Google Maps API
Many websites have a Google Map embedded onto their site somewhere, whether this be part of the home page or contact us section to allow potential customers to easily find your business and visit.
If you do have a Google Map embedded on your website, we encourage you to check to make sure it is still working correctly and not showing the following error message: 
What does the error message mean? Well, back in May 2018 Google announced that from July 2018 it would be a requirement for businesses to add billing details with the Google Maps Platform API (an API is something developers can use to request data from another server, for example in the Google Maps case we can send some data to Google’s servers to retrieve information such as driving directions)
You will need a valid API key and a Google Cloud Platform billing account in order to continue using Google maps. Once you have enabled billing, you will gain $200 worth of free usage per month for Google Maps, Routes and Places products. Although a lot of companies do not exceed this monthly limit, we do recommend that your map configuration is reviewed to ensure that you are not paying any unnecessary costs for getting data from the Google Maps Platform.
Maps are an important thing to have on your website as they are extremely useful, so using Google maps, routes and places are all still great features to use, you just need to make these modifications in order to ensure the maps still works effectively on your site.
The DBS team will be happy to help you if you require assistance with obtaining the API key or if you would just like some more information. Give us a call on 01522 811688.
