Google Maps API
The following changes were introduced on June 11th, 2018.
You may have noticed that your Google Map no longer displays as it used to with your location, now displaying a notification reading; the page can’t load Google Maps correctly.
The reason; API keys are now required to display correctly with developers and businesses
Incurring an updated pricing policy for all Google products, including the recurring $200 monthly credit per billing account. This billing requirement is now being enforced and all projects must be associated with a billing account.
As part of this new initiative, Google is combining multiple individual Maps APIs into only three core products: Maps, Routes and Places.
So what happens next?
To ensure the new core maps products work, you must register with the API and provide billing details for your site to pay for the privilege of using this service. The good news is that is comes with a $200 per month credit, which many smaller sites will not exceed, the bad news is however for sites that attract much higher impressions and UV’s the increase to use these service could be substantial.
So is this being blown all out of proportion?
Well there are alternative map options available such as Tom Tom and Mapfit, however Google is still recognised as the preferred option and market leader – we watch this space with interest.