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Yes, the Google Maps Platform is Changing - Are You Ready?

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Important Update: Following the publication of this blog, Google provided new dates for the Maps Platform transition. Please note the following changes:

  • June 11 –  New APIs and other capabilities of Maps Platform become available. Google begins blocking keyless usage. Standard plan rates continue.
  • July 16 – New pricing model goes into effect. Standard plan rates end.

See Google’s Important Updates page for more details.

Date: May 16, 2018
Author: Matt Mundey

Well, it has been two weeks since Google announced the changes to the Google Maps Platform. At this point, most users have either began to develop a plan of action or have thrown their hands in the air, waiting for someone to step in and rescue them with all the answers for exactly what to do. Hopefully, whether you are in motion or still in denial, this blog series will provide some help and peace of mind.

For this initial blog, we have broken the users into three categories – Premium Plan Customer, Standard Plan Customer and Keyless – and provided some insight (and tips) for what to do before the new licensing and pricing changes take effect on June 11th.

  • Premium Plan Customer– There is nothing you need to do for your Premium Plan. You will transition to pay-as-you go pricing and the Google Cloud Platform Console when your current contract expires. This transition will be done for you – including helping you through any necessary code changes. Your Account Manager will contact you prior to your renewal date to assist you during this transition. Quick tip: If you have additional projects not covered under your Premium Plan, please read below for information regarding Standard Plan and Keyless projects.
  • Standard Plan Customer– If you are a Standard Plan customer, contact us at gm4w@woolpert.com and we will guide you through changes to APIs in your projects, ensure your projects are optimized and secured and notify you if the billing associated with your projects needs to be enabled or updated.
  • Keyless – Starting on June 11, you must have a valid API key and a billing account to access our APIs. When you enable billing, you will get $200 free usage every month for Maps, Routes, or Places. The $200 free usage applies to our core Maps, Routes, and Places products. All users also get:
    • Free Maps usage for iOS, Android, and Embed (for displaying maps only)
    • Free Maps URLs

Quick Tip: If you do not update prior to June 11th, Keyless calls to the Maps JavaScript API and Street View API will return low-resolution maps watermarked with “for development purposes only”. Keyless calls to any of the following APIs will return an error: Maps Static API (including Static Street View), Directions API, Distance Matrix API, Geocoding API, Geolocation API, Places API, Roads API, and Time Zone API.

Want more information? Contact us at gm4w@woolpert.com.

Our next blog in this series will focus on a deeper dive into the pricing and API changes. Check back next week for more details.

Matt Mundey