Premium Plan FAQ

Note: The Google Maps Platform Premium Plan is no longer available for sign up or new customers.

This FAQ covers questions specific to Google Maps Platform Premium Plan.

Please refer to the Google Maps Platform FAQ for questions common to all Google Maps Platform.

Getting started

Previous Google Maps APIs for Work licenses and renewals

Purchasing the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan

Usage limits

Developing your application

KML

URL signing

Styling

Getting started

What is the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

The Google Maps Platform Premium Plan (the Premium Plan) gives you access to our suite of services, ensuring you have all the tools you need to implement customizable, mobile-ready, scalable maps for your apps and sites.

Which APIs are included in Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

The following Google products are included in Google Maps Platform Premium Plan. Applications that use these products are covered by the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan SLA, and are eligible for technical support:

* The Places API is not included with the Premium Plan Asset Tracking license. If you have an Asset Tracking license and want to use the Places API, please contact the Google Maps Sales team.

The following APIs are not covered by Google Maps Platform Premium Plan. Applications that use these APIs must do so in compliance with the published Terms of Service for these APIs, and are not covered by the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan SLA or eligible for technical support:

How do I contact technical support for Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

Google Maps Platform Premium Plan customers can open a new support case with Google Support using the Google Cloud Support Portal at:

https://google.secure.force.com/

A username and password are required to access the portal. Please fill out this form if you do not have an account.

For more information, see the guide to support and resources.

When is technical support available?

The Support team is available 24x5 (weekdays from Monday 9 AM Tokyo time to Friday 5 PM Pacific time) excluding regional holidays.

For Premium Plan customers with Gold-level support, technical support is available 24x7 for critical issues (weekdays and weekends, including regional holidays).

If you need access to technical support 24x7, contact sales to learn more about Gold-level support.

For additional details, see the guide to support and resources.

How do I reset login credentials for the Google Cloud Support Portal?

I forgot my password. This link is also available from the Google Cloud Support Portal login page.

What are the Terms of Service for the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

If you are a Google Maps Platform Premium Plan customer, please refer to your agreement for the terms that govern your use of the Google Maps Platform. For more information, see the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan terms of use.

Previous Google Maps APIs for Work licenses and renewals

Where can I find information about previous Google Maps APIs for Work licenses?

Do you have the Premium Plan or a previous license?

Have the Premium Plan or a previous license?
To determine which license you have:
> In the Google Cloud Support Portal, click Maps: Usage Report on the left.
> Does the ID at the top of the report have the following format?
   gme-[company] & proj-[number] ([type])
If yes, you have the Premium Plan.
If no, you have a previous license (Maps APIs for Work or Maps API for Business).

For more information, see to Previous Licenses Overview.

What are the changes with the new Premium Plan?

See the summary of changes for renewal customers and the FAQ for license renewals.

Purchasing the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan

Why should I purchase the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

You should purchase the Premium Plan if your business or organization requires any of the following:

  • An SLA with 24-hour technical support
  • Ability to sell a product or service with embedded Google Maps
  • Ability to use Google Maps Platform for an internal application or website
  • A specific amount of quota
  • Ability to use Google Maps Platform for asset tracking applications
  • Premium features available with your existing Maps APIs for Work license
How do I purchase the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

Contact your Google sales representative for details on purchasing the Premium Plan and to receive a price quote based on an estimate of your application’s usage.

Do I need a Google Account with the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

Yes, you'll need a Google Account to access the Google Maps Platform available on the Google Cloud Platform Console.

Usage limits

How is Google Maps Platform Premium Plan usage calculated?

Have the Premium Plan or a previous license?
To determine which license you have:
> In the Google Cloud Support Portal, click Maps: Usage Report on the left.
> Does the ID at the top of the report have the following format?
   gme-[company] & proj-[number] ([type])
If yes, you have the Premium Plan.
If no, you have a previous license (Maps APIs for Work or Maps API for Business).

With the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan, your application consumes quota at different rates, depending on the APIs it requests. You purchase quota—called Maps APIs Credits—for one or more years, based on an estimate of your application's annual usage. All of your application's requests for Maps APIs consume credits from the pool of credits you purchased. For example, if your application uses the Maps JavaScript API to display a map, it consumes credits for the Maps JavaScript API map loads. If your application consumes all of the credits in the pool, you can purchase additional credits as needed. For more information, see the guide to Premium Plan usage rates and limits.

How can I track my app's Google Maps Platform Premium Plan usage?

For information on tracking your application's usage of Maps APIs Credits, as well as other usage reports and analytics, see the guide to Premium Plan reports.

How can I estimate my application's usage of Maps APIs Credits?

You can use the Google Maps APIs Premium Calculator to get an estimate of your application's usage.

In addition, you may find the credits calculation example useful.

What happens if I use all of my Maps APIs Credits?

If you run out of Maps APIs Credits, your application's requests will continue to succeed, but your account may be subject to overage fees. In this case, you'll need to renew your Google Maps Platform Premium Plan license as soon as possible to avoid a suspension of your account. Google will notify you via email once you've used up 85% of your quota.

Why are Places API Details requests charged 2 Maps APIs Credits while Place Autocomplete requests are charged only 0.1 credits?

The Places API uses an extensive database of business and other place data. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep this database accurate, as businesses open and close frequently. Therefore, we need to charge more for Places Details requests. For Place Autocomplete, we realize that users often need to type several characters to find a place, so we are charging only a fractional credit for each request.

Developing your application

Will I be issued both a Google Cloud Platform Console project ID and a client ID?

Yes, your welcome letter will include your Google Cloud Platform Console project ID and your client ID.

Will the Google Cloud Platform Console project I'm provided have all available APIs enabled?

Yes, with the Premium Plan, we automatically provision all of our APIs for the same Google Cloud Platform Console project. You can access all the APIs in one project. APIs on the same platform (Web, Web Services, Android, or iOS) can share the same API key. Your API keys provide real-time usage reports and historical usage data for up to 30 days. If you need features such as Maps API Analytics, usage reports by channel, and historical report data beyond the 30 days, you can use your client ID instead of the API key for most of the APIs. (The client ID does not work with the Places API, Geolocation API, Roads API, Maps SDK for Android, or Maps SDK for iOS.)

What are the differences between an API key and a client ID?

With your project ID, you can generate API keys in the Google Cloud Platform Console. Here are the primary differences between the use of API keys and your client ID:

  • API support: You can use an API key with any Maps API. Alternatively, you can use your client ID with any API, except the Places API, Geolocation API, Roads API, Maps SDK for Android, and Maps SDK for iOS.
  • Reporting: Your API keys provide real-time usage reports and historical usage data for up to 30 days. If you need features such as Maps API Analytics, usage reports by channel, and historical report data beyond the 30 days, use your client ID for APIs that support its use.
  • Error codes: If you use API keys, you receive error messages according to HTTP status code class (for example, 3xx and 4xx errors), which provide only general information. If you use your client ID, you receive more detailed API-specific error codes in the Google Cloud Support Portal reports, which can help with troubleshooting.
  • Security: Both API keys and the client ID are equally secure, as long as you follow these guidelines:
    • If you use an API key, make sure you keep your key secret. All requests to Maps APIs use HTTPS, so the risks of someone intercepting your traffic are limited. However, if someone were to obtain your key, they could make requests for Maps APIs using your key. To prevent this risk for client-side APIs, you can restrict the domains that can use your key. For server-side APIs, restrict your key so that requests are allowed only from your servers' source IP addresses. See Using API Keys for more information about using API keys securely.
    • If you use your client ID, make sure you keep your cryptographic key (which you use to generate digital signatures) secret. Also make sure you never use the crypto key in your API requests or use it to sign URLs using JavaScript, as these practices can expose your key.
Do I need to use my Google Maps Platform Premium Plan credentials in my testing environment?

All Google Maps Platform require authentication, with an API key or client ID. When developing your application in your test environment, consider the following:

  • If you need access to technical support for your test environment, you must use a credential from your Premium Plan (client ID or API key). Note that use of the Maps APIs will consume your plan's Maps APIs Credits based on the usage rates and limits.
  • If you do not want your testing environment to consume your plan's Maps APIs Credits, you may use standard credentials (an API key, set up in the Google Cloud Platform Console)—however, in this case, your test environment will not be eligible for technical support. If you choose to use standard credentials, your app or website will be subject to the standard usage limits for each API. For more information on standard usage limits, see Pricing and Plans.
  • If you expect to generate some significant volume in your test environment and also want to be able to access technical support for your test environment, but do not want to consume your Premium Plan's Maps APIs Credits, consider a license for development purposes only. This is typically a lower-cost option, and offers technical support. Contact your Google Maps Account Manager for more information.
  • If you are load testing your app, you can run those tests against a mock API. See Perform load testing on your app in the Prelaunch Checklist.
How do I access premium mobile features with the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

You can access premium mobile features using the same SDKs available to users of the standard API: the Maps SDK for iOS and the Maps SDK for Android. To access premium features, make sure you use the API key from the project created for you during signup. To verify that you have access to premium mobile features, load a map using the static library. For more information, see the guides to getting started with the Premium Plan on Android and on iOS.

Is the dynamic library available for Android with the Google Maps Platform Premium Plan?

Yes, with the Premium Plan, you can also use the dynamic library for the Maps SDK for Android instead of the static library. For more information, see the guide to getting started with the Premium Plan on Android.

How do I access the Maps JavaScript API using a Google Maps Platform Premium Plan client ID, from a page that's loaded over HTTPS (SSL)?

To access the Maps JavaScript API from a page that's loaded over HTTPS, you must first authorize the HTTPS URLs on which you wish to use the API.

How do I load the Maps JavaScript API over HTTPS (SSL) when using the Common Loader base_domain parameter?

It is not possible to load the Maps JavaScript API over SSL using the common loader with the base_domain parameter set.

The base_domain parameter does not affect your application's performance — API requests are always handled by the optimal Maps server for a particular user's location regardless of the domain from which the API is loaded.

base_domain does bias geocoding results towards the specified region; to achieve the same effect without base_domain, set the geocoding service's region parameter.

KML

How do I render KML files that are hosted on intranet sites on a map?

The KmlLayer class that generates KML overlays in the Maps JavaScript API uses a Google hosted service to retrieve and parse KML files for rendering. Consequently it is not possible to display KML files that are not hosted at a URL that is available publicly accessible, or that require authentication to access.

If you need to develop applications that use KML files hosted on intranet sites we recommend that you render the KML on the client side by using third-party JavaScript libraries. As the KML file is analyzed by the browser, performance may be lower than by using the KmlLayer class.

URL signing

Can I sign URLs using JavaScript?

We strongly recommend against signing URLs using JavaScript as this would expose your cryptographic key to end users. Therefore signatures should only be generated by server side components.

Why am I receiving a HTTP 403 Forbidden response to my Maps API web service requests?

An HTTP 403 response indicates a permission issue, likely because the signature could not be verified for this request. This could be because:

  1. A signature has been specified but is incorrect for this request.
  2. The request specifies a Google Maps Platform Premium Plan client ID but does not specify a signature, and the web service being called requires that all requests made using a client ID include a valid signature.
  3. A signature has been specified but the associated Google Maps Platform Premium Plan client ID has not been specified.

Styling

Why aren't businesses showing up on my map?

When loading a map using the Maps JavaScript API and including your Premium Plan credentials (either a key or client parameter), business listings on the map are turned off by default. To turn them back on, you'll need to include some styling code with your map: 

var styles = [
  {
    featureType: 'poi.business',
    stylers: [
      { visibility: 'on' }
    ]
  }
];

map.setOptions({styles: styles});