busyness, Venue Filter (by traffic/day/hour/ratings/type), Venue Search
Coverage
150+ countries
Unique
Dwell time analysis, surge detection, filter by foot traffic intensity
Free Tier
Test account with limited credits
Website: besttime.app
LocalAPI
REST API returning 20+ fields per business in 2-3 seconds including Popular Times histograms (peak hours by day of week). Claims to be the only API exposing Popular Times via endpoint. Free tier: 50 searches. local-api.com
Workarounds for the 5-Review API Limit
Method
Reviews Available
Cost
Official Places API
5 max
Enterprise tier
Google Business Profile API (own locations)
All
Free
Google Takeout (own GBP)
All
Free
Outscraper
All
First 500 free
Apify reviews actors
All
$0.25-0.40/1K
google-reviews-scraper-pro
All
Free (+ proxies)
Tampermonkey userscript
All (manual)
Free
DIY Playwright/Puppeteer scroll
All
Free (+ proxies)
SerpAPI reviews endpoint
All
$50+/mo

No-Code, Extensions & Automation Workflows
Octoparse, browser extensions, userscripts, n8n, Make.com

No-Code Platforms
No-Code / Low-Code Platforms
Platform
Pricing
Maps Feature
Notes
Octoparse
Free + $69/mo
Auto search splitting to overcome 120-result limit
20K results/hour. Best no-code option
ParseHub
Free (5 projects) / $189/mo / $599/mo
JS rendering handles Maps SPA well
Steep price jump from free
WebAutomation.io
$99-999/mo or $1/1K PAYG
Pre-built Google Maps extractor
14-day unlimited trial
PhantomBuster
$69-439/mo
Maps phantoms available
$50-80/1K leads — 15-50x more expensive. NOT recommended for Maps

Browser Extensions & Userscripts
Browser Extensions & Userscripts
Tool
Type
Price
Notes
DataMiner
Chrome ext.
Free (500 pages/mo) to $200/mo
Custom recipes, pagination, scheduled runs. No email extraction
Instant Data Scraper
Chrome ext.
Free
One-click, ~120 results cap. Unmaintained
Web Scraper (webscraper.io)
Chrome ext.
Free + cloud $50/mo
No pre-built Maps template
GMaps Extractor
Chrome ext.
Free/Freemium
gmapsextractor.com. No coding needed
G Maps Extractor
Chrome ext.
Freemium
"Probably the cheapest" per Reddit
AI Web Scraper
Chrome ext.
Various
Multi-purpose: Reddit, Maps, LinkedIn, Amazon
Tampermonkey Reviews Exporter
Userscript
Free
Greasyfork. Adds "Scrape Reviews" button, auto-expands, exports JSON
webAutomationLover
Userscript
Free
Tampermonkey. Accumulates results as you browse, exports .xlsx
Firefox GPX Exporter
Firefox addon
Free
Export saved Maps lists as GPX with lat/lon
120-Result UI Limit: All browser extensions are capped by Google Maps' sidebar pagination (~120 results per search). Must split searches into smaller areas for more.

Automation Workflows (n8n, Make, Zapier)
Automation Workflows
n8n (Most Flexible)
Official Outscraper node available
Templates: Google Maps scraper, lead gen with Google Sheets export, email scraping
conor-is-my-name/google-maps-scraper: Docker-based, designed for n8n + Postgres. Multi-container, IP rotation, 1 req/min/IP = ~144K/day
Gemini AI + n8n pipeline: Use Google AI Studio to vibe-code scraping, pipe via webhook to Sheets
Example pipeline: Apify scrape + Anymail Finder emails + Airtable storage
Also works with official Google Maps API via HTTP Request node
Make.com
Scrap.io integration (200M businesses). Visual workflow builder, 3,000+ connectors. Automated lead gen tutorials available.
Zapier
Outscraper integration available. Simpler but less flexible than Make.com.
Clay
Data enrichment platform. Pull basic Maps data then enrich with Clearbit/Dropcontact. Filter by review count/recency for active businesses.
Google Sheets & Apps Script
Apps Script Maps Service: built-in geocoding/reverse-geocoding without API keys. Cannot do Places search
IMPORTFROMWEB add-on: handles dynamic JS pages in Sheets (IMPORTXML fails on Maps)
Full cold outreach pipeline (Apps Script v3.0): AI email writing, website discovery, CEO identification, Firecrawl scraping, email enrichment, dedup — all in one sheet

AI-Powered Scrapers & Alternative POI Sources
ScrapeGraphAI, Crawl4AI, Overture Maps, AllThePlaces, OSM

AI/LLM-Powered Scrapers
AI/LLM-Powered Scrapers
ScrapeGraphAI (MIT / Free)
Describe what you want in plain English, it extracts structured JSON without CSS/XPath selectors. Auto-adapts to layout changes. Supports GPT, Gemini, Groq, Azure, Hugging Face, local Ollama models.
GitHub
Crawl4AI (58K Stars, Apache 2.0)
Open-source LLM-friendly web crawler. Outputs clean Markdown for RAG/agents. Heuristic noise filtering, CSS/XPath/LLM extraction. Local-first (no API costs).
GitHub
Firecrawl
Developer API that outputs clean Markdown from any URL, optimized for LLM ingestion. Used in enrichment pipelines alongside Maps scrapers.
firecrawl.dev
LLM Query Expansion
Not a scraper per se, but a technique: use LLMs to generate category synonyms and related search terms to multiply coverage per geographic area. "dentist" becomes "dental clinic", "oral surgeon", "dental practice", etc. Combined with any scraper for 3-5x more results.

Alternative POI Data Sources (No Scraping)
Alternative POI Data Sources
Free or commercial POI databases that don't require scraping Google Maps.
Overture Maps Foundation (64.8M POIs Free)
Backed by Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, TomTom, Foursquare. The strongest free alternative to Google Maps data.
Size
64.8M places — Meta (~59.2M), Foursquare (~6.7M), Microsoft (~7.4M), AllThePlaces (~1.7M)
Fields
Names, categories (64+), phones, emails, websites, socials, addresses, brand, operating_status, confidence score, coordinates
Format
GeoParquet on S3 and Azure Blob. Python CLI, DuckDB SQL, browser Explorer
License
CDLA-Permissive-2.0 / ODbL (commercial use OK)
Limits
Monthly updates (not real-time). No reviews/photos. Thinner outside Western countries
Warning: Reddit reports Places layer stopped updating as of Sept 2024 release. Verify current state.
Overture Places Guide | Downloads
Overture-Based API (Community-Built, 200x Cheaper)
A developer built a Places API using Overture data + Rust/Axum + PostGIS. Free 5K/mo, $10/100K, $30/500K, $80/2M — vs Google's ~$1,700 for 100K.
Other Alternative Sources
Source
POIs
Free Tier
Key Strength
Reviews?
OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
Varies
Unlimited, no key
Free, query any tag combo. Overpass Turbo
No
Foursquare Places
100M+
Commercial
Richest venue data, behavioral insights, check-ins
Tips only
HERE Technologies
Global, 400+ cats
250K tx/mo
TripAdvisor ratings, EV/fuel data, chain ID
Via TripAdvisor
TomTom
~100M, 180+ countries
50K daily tx
Navigation-optimized, relevance scoring
No
Mapbox
Global
100K req/mo
Polished SDKs
No
Geoapify
OSM-based, 400+ cats
3K credits/day
Transparent pricing, can cache/store
No
Yelp Fusion API
Millions
5K calls/day
3 reviews max via API. Open Dataset: 8.6M reviews (academic)
3 (API), 8.6M (dataset)
AllThePlaces
20M+
Unlimited (CC-0)
4,100+ Scrapy spiders, weekly updates
No
MapQuest
Various
Limited
Search API v5: radius/rect/polygon/corridor
No
Nominatim
OSM geocoding
Free
Forward/reverse geocoding
No
Photon (Komoot)
OSM geocoding
Free
Typo-tolerant, multilingual
No
OSM Reality Check (from Reddit): OpenStreetMap is poor for business/POI data. Business coverage is ~75% at best, biased toward bigger/popular locations.
Data Providers & Marketplaces
Provider
Dataset
Pricing
Google Maps?
Bright Data
200.7M+ records
$0.0025/record
Yes
Datarade
60M+ US (varies)
By provider
Yes
Veridion
134M+ businesses
~$99/user/mo
Partial
SafeGraph
52M+ POIs
Commercial
Partial (foot traffic)
Dataplor
Various
Commercial
Partial (LatAm strong)
Xtract.io
6M+ locations
Commercial
Partial
Coresignal
N/A
N/A
No (employee data only)
Data.world
N/A
N/A
No (data governance)
Export & Data Liberation Tools
Google Takeout: Export saved/starred places (CSV/JSON, no coordinates — needs geocoding)
Takeout Tools: Adds coordinates, converts to GeoJSON/KML/GPX
json2kml: Python converter for saved places to KML
Export-Google-Maps-Saved-Places
Firefox GPX Exporter: Export saved lists as GPX with lat/lon

Anti-Bot Countermeasures & Legal Landscape
BotGuard/SearchGuard, proxy strategies, Google v. SerpAPI, GDPR

Google's Anti-Bot Countermeasures (2025-2026)
Anti-Bot Countermeasures
Google Maps difficulty score: 90/100 — one of the toughest platforms to scrape.
BotGuard / SearchGuard Architecture
Built on BotGuard (internally "Web Application Attestation"), deployed across YouTube, reCAPTCHA v3, and Maps. SearchGuard (January 2025) is the Search-specific evolution — "tens of thousands of person hours and millions of dollars."
Detection: Behavioral Analysis (4 Signal Categories)
Signal
Bot Threshold
Human Range
Mouse movement (trajectory, velocity, acceleration, micro-tremors)
Velocity variance <10
50-500
Keyboard rhythm (inter-key intervals, duration, errors)
Variance <5ms
20-50ms
Scroll behavior (amplitude, direction, timing)
Delta variance <5px
20-100px
Timing jitter (Welford's algorithm)
>200 events/sec
10-50
Detection: Browser Fingerprinting (100+ Signals)
Navigator, screen, performance metrics, WebRTC leaks, TLS fingerprinting. Explicit checks for 
navigator.webdriver, ChromeDriver, Puppeteer, Selenium, PhantomJS.
reCAPTCHA v3 (Invisible)
No visible challenge — assigns 0.0-1.0 score based on session behavior. On Maps, appears inconsistently. Only bypass: never trigger it.
Cryptographic Protection
ARX cipher (similar to NSA's Speck). Magic constants rotate per script update. Scripts served with integrity hashes. Bypasses become obsolete within minutes.
Blocking Behavior
Trigger
Risk
Datacenter IPs
Blocked immediately — non-viable
Uniform request timing
High — humans pause, bots don't
Direct navigation to data pages
Medium — humans wander first
Default/missing headers
Medium
Stealth detection: Google returns poisoned/incomplete data to detected scrapers rather than blocking outright. Soft bans aren't clean HTTP codes — "some weird JSON response or just incomplete page loads." DOM class names change every few months.
Proxy Effectiveness
Type
Effectiveness
Cost
Notes
Datacenter
Very Low
$
Non-viable for Maps
Residential
Good
$$
~30-50 searches/hour/IP before CAPTCHAs
Mobile (4G/5G)
Best
$$$
Most reliable for large-scale
ISP
OK (low volume)
$$
Burns fast. Once flagged, stays flagged for days
Hybrid
Cost-optimized
$$
Datacenter for non-Maps, mobile for Maps. Saves 40-60%
Practical rate limit: max 1 req/min/IP = ~144K results/day per IP.
Anti-Detection Toolkit
playwright-stealth / 
puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth (17 evasion modules) — near-essential
undetected-chromedriver for Selenium
CapMonster Cloud for automated CAPTCHA solving
FlareProx — Cloudflare Workers proxy for IP masking (100K free daily requests)
Cookie banner handling: 
document.querySelector('#sp-cc-accept')?.click()
CAPTCHA detection: 
document.querySelector('form[action*="validateCaptcha"]')
Image/font blocking via 
Network.setBlockedURLs
Search-based navigation to bypass Feb 2026 "limited view" lockdown

Legal & TOS Landscape
Legal & TOS Landscape
Google Maps TOS
"Customer will not export, extract, or otherwise scrape Google Maps Content for use outside the Services."
This is a contractual prohibition, not criminal statute. Breach of contract, not a crime.
Google v. SerpAPI (Dec 2025 — Ruling Pending)
Filed: December 19, 2025, N.D. California (Case No. 4:25-cv-10826)
Google's DMCA Claims
Access circumvention (17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(1)(A)): SerpAPI circumvented SearchGuard "on billions of separate occasions." $200-$2,500 per violation.
Trafficking in circumvention tools (17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(2)): Marketing services to bypass SearchGuard.
SerpAPI's requests increased "25,000%" over two years — hundreds of millions daily.
SerpAPI's Defense (Motion to Dismiss, Feb 2026)
Google doesn't own copyright to third-party search content
SearchGuard protects business model, not copyrighted works
"Google's entire business began with a web crawler that copied the content"
Hearing: May 19, 2026 before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — ruling not yet published.
Industry impact: If Google prevails, rank tracking, competitive intelligence, and SEO analytics could become legally untenable.
Key Legal Precedents
Case
Year
Impact
Van Buren v. US
2021
CFAA limited to insiders. ToS violations are not computer crime
hiQ v. LinkedIn
2022
Public data scraping doesn't violate CFAA (Ninth Circuit, reaffirmed)
X Corp v. Bright Data
2023
Platforms can't claim copyright on user-generated content
Meta v. Bright Data
2024
Logged-out users haven't accepted ToS — no contract breach
Key shift: Google abandoned CFAA arguments (neutered for public data) for DMCA anti-circumvention claims — targeting SearchGuard bypass specifically.
US vs. EU
United States
Public data scraping generally legal (CFAA precedent)
ToS violations = contract, not criminal
CAN-SPAM for outreach from scraped data
European Union
GDPR: public availability does NOT equal lawful basis (Article 6)
Names, phones, reviewer profiles = personal data
Need legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) for B2B
Must provide opt-out, honor right to be forgotten
Penalties: up to 20M EUR or 4% global turnover
EU AI Act enforcement: August 2026
Risk by Method
Method
Legal Risk
TOS Violation
DMCA Exposure
Official Places API
None
No
No
Data marketplace purchase
Low
No (you didn't scrape)
No
Commercial platforms
Medium
Yes
Indirect
Open-source scrapers
Medium
Yes
Low
SERP API proxies
High
Yes
Active lawsuit
Reverse-engineered APIs
Highest
Yes
Circumvention
Enforcement Reality
Survey of 40-50 agencies scraping Maps at scale: zero cease-and-desist letters. Google relies on technical countermeasures for most scrapers, reserving legal action for large commercial operations (SerpAPI).
Sources
IPWatchdog — Google Sues SerpAPI
SerpAPI Motion to Dismiss
Is Scraping Google Maps Legal?