Google satellite imagery

First, the trap

Google now hands out a free key with no credit card, called a Maps Demo Key. It is genuinely free and it genuinely will not work with Yardstick. This catches almost everyone, so it is worth understanding before you start rather than after.

Yardstick uses the Map Tiles API for the sharp, high-resolution photo and the Maps Static API as a fallback. Enable both on the project and allow both on your key. A key allowed only Maps Static still shows a lower-resolution photo from Yardstick 1.1.10. A visible photo therefore does not by itself prove that tiles are enabled. If it gets blurry when you zoom, check both the project’s enabled APIs and the key’s API restrictions in the steps below. Billing must be enabled on the same project as the key.

If you paste a demo key into Yardstick, the map quietly keeps showing the USGS photo. Yardstick will tell you the key returned no imagery, but Google's reason for refusing it is the part that matters, and the fix is always the same: attach a billing account.

The walkthrough

• Get a key

  Go to Google Maps Platform and start a demo key. No card is needed at this point. This is a fine place to begin even though the key will not work yet.

• Read the small print, then press Upgrade account

  Google gives you the key and says, in the same breath, that it is limited to testing use. That sentence is the reason it will not draw your yard. The Upgrade account link beside it is the fix.

• Upgrade

  Google explains what changes: all of its Maps APIs become available to your project, your existing key keeps working, and Google bills by usage and gives a monthly free allowance. Check the pricing section below.

• Attach a billing account

  If you already have one, pick it. If you do not, Google walks you through creating one, and it asks for a card. There is no way around this: Google requires billing on any project that uses the imagery Yardstick needs. Google bills by usage; see the pricing section below.

• Let it enable the APIs for you

  When the upgrade finishes, Google shows your key again with Enable all Google Maps APIs for this project already ticked. Leave it ticked. That is what switches on both the Maps Static API and the Map Tiles API, and it saves you hunting through the console for them.

• Paste it into Yardstick

  Open Settings, find Map imagery, set the source to Google, paste the key, and press Save. Then reload the map page.

If you restricted your key

Restricting a key is good practice, and Yardstick works with a restricted key, as long as the restriction lets through both APIs. A key limited to the Maps Static API alone shows a lower-resolution fallback photo from Yardstick 1.1.10.

• Turn on the Map Tiles API

  In the Google Cloud console, open APIs & Services, then Library, search for Map Tiles API and press Enable. Use the same project as your key.

• Add it to the key's API restrictions

  Go to APIs & Services, then Credentials, and open your key. Under API restrictions, make sure both Maps Static API and Map Tiles API are ticked, and press Save.

• Leave the application restriction as it is

  Restricting the key to your own public IP address is fine: Yardstick asks Google from your computer. A restriction to websites (HTTP referrers) is not, and will always be refused.

• Give it a few minutes, then reload the Summary page

  Google can take several minutes to apply a change to a key.

You will need a billing account

Google requires one. Their own documentation for the imagery Yardstick uses says it plainly: "To use the Maps Static API, you must enable billing on each of your projects and include an API key or OAuth token with all API or SDK requests."

There is no way around it, and the free demo key is not a way around it either. If you do not already have a billing account, the Upgrade step above creates one, and it asks for a card.

What it will cost you: usage and free allowance

Google bills by usage with a monthly free allowance for each API. Your usage and the APIs you use determine whether you pay.

The earlier measurement was for one property using stored aerial images: 20 images in 37 days. It does not predict Map Tiles API usage or the bill for another property. Yardstick keeps downloaded aerial images on your computer and reuses them while the stored copy is suitable. Map Tiles and Maps Static are separate services, so count their usage separately when checking your Google Cloud project.

The old calculation based on one fresh image every four and a half minutes only described Static images. It cannot establish that tiles stay within their allowance. Check both APIs in Google Cloud, including any other applications using the same billing account.

If you went over the allowance

Charges above the allowance depend on the API and usage tier. Maps Static images and Map Tiles requests have different billing units and free limits. Check both on Google’s pricing page, then monitor your project’s usage rather than treating a price for Static images as a price for the whole map.

Those are Google's prices and Google changes them. The current rate is always on their pricing page.

If the map still shows USGS

• Restart Yardstick first

  On version 1.0.5 and earlier a saved key is not used until Yardstick restarts. If you still use that older version, restarting is a useful first check. On Yardstick 1.1.10, save the key and reload the map.

• Check it is a key on a billing account

  A demo key will never work. If you have not been through the Upgrade step, that is the answer.

• Give it a few minutes

  Google can take several minutes to start serving a newly enabled API. We have watched the same key refuse a request and then serve it perfectly twenty minutes later, with nothing changed in between.

• Check the key has no website restriction

  Yardstick asks Google from your own computer, not from a web page. A key restricted to HTTP referrers will always be refused.

• The photo is blurry when you zoom in?

  The key is allowed the Maps Static API but not the Map Tiles API. See If you restricted your key above.

• Still stuck? Send us the log

  In Settings → Support → Something wrong?, press Send diagnostics to Yardstick. One click. It tells us which source was asked for, which one answered and whether a key is saved. Your key is never included.

Check the Map Tiles API is turned on

Three ways to confirm it, from Google's side and from Yardstick's.

• In Google Cloud: is it enabled?

  In the Google Cloud console, open APIs & Services, then Enabled APIs & services. Map Tiles API should be in the list, next to Maps Static API. If it is missing, enable it from the Library.

• In Google Cloud: is the key allowed to use it?

  Open APIs & Services, then Credentials, and click your key. If API restrictions is set to Restrict key, both Maps Static API and Map Tiles API must be in the selected list. Don't restrict key also works.

• In Yardstick: does the Summary page stay sharp?

  Open the Summary page and zoom in on your yard. With tiles working the photo stays crisp as you zoom and Google's credit line sits under the map. From Yardstick 1.1.10, a Static-only key shows one softer fallback photo.

• In Yardstick: read what Google said

  In Settings, under Map imagery, turn on Map debugging (only if support asks), press Save and reload the Summary page. Turn it off again once you have read it; it is meant for support and leaves a panel under the map. The panel under the map includes a tiles line: on means Google is serving tiles; refused is followed by Google's own reason, such as "This API key is not authorized to use this service or API." The same line is in the report sent by Send diagnostics to Yardstick.

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