I just got a question from a reader asking why his Google Map images aren’t showing up any more. He was using the calculation field method where you can pull in Google Map Api Satellite images as well as the street view images. For the longest time this worked but now they are just showing up as broken images. I’ll answer this down below.
Google changed the way that people can make website requests for showing Google Maps. Their old method allowed anyone and everyone can do this for free which was great! Sometime last year though they changed this and you now need to create an account with Google Maps Platform and get an API Key. In addition you’ll also need to add a credit card and billing information.
Get Google Maps Platform Account
Good news is that they aren’t going to charge you unless you exceed the minimum of 2500 calls per day. They just want your information on hand in case you try to abuse the system.
So once you have this API key in hand you just have to add it to the end of your cal url like this…
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?location=denville,nj&zoom=12&size=400×400&key=YOUR_API_KEY
So in your Podio calculation field, it might look something like this…
Static Satellite Map
var url = @Map; " +"&zoom=20&size=600x300&maptype=satellite&key=YOUR API KEY)"
Streetview Map
var url = @Map; " + "&key=YOUR API KEY)"
* the @Map is a field token that refers to a location field I have in my Podio App.