Do I really need the Google Maps API key? - google-maps

I am planning to release a commercial website (I have ads there and a shop) which is freely available for everybody. I want to add a google map to show some points of interest. The question is: Do I need the google api key for that or can I just use the iframe code that google gives me? Theoretically that would work, too.
I searched google, but could not find a clear answer...
Thanks :-)

v2 of the Google Maps API is deprecated, so you should ideally use v3.
v3 does not need an API key as mentioned in the documentation.
Since v3 is the official version now, I assume the links given in google maps are for the version. You can always just try and see if embedding the iframe works for you. Though as noted, you can't really customize the map, so you should use the API. It's very simple to set up a basic map (read the tutorial).

You don't need the Google Maps API key as long as you don't plan to include any special or customized maps in your website.
Using the iframe version is fine for basic Maps integration.

The API Key is free anyway, so there is no problem in obtaining one. You should also be free to use the iframe as well, as long as your site is publicly available to everyone without a payed login or anything like that.
As long as you meet Google Maps TOS, you can use both. If you don't meet those TOS, don't use any of it.

A Google Maps API key is required for v2 of the API, not for v3 as far as I know,
and neither for requests to Static Maps API v2.

Related

Bing static maps

Since Google Static Maps imposes a daily quota on its service (and so does Google Maps JavaScript API unfortunately), I'm considering instead Microsoft's Bing Static Maps API. With Google it was enough to include on my website one line of code:
<img class="google_maps" src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?center=48.2044544,16.3706368&zoom=9&markers=color:red%7Clabel:A%7C48.2044544,16.3706368&size=200x200&key=XXXXXXXXXXXX">
Bing's example code snippet
http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Imagery/Map/imagerySet/centerPoint/zoomLevel?mapSize=mapSize&pushpin=pushpin&mapLayer=mapLayer&format=format&mapMetadata=mapMetadata&key=BingMapsKey
seems to follow the same logic, but I couldn't get it to work. Has anybody experience
whether there is really no limit (in practice) for using the Bing Maps API
How to correctly include a bing map in my website?
Thank you!
Full documentation on how to use the static Imagery service in Bing Maps can be found here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701724.aspx
I know it doesn't answer the main question, but the OP mentioned the reason he has the problem is because of the daily quota. So I came here to offer an free to use/self hosted alternative I made just to cincurvent that. It's sort of a clone of google static maps called osm-static-maps, you can find it here https://github.com/jperelli/osm-static-maps

How come one doesn't need a Google Maps API Key to do this?

These 2 sites have some sample code on them. I copied and pasted the code into a php page in localhost, and they worked fine. However, the code doesn't seem to contain any API Keys. How come Google allows the code to use the Maps API without Keys? I'm obviously missing something here. What is it? Are there use cases where API Keys are not necessary? Where can I see the documentation regarding such uses cases?
http://www.codeofaninja.com/2014/06/google-maps-geocoding-example-php.html
https://gist.github.com/lazarofl/3901081#file-geocoder_example-html
The Google Maps JavaScript API v3 does not require an API key to function correctly. However, we strongly encourage you to load the Maps API using an APIs Console key which allows you to monitor your application's Maps API usage
From: https://developers.google.com/maps/signup

Integrating Google Maps in OBIEE

I come to you in the hope of finding a solution to a problem I encountered when I embed Google Maps in OBIEE.
Indeed, after following the standard procedure defined on this link:
http://onlyobi.blogspot.fr/2014/03/obiee-11g-google-map-integration-guest.html
I get the following error appears in OBIEE:
"Google has disabled use of the Google Maps API for this application. The key provided is not a valid Google API key or is not a licensed version 3 API key
Google Maps Javascript on this site. If you are the owner of this applicatio, please go to ... "
Thank you for your support,
Have you tried using the maps visualization from Google? More details here:
https://developers.google.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery/map
We use this in OBIEE to display certain data on maps.
Using MapViewer, we can integrate google maps with the OBIEE 11g/12c. More details is here:
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_afrLoop=363666329275914&parent=EXTERNAL_SEARCH&sourceId=HOWTO&id=1485088.1&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=rota6my7h_102

Can we use the API of google maps in Unity 3D?

I want to know, can we use all the API's of Google Maps in Unity3D (not just a static map, I want to locate my position, add a lot of markers with window information, select itinerary from my position to a selected marker ...)
Have a good day and thanks ! :)
I think the answer is yes, you can use the Google maps API with Unity as long as you adhere to the licensing agreement for the Google maps API.
However, if you're asking if there is special support in Unity for the Google maps API then the answer is no. However, there is at least one third party asset that supports Google maps. You could probably use it or a different asset to get you started with integration.

GWT + Google Maps API v3

I need Google Maps API v3 calls in my GWT Project, more specifically an Autocomplete-Feature for Places like in Google-Maps and the DirectionServices.
We already tried 2 approaches to get v3 access, but none was satisfying:
Using the GWT SuggestionBox Widget + Geocoder suggestions. This solution is very slow and even worser, the constraints you can put on the suggested Places is just country codes (e.g. "uk") and, even worse, it seems to be not working.
Google Maps API v3 Wrapper for GWT done by branflake2267. There seems to be a conflict between the wrapper and the already existing (older) GWT Google Maps API lib. When one tries to remove the Google GWT-maps-api from the project, severe changes would have to be made, since the structure of the API seems different (some Classes are not within the Wrapper).
Does somebody maybe had a similar problem and a solution for this? How can I get the Google Maps V3 API working in my GWT project?
Thank you very much guys for any help on this!
There is an official port of Maps v3 supported by Google which can be found here, but it is still in pre-release.
For more info, look at the comments of this bug.
Be very careful with Maps v3 it has some serious issues when used with the latest GWTversions. It does not appear to use Overlays and uses ArrayHelper all of which cause problems on GWT 2.1 and up..
I've had good luck with the branflake API on GWT 2.8. However, it hasn't been updated in years and still uses API version 3.10. Unfortunately I'm going to have to either for it and take on maintaining my own version of it or find an alternative at some point.
For now, tho, it's still very much a usable solution.
https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.github.branflake2267/gwt-maps-api