Support / The map & imagery / Aerial photo Search help
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.
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.
Record a job
The robot logs fixed RTK positions as it works.
Yardstick locates the yard
Enough positions pin your property on the map.
Photo appears
The aerial image is fetched once and cached under the map.
When you might want a Google key
Two reasons, and only two:
- You are outside the United States. USGS imagery is U.S. only. Google covers the world.
- You want a crisper photo. Google's satellite imagery is often sharper or more recent than USGS in a given spot.
If neither applies, stay on USGS. Google bills by usage with a monthly free allowance and requires a Google Cloud account with billing set up, which is more work than most people need.
Getting a Google key, step by step
Yardstick uses the Map Tiles API for the sharp photo and the Maps Static API as a fallback. Enable both. From Yardstick 1.1.10, a Static-only key still shows a photo at lower resolution. Google bills by usage with a monthly free allowance; see Google’s pricing page.
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.
Enable the Map Tiles API and Maps Static API
This is the step people miss. In the Google Cloud console, find APIs & Services → Library, search for Map Tiles API, and click Enable. Repeat for Maps Static API. Tiles provide the sharp photo; Static returns a single fallback photo. Enabling the JavaScript API does not enable these APIs.
Turn on billing
Google requires a billing account on the project even when usage fits within the monthly free allowance. Without billing enabled, the key returns an error instead of a photo.
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.
If the Google key does not work
If a Google key returns no image, Yardstick tries the free USGS view where coverage is available and tells you why:
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 requested API is not enabled on your project. Go to APIs & Services → Library, enable Map Tiles API and Maps Static API. Check the project used by your key, because enabling either API on a different project will not fix it.
Error mentions billing, or "you must enable Billing"
Google requires a billing account on the project. Add one in the Cloud console under Billing. A monthly free allowance applies, but charges depend on usage and the billing 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 both Map Tiles API and 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.
If the photo does not line up with your map
If the photo is missing, first check the imagery and recording checks above. If it is blurry, check that Map Tiles API is enabled and allowed. Use alignment for a photo that is visible but shifted.
If the map shifted against the photo but the robot follows the correct boundaries on the ground, align the photo. If the zone itself is wrong, edit the zone instead. A photo offset does not require moving the robot’s boundaries.
The satellite photo and your robot's own positions do not always agree. They can be several feet apart, and sometimes much more, so your zones and the robot's track look shifted against the driveway, house and fences. Align photo slides the photo to match your robot, and you only do it once.
- Use Chrome or Edge. Align photo needs a Chrome-based browser.
- Clear the view. In the bar along the bottom of the map, turn off Yard map, Planned route, Coverage, Path and Trouble. Leave Aerial on. Now the map shows the photo and one green dot: your robot, where it really is.
- Zoom in on the dock. With the robot parked on its dock, put the pointer over the green dot and roll the mouse wheel until the dock fills a good part of the map.
- Press Align photo and drag. The photo turns see-through. Hold the mouse button down anywhere on the photo and drag until the dock in the photo sits under the green dot, then let go.
- Check the far side. Press Fit to see the whole yard. The driveway, house and fence lines should now sit where your zones are. For the last few inches, use the arrow keys while Align photo is on: each press moves the photo about ten inches, or about three feet with Shift held.
- Save, then turn your layers back on. Press Save. The map, the map editor and the wall display all use the new position straight away. Reset goes back to the last saved position, and Cancel throws the changes away.
Align photo moves a satellite photo; it does not turn or resize it, because satellite photos are already the right size and pointing north. If you use your own drone photo, you also get Size and Turn.
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.