solution for Ride4Ruby

ride4ruby.rb

# Ride4Ruby solution by Aidan Feldman
# aidan.feldman@gmail.com
# contest: http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2011/january-contest-ride4ruby/
# 1/11/10


require 'rubygems'
require 'rest_client'
require 'active_support'
require 'active_support/core_ext'

GMAPS_KEY = ENV['GMAPS_KEY']

STATES = %Q(Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming).split("\n")


class Place
  attr_accessor :city, :state, :zip, :lat, :lng
  
  def self.from_gmaps_hash(hash)
    place = Place.new

    place.state = hash['AddressDetails']['Country']['AdministrativeArea']['AdministrativeAreaName']
    place.city = hash['AddressDetails']['Country']['AdministrativeArea']['SubAdministrativeArea']['Locality']['LocalityName']
    place.zip = hash['AddressDetails']['Country']['AdministrativeArea']['SubAdministrativeArea']['Locality']['PostalCode']['PostalCodeNumber']
    place.lat, place.lng = hash['Point']['coordinates'].split(',').collect{|p| p.to_f}

    place
  end
end



places = []

STATES.each do |state|
  xml = RestClient.get "http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=#{URI.escape(state)}%20Ruby%20Street&output=xml&key=#{GMAPS_KEY}"
  hash = Hash.from_xml xml
  placemarks = hash['kml']['Response']['Placemark'] rescue []
  placemarks.each do |place_hash|
    place = Place.from_gmaps_hash(place_hash) rescue nil
    places << place unless place.nil?
  end
end

min, max = places.minmax{|a,b| a.lat <=> b.lat}

puts "furthest west: #{min.city}, #{min.state}"
puts "furthest east: #{max.city}, #{max.state}"

xml = RestClient.get "http://maps.google.com/maps/api/directions/xml?origin=#{max.lng},#{max.lat}&destination=#{min.lng},#{min.lat}&sensor=false&key=#{GMAPS_KEY}"
hash = Hash.from_xml xml
distance = hash['DirectionsResponse']['route']['leg']['distance']['text']
puts "Distance: #{distance}"