title: how do i decode/encode the url parameters for the new google maps?
body: <p>Im trying to figure out how to extract the lat/long of the start/end in a google maps directions link that looks like this:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d189334!2d-96.03687!3d36.1250439!4m21!3m20!1m4!3m2!3d36.0748342!4d-95.8040972!6e2!1m5!1s1331-1399+E+14th+St%2C+Tulsa%2C+OK+74120!2s0x87b6ec9a1679f9e5%3A0x6e70df70feebbb5e!3m2!3d36.1424613!4d-95.9736986!3m8!1m3!1d189334!2d-96.03687!3d36.1250439!3m2!1i1366!2i705!4f13.1&amp;fid=0" rel="noreferrer">https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d189334!2d-96.03687!3d36.1250439!4m21!3m20!1m4!3m2!3d36.0748342!4d-95.8040972!6e2!1m5!1s1331-1399+E+14th+St%2C+Tulsa%2C+OK+74120!2s0x87b6ec9a1679f9e5%3A0x6e70df70feebbb5e!3m2!3d36.1424613!4d-95.9736986!3m8!1m3!1d189334!2d-96.03687!3d36.1250439!3m2!1i1366!2i705!4f13.1&amp;fid=0</a></p>
  
  <p>Im guessing the "!" is a separator between variables followed by XY where x is a number and y is a lower case letter, but can not quite figure out how to reliably extract the coordinates as the number/order of variables changes as well as their XY prefixes.</p>
  
  <p>ideas?
  thanks</p>