I want to make sure that my app do not accidentally consume more credits than I can afford. How can I set such limits of weekly or monthly consumption?
Unfortunately billing cap is not yet possible so you will need to calculate your own spending per the pricing info here in combination with your own metering (see some open source projects here).
Will let Engineering know it is good to have the budgeting feature soon as possible and update this answer when it’s available.
I run several reconstructions per day using the ReCap API and I would like to know if there is a way to identify the number of cloud credits consumed by each of them. Is there a way to check this, is it linked to the photoscene ID?
- I try looking at the Usage Analysis and it adds up all my credits consumed per day.
- The GET photoscene details end point gives me just the aws_hourly_rate.
Unfortunately not right now but we’ve got internal APIs for such purposes and they could be released for public access in the near future. Stay tuned to our Forge Blog for announcements.
Google Places changed its pricing model last summer and the additional costs are pretty step and I might have to discontinue a research project on mine. Is it possible to query just the basic information for a place and not be charged for a place details request? My query is:
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/json?key=MYCOMPANYKEY&placeid=ChIJMfEXesb724ARlhTq8RBG5jY&fields=name,place_id,permanently_closed
The only bit of information I need is if the place is permanently closed. Reading the documentation, it looks like this is a basic field and should be free (link here to the basic data sku), however when I run the query I am charged $17 / 1000 queries. Is there anyway to query this without paying for a Place Details query?
The Places API price consists of two parts: price of request you executed and the data price. The price of request is $17 / 1000. In addition you can get some data for free and some data for additional cost depending on the list of fields that you provided. There is no Google Places API for free, you always pay at least the request.
Have a look at Google Maps Platform pricing sheet for more details:
https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/sheet/
Also official documentation states:
Data requests generate a charge in addition to the cost of the Places request. Data charges are always in tandem with the Places requests.
source: https://developers.google.com/maps/billing/understanding-cost-of-use#data-skus
I hope this clarifies your doubt.
In addition to the answer of Xomena, you may cap your request up until your free credits are consumed, upon setting up your billing account, you will be entitled to have one time $300 free credit (Usable for any Google Cloud Platform products) and a monthly recurring $200 free credit (Exclusive for Google Maps API only), so you can still use the API without being billed.
Capping API Usage:
Go to the GCP Console APIs & Services Dashboard
page.
From the projects list, select a project.
Click the name of the API you're interested in.
Click Quotas.
On the quota line you want to change, click the edit icon, then enter your preferred total quota, up to the limit specified by Google.
Based on my calculation, assuming that you are only using Place Details, you can call up to 11764 requests(w/ basic data) per month using your $200 free credit, I did not include the $300 credit in my computation as this is not recurring every month and this will be up to you on how you will spread the $300 free credit.
I have one real website using google map and It is binded with several domains. Each domain serves for a separated group of client.
Google map announces new policy updates that apply from 11th june 2018 that decrease free limit usage from 25K map loads per day to 28K map load per month
My questions is Can I use map api key which generated from separated google account to increase free usage ?
I have read this question carefully use multiple Google Maps API Keys for same server?
But link seems broken and I can't find relevant information as answer on that question or some other questions too
In my case, although my sites have the same code based and IP, however they works like different sites on shared hosts. One more thing, Google assigns free usage based on account (not google map key) so I think I can use multiple account to increase limit
So can I do this ? I don't want to break Google rules and I appreciate for any comment
You can not since is against Google terms, please check section 3.2.4.e in this link https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/#16-limitation-of-liability.
No Circumventing Fees. Customer will not circumvent the applicable Fees. For example, Customer will not create multiple billing accounts or Projects to avoid incurring Fees; prevent Google from accurately calculating Customer’s Service usage levels; abuse any free Service quotas; or offer access to the Services under a “time-sharing” or “service bureau” model.
I'm not sure if it's against the rules:
Google Maps guy said here, that it's OK https://twitter.com/GMapsPlatform/status/1001061642363461633
According to this link :
Google price guide
Google has changed it's prices from 11 June.
Is that mean using google map SDK for mobile devices is no longer free ?
Yes and no.
You'll need an API key and a valid billing method. That being said, the first 200$ (I assume USD) of usage is free
We’ve heard that you want simple, easy to understand pricing that
gives you access to all our core APIs. That’s one of the reasons we
merged our Standard and Premium plans to form one pay-as-you go
pricing plan for our core products. With this new plan, developers
will receive the first $200 of monthly usage for free. We estimate
that most of you will have monthly usage that will keep you within
this free tier.
From https://mapsplatform.googleblog.com/2018/05/introducing-google-maps-platform.html
After that, your credit card will be charged. To estimate your usage you can refer to this pricing table: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/sheet/
All the below points are taken from the official documentation.
#Marco's answer is correct on one point: you need an API key to have full access to the service.
Also, in June 2016 we announced that we would stop supporting keyless usage, meaning any request that doesn’t include an API key or Client ID. This will go into effect on June 11th, and keyless access will no longer be supported. At that time, 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.
Here they are talking about the Javascript API but I could not find contradictory information about other APIs (iOS, Android) so I believe this applies to all APIs.
About billing
This page says the following:
Is a credit card or billing account required?
Yes. Even though the first $200 a month is free, we ask for your credit card or billing account to cover any amount you spend over this free credit. When you’re billed, we'll credit your account for the first $200 of monthly usage. If your estimated usage will be above $200 a month and you don’t have a credit or debit card to set up a billing account, a local Google Maps Partner may be able to help.
In other words: YES, you need a billing account and a credit card (or a Google Maps Partner).
This page is the guide for existing users and it says:
Is a credit card or billing account required?
Even though your first $200 of monthly usage is free, all Google Cloud Platform services require a credit card and billing account, to cover any amount you spend over this free credit. If you are billed, we'll credit your account for the first $200 of monthly usage. If you choose not to add a billing account, there is a risk that if your usage exceeds $200 in a given month, your Maps API implementation will be degraded or other API requests will return an error. If your estimated usage will be above $200 a month and you don't have a credit or debit card to set up a billing account, a local Google Maps Partner may be able to help.
In other words: NO, existing users don't need a billing account although it's strongly advised to have one.
Clarification is needed from Google! Hopefully this topic will get updated soon.
To add to the other answers, pricing is different for the "google map SDK for mobile devices", aka Mobile Native Dynamic/Static Maps for Android and iOS (which you mentioned in your question, and it's tagged with).
From the Google Maps pricing sheet, it seems that all use of the Mobile Native APIs is free, while the traditional (web based) Dynamic and Static maps are chargeable as others described above.
$200 MONTHLY CREDIT EQUIVALENT FREE USAGE: Unlimited loads
0—100,000 MONTHLY VOLUME RANGE (PRICE PER THOUSAND CALLS): $0.00
100,001-500,000 MONTHLY VOLUME RANGE (PRICE PER THOUSAND CALLS): $0.00
And it's possible to add usage caps to force your usage of the web-based (chargeable) APIs to stay within the free tier. This does mean that your maps will stop working if your users cause you to exceed the usage caps, but at least you won't be charged.
There is a free tier for up to $200 of usage, which most users won't pass I believe. So, small businesses won't be affected.
Read more here: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-changes/
However, there's still no clarity on whether a Billing Account has to be set up with a valid Credit/Debit Card to get a new API Key. Google has a transition tool in place for those who already have the API key and are using it in their projects.
I'm a web developer and many of my clients are using GMaps on their website to show their business address. Not sure what Billing Account I'll have to use for all of them, because they're all finished projects and the client expects the maps to continue working as is. I can't possibly set the billing in my name and risk getting a huge bill some day. The current clients and the future clients have to be made aware of this new update. I concur it's like setting up a GSuite / Adwords account for your client.
OpenLayers is a good alternative for google maps sdk, if you absolutely want a map.
It is free and does not require any account. It worked for me!
You can refer to the below link: https://openlayers.org/en/latest/doc/quickstart.html