Planning to use Google Maps Premium Plan but you’re not sure how the whole license onboarding procedure looks like? We’ve prepared a brief guide covering first steps to help you start your Google Maps adventure.
First steps – what you’ll receive
All set and waiting for your Google Maps license to arrive? If so, you’ll receive a Welcome Letter from Google at the contact email address you provided. The letter contains all the information necessary to implement your license (so make sure to keep it around), including:
- Client ID – allows to access various reports and tools of the Google Maps APIs Premium Plan.
- Crypto Key – your private cryptographic key used to generate a unique digital signature
- Project ID – built according to the pattern <YOUR_PROJECT_ID>
Already have your Welcome Letter? It’s time to implement the license!
Each Google Maps API is implemented slightly different. In general, Google Maps APIs are categorized by platform: Web, Android and iOS, complemented by suite of HTTP web services. Below you’ll find links to detailed overview of each API:
How to track usage?
Google Maps Premium Plan provides a number of tools enabling to control license’s usage and generating reports & summaries. License admins can use three complementary tools: Support Portal, Google Maps Analytics, and Google Developers Console.
Google Maps usage reports in Support Portal:
- daily and monthly usage of each Maps API
- daily and monthly usage of credits for each API
- error reporting for web service requests that use a client ID.
Google Maps Analytics
Allows to track usage of map credits and web services. You can see how users interact with a map (a type of maps, zoom, Street View settings).
Google Developers Console
You have access to reports on real-time tracking of each API usage, authorized with the key. Due to the large data volume, the scope of reports is limited to 30 days.
You can find more detailed information about Google Maps Premium Plan reporting here:
developers.google.com/maps/premium/reports/
Where to go for more information?
Lastly, here are some handy Google Maps links:
- Not sure whether you should use Premium or Standard plan? This is a good place to start: enterprise.google.com/maps/pricing
- Premium Plan Cost Calculator – a simple tool for estimating map credits usage
- How map credits are calculated: developers.google.com/maps/premium/prelaunch-checklist
- Google Developers
- Google Maps APIs – FAQ
