How to setup Google geocoding

Tutorial valid for Maps Marker Pro v4.30 and up

• Step-by-step tutorial
• Optional steps (recommended)
• Terms of Services
• Usage Limits

Maps Marker Pro has a built-in geocoding framework which allows you to choose which geocoding provider to use. If you want to use Google for geocoding, you have to generate a Google Maps API key for Places API and Geocoding API.

Step-by-step tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to enable Google Geocoding in Maps Marker Pro by generating a Google Maps API key for Places API and Geocoding API.

We recommend to create a unique key for Google Geocoding in Maps Marker Pro only – even if you already registered a key for Google basemaps (as other methods for securing your Google geocoding key e.g. against quota theft are needed, see “Optional steps (Recommended)” below for details!)

Prerequisite: you must have a Google account to generate a Google Maps API key for Places API and Geocoding API.

Step 1: Access the Google Cloud Console

Go to the Google Cloud Console and log in with your Google account.

Step 2: Select or Create a Project

• If you already have a project for your application, select it.
• If not, click Create Project, enter a project name, and follow the setup instructions.

Step 3: Enable the Required APIs

1. In the left-hand menu, navigate to APIs & Services > Library.
2. Use the search bar to find the following APIs or use the following direct links:
   • Places API (New)
   • Geocoding API
3. Click on each API and press Enable/Activate:
   
   

Step 4: Create an API Key

1. Go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
2. Click on Create Credentials and select API Key:
   
3. Copy the generated API key for use in your application.

Step 5: Restrict API Key Usage (Recommended)

For security reasons, restrict the API key to prevent unauthorized use:

1. In the Credentials section, click on your API key.
2. Under Application Restrictions, choose:
   • HTTP referrer (websites) for client-side applications.
   • IP addresses for server-side applications.
3. Under API Restrictions, select Restrict key and check only the APIs you enabled (Places API and Geocoding API).
4. Click Save.

Step 6: enter your API key in Maps Marker Pro WordPress admin backend

Log in on your WordPress Admin and navigate to Settings > Geocoding > Google and  paste the server key you copied earlier into the “Google API server key” field:

Step 7: select Google as Geocoding provider

Navigate to Settings / Geocoding / Provider and select Google as geocoding provider:

Finish by clicking the “Save” button on top of the settings page.

That´s it. Afterwards you can start using Google geocoding when creating a new map or marker:

Additional Notes

• Billing Setup: Google Cloud now requires billing to be enabled for API usage, even for free-tier limits. Make sure you have a valid payment method configured in the Billing section.
• Quota Management: You can monitor usage and adjust quotas under APIs & Services > Quotas.

Terms of services

“In June 2018 Google launched a new pricing plan. Google continues to offer a free tier — all developers will receive $200 of free monthly usage of our core products. In addition, this change will require you to enable billing and associate it with all of your Google Maps Platform projects. (full official announcement)” – for a summary on how this affects you as Maps Marker Pro user, please have a look at our FAQ at https://mapsmarker.com/google-maps-tos-changes

All Google´s related Terms of Services can be found at https://developers.google.com/maps/terms.

Usage limits

If you enable Google Geocoding, the following 2 Google APIs will be used:

1. “Autocomplete per character” with a minimum price of USD 2.83 for 1000 calls for up to 70.000 chars per month (pricing details)
2. “Places Details” – Basic with a minimum price of USD 17.00 for 1000 calls for up to 11,000 calls per month (pricing details)

As Google gives all developers $200 of free monthly usage, only loads which exceed this amount will be directly billed by Google.