Support / The map & imagery / Aerial photo

The aerial photo under your map

Yardstick lays a real satellite photo of your property under the coverage map, pinned to the exact spot. Most people never touch this. It works out of the box, with no account and nothing to set up.

Where it lives: Settings → Map imagery It is on by default. This page is only for people who want the sharper Google view.
The short version You do not need a Google key. Yardstick ships with free U.S. government imagery (USGS) that needs no account. The photo appears on its own once your robot has recorded enough positions to place your yard, usually after a job or two. If you are in the United States, you are done.

How it finds your yard

There is no address to type and no pin to drop. As the robot works, it records where it is. Once Yardstick has logged enough fixed positions to know where your yard sits on the earth, it fetches the matching aerial photo and slides it under the map. It downloads once and keeps a copy, so it is not pulling imagery every time you open the page.

STEP 1

Record a job

The robot logs fixed RTK positions as it works.

STEP 2

Yardstick locates the yard

Enough positions pin your property on the map.

STEP 3

Photo appears

The aerial image is fetched once and cached under the map.

The Map imagery settings panel: a Source dropdown set to USGS (U.S., no key) and a Google Maps API key field.
Settings → Map imagery. Source is set to USGS by default. Leave it there unless you specifically want the Google view.

When you might want a Google key

Two reasons, and only two:

If neither applies, stay on USGS. A Google key is free for this use but does require a Google Cloud account with billing set up, which is more work than most people need.

Getting a Google key, step by step

The one detail that trips everyone up: Google has many map products, and Yardstick uses exactly one of them, the Maps Static API. If that specific API is not switched on, the key will not work no matter how it is set up.

  1. Open the Google Maps Platform

    In the Map imagery panel, click Get a free Google key →. It opens Google's setup, which walks you through creating a project and a key.

  2. Enable the Maps Static API

    This is the step people miss. In the Google Cloud console, find APIs & Services → Library, search for Maps Static API, and click Enable. Not the JavaScript API, not any other maps product. The Static API is the one that returns a single photo.

  3. Turn on billing

    Google requires a billing account on the project even though this usage is well inside their free tier. Without billing enabled, the key returns an error instead of a photo.

  4. Copy the key and paste it in

    The key starts with AIza. Paste it into the Google Maps API key field, set Source to Google, and press Save. Reopen your map and the sharper photo should appear.

Do not add an HTTP-referrer restriction Google lets you lock a key to a website address. Yardstick fetches the image from your own computer, not from a web page, so a referrer restriction will block it. If you want to restrict the key, restrict it by API (allow only the Maps Static API) instead.

If the Google key does not work

Yardstick never leaves you with a blank map. If a Google key returns no image, it quietly falls back to the free USGS view and tells you why:

The note you will see "Your Google key returned no imagery, so this is the free USGS view. Check that the Maps Static API is enabled, billing is on, and the key has no HTTP-referrer restriction."

So if you set a Google key and still see the USGS photo, the key is being rejected. Work down this list, it is almost always the first one:

Error: "This API is not activated on your API project"

This is the most common one by far. It means the Maps Static API is not enabled on your project. Go to APIs & Services → Library, search Maps Static API, and click Enable. Enabling a different maps API will not fix it, it has to be the Static one.

Error mentions billing, or "you must enable Billing"

Google requires a billing account on the project. Add one in the Cloud console under Billing. This usage sits inside Google's free allowance, but the account still has to exist.

The key works in a browser but not in Yardstick

Almost always an HTTP-referrer restriction on the key. Yardstick requests the image from your computer, so there is no web page referrer to match. Remove the referrer restriction, or switch it to an API restriction that allows the Maps Static API.

I pasted a key but nothing changed

Check that Source is set to Google (not USGS) and that you pressed Save. Then reopen the map. Also confirm the key starts with AIza and has no stray spaces.

The map has no photo at all, on either source

Yardstick has not placed your yard yet. It needs enough fixed RTK positions to know where you are, usually after a job or two. Let the robot record a run and check again. Until then the map draws on its own with no photo underneath, which is normal.

Still not seeing the photo you expect? Open a support ticket and tell us which source you chose and what the panel says. Because Yardstick runs on your own machine, we can usually point you to the exact setting.

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