Error Messages

This page describes the error messages that can be returned by the Maps Embed API. When an error occurs, the Maps Embed API presents error message text in place of the map. Certain error conditions may also occur, which result in the display of a darkened watermarked map.

Invalid requests

In the case of an invalid request, the Maps Embed API returns an HTTP 4xx status code and a message describing the problem. Below are examples of such error conditions. Note: This is not a complete list of the possible errors. Please check the actual error code and message returned by the API for details of specific problems.

Example of error condition Status code
The request includes an invalid parameter, or a required parameter is missing. For example, the zoom parameter is not within the expected range of numeric values, or a required parameter is missing from the request. 400 BAD REQUEST
The API key included in the request is invalid. 403 FORBIDDEN

API key and QPS errors

API key and QPS errors are treated as invalid requests. Possible causes include the following:

Billing and HTTP referer errors

A darkened map, or "negative" Street View image, watermarked with "for development purposes only" is returned when any of the following is true:

Checking errors in your browser

For Billing and HTTP referer errors, the Maps Embed API writes error messages to window.console. For invalid requests (including API key and QPS errors), only the HTTP 4xx status code is reported in the console. This section explains how you can check the console output in Google Chrome. If you are using any other browsers, please check the developer documentation for your browser. For your reference, this is a list of tools to check console output in some other browsers.

In Chrome, you can use the JavaScript Console to check console output as follows.

  1. To open the Developer Tools, select the menu icon > More Tools > Developer Tools.
  2. To open the JavaScript Console, click the Console tab at the top of the Developer Tools window. You can also use the ESC key to toggle the JavaScript Console.