Capture embedded google map image with Python without using a browser

Rather than trying to use the embed link, you should go directly to the Google API to get images as static graphics. Here's the link to the Google Maps static image API - it looks like you can just pass in the long/lat parameters in the URL just as you do for the normal embeddable one. For example:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=-30.027489,-51.229248&size=600x600&zoom=14&sensor=false

gives you an 600x600 street-level overview centered on the co-ordinates you give above, which seems to be Porto Alegre in Brazil. Now you can use urlopen and PIL as Ned suggests:

from cStringIO import StringIO
import Image
import urllib

url = "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=-30.027489,-51.229248&size=800x800&zoom=14&sensor=false"
buffer = StringIO(urllib.urlopen(url).read())
image = Image.open(buffer)

I thank for all the answers. I ended up solving the problem another way, using Google Maps Static API and some formulas to convert from Coordinate space to Pixel space, so that I can get precise images that "stitch" nicely together.

For anyone interested, here is the code. If it helps someone, please comment!

=============================

import Image, urllib, StringIO
from math import log, exp, tan, atan, pi, ceil

EARTH_RADIUS = 6378137
EQUATOR_CIRCUMFERENCE = 2 * pi * EARTH_RADIUS
INITIAL_RESOLUTION = EQUATOR_CIRCUMFERENCE / 256.0
ORIGIN_SHIFT = EQUATOR_CIRCUMFERENCE / 2.0

def latlontopixels(lat, lon, zoom):
    mx = (lon * ORIGIN_SHIFT) / 180.0
    my = log(tan((90 + lat) * pi/360.0))/(pi/180.0)
    my = (my * ORIGIN_SHIFT) /180.0
    res = INITIAL_RESOLUTION / (2**zoom)
    px = (mx + ORIGIN_SHIFT) / res
    py = (my + ORIGIN_SHIFT) / res
    return px, py

def pixelstolatlon(px, py, zoom):
    res = INITIAL_RESOLUTION / (2**zoom)
    mx = px * res - ORIGIN_SHIFT
    my = py * res - ORIGIN_SHIFT
    lat = (my / ORIGIN_SHIFT) * 180.0
    lat = 180 / pi * (2*atan(exp(lat*pi/180.0)) - pi/2.0)
    lon = (mx / ORIGIN_SHIFT) * 180.0
    return lat, lon

############################################

# a neighbourhood in Lajeado, Brazil:

upperleft =  '-29.44,-52.0'  
lowerright = '-29.45,-51.98'

zoom = 18   # be careful not to get too many images!

############################################

ullat, ullon = map(float, upperleft.split(','))
lrlat, lrlon = map(float, lowerright.split(','))

# Set some important parameters
scale = 1
maxsize = 640

# convert all these coordinates to pixels
ulx, uly = latlontopixels(ullat, ullon, zoom)
lrx, lry = latlontopixels(lrlat, lrlon, zoom)

# calculate total pixel dimensions of final image
dx, dy = lrx - ulx, uly - lry

# calculate rows and columns
cols, rows = int(ceil(dx/maxsize)), int(ceil(dy/maxsize))

# calculate pixel dimensions of each small image
bottom = 120
largura = int(ceil(dx/cols))
altura = int(ceil(dy/rows))
alturaplus = altura + bottom


final = Image.new("RGB", (int(dx), int(dy)))
for x in range(cols):
    for y in range(rows):
        dxn = largura * (0.5 + x)
        dyn = altura * (0.5 + y)
        latn, lonn = pixelstolatlon(ulx + dxn, uly - dyn - bottom/2, zoom)
        position = ','.join((str(latn), str(lonn)))
        print x, y, position
        urlparams = urllib.urlencode({'center': position,
                                      'zoom': str(zoom),
                                      'size': '%dx%d' % (largura, alturaplus),
                                      'maptype': 'satellite',
                                      'sensor': 'false',
                                      'scale': scale})
        url = 'http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?' + urlparams
        f=urllib.urlopen(url)
        im=Image.open(StringIO.StringIO(f.read()))
        final.paste(im, (int(x*largura), int(y*altura)))
final.show()