What’s happened to Google Maps?

What’s happened to Google Maps?

If you’ve suddenly noticed your websites Google maps have either gone offline completely or they have a message saying ‘This page can’t load Google Maps correctly’ or ‘development purposes only’ then you’re not alone. All of a sudden it seems as if half of the internet has broken or is about to!

After more than 13 years, the Google Maps service has been rebranded as Google Maps Platform and keyless access is no longer supported. Read on to see what you need to do to get your Google Maps back online.

Back in June Google announced some fairly major changes to its Google Maps service that will have a significant and unavoidable effect on companies that use Google Maps on their websites.

There are three major consequences to this:

1. You now MUST have an API key to contine to use the Google Maps service without an error message appearing.
2. You now MUST have a payment method on file with Google, whether or not you will go beyond the free usage limit.
3. The free monthly limit has been significantly reduced from 25000 API calls per day to a free $200 of monthly usage per month.

This last point has the most chance of causing discomfort, as while almost all but the very largest of sites probably wouldn’t hit the old 25000 API calls per day limit, many sites will need to start to pay for their Google Maps integration and it’s not cheap. For most this will be $7 per 1000 API calls. With a free $200 spend per month this results in just 28000 API calls per month being included for free.

So you can see what would have fallen within the old free limits could now potentially cost companies $4700 per month!

Will Everyone Be Affected By The Changes?

Perhaps most notably, you will no longer be able to use the APIs in the first place unless you create a billing account and hand over your credit card details to Google.

This will apply to all users of the Google Maps Platform service – even if you only have a basic map embedded on your contact page.

What’s more, keyless access will no longer be supported. This means that all projects will need valid API keys. Any keyless calls to the Maps JavaScript API or Street View API will return low-quality resolution images with a development watermark.

What Are The Cost Implications?

The first $200 of monthly usage will be free – and if you have a single map on a small website, this will probably be enough to cover you for the API calls required by your website (but you’ll still need to add your billing details).

If you use Dynamic Maps though, that free credit will only take care of 28,000 page loads each month. To put that into context, users previously got 25,000 free page loads per day.

I Have Multiple Maps On My Page – How Many API Calls Will Be Made?

Let’s say you have a destination page for an accommodation website. On it, you have a standard map; as well as a Street View image – what happens? Well, soon Google will charge you for two API calls.

Equally, if you have two versions of a standard map on a page, you will also get charged twice when the page is loaded.

Why Are Google Doing This?

Having dominated the maps marketplace by providing a service for free, Google have decided to monetise their Maps platform. This is something website users have no control of, unless they want to stop using the service.

What Will Happen If I Don’t Make The Required Changes?

Unfortunately, if you don’t update your billing details and comply with the new requirements, all Google Maps integrations you currently use will disappear from your website and will instead display an error message. This decision is completely controlled by Google.

The new pricing structure is set to roll out on July 16th 2018, whilst Google are currently rolling out the changes that require you to add the billing details to keep using the service.

Update: As of mid October 2018 these changes appear to becoming enforced with many reports from sites using Google Maps having error messages appearing.

Can Isle Creative Help?

Yes. We are currently in the process of working with our clients reliant on the Google Maps Platform to ensure that they don’t lose the functionality the service provides, and if they have already, we’ll get them up and running again as quickly as possible.

1. Follow the video guide below on creating your own Google Cloud account, setting up billing and securing your new API Key.
2. We’ll provide the necessary development, although we will have to charge a relatively small fee to complete the work required.

How Can I Get My Google Maps API Key?

To get your own Google Maps API Key head on over to the Google Maps Platform at https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform and follow the video guide below.