Booking Experts - Google Maps API
How does Google Maps work on my website?
It is possible to show the organization or your park on the website by using the map widgets. To use these, you need a Google Maps API Key which needs to be entered at the organization settings.
If you show a map from Google Maps on a page of your website, each visit will connect to this Google Maps API. As of recently, the unlimited (free) use of the API is no longer allowed by Google and they have set a maximum of 28.000 times per month. If you go over that number, you have to pay for the service. Most websites will not reach this number, so for those it will remain free of charge. However, you now have to request an API Key and enter it yourself, which allows Google to keep track of how often the service is used.
1. Request Google Maps API Key
2. Enter the Google Maps API Key in the CMS
4. Upgrade
Request Google Maps API Key
To request your own API Key, please go through the following steps as well:
1. Go to the Google Cloud Console;
2. Log in using your Google Account;
3. Accept the terms of service;
4. Click in the left menu on APIs & Services;
5. Create a project;
6. At the project name, enter a desired name, for instance Maps API followed by your own domain name. Click Create to save the project;
7. In the search bar, enter the term Maps and add the following two APIs;
8. Enable Maps JavaScript API;
9. Enable Maps Embed API;
10. Navigate to the Login credentials tab;
11. Click Create login credentials;
12. Select API Key;
13. Copy the API Key, we will need it in a minute;
14. Next, click Restrict key;
15. By creating limitations at the domain name, you can prevent another party from using your API, which could cause you to exceed the 25,000 limit;
16. At App limitations, select HTTP references (websites);
17. At Accepting requests of this HTTP reference (websites), enter the following: *.mijnwebsite.nl* and *.bookingexperts.nl*
18. Attention! If you have a multilingual website, you must enter all domains (.de, .com, .fr, etc.)
19. Add API Restrictions for the Maps Embed API and Maps Javascript APIs.
20. Click Save to save the changes.
Enter the Google Maps API Key in the CMS
1. Log into your administration in the BEX CMS;
2. Navigate to Settings > Organization settings;
3. In Integration under Google Maps API key, enter the API key that you copied in step 12;
4. Don't forget to save the settings.
Set a billing account
To actually use the Google Maps API, the project created above must be linked to an approved invoicing account within the Google Cloud Console.
1. Go to Invoicing;
2. Click on Add invoicing account;
3. Fill out the details;
4. Click on save;
5. Go back to Invoicing in the menu;
6. Click on the option to link the invoicing account to the project.
Upgrade
You may receive a notification about an update to unlock Google Cloud. At the top of the Google Cloud Platform, the following message will be shown: Upgrade now to unlock Google Cloud Platform. Click upgrade.
