Geocoder feature suddenly stopped working

Hi,

You may have to sign up for a new google api key account.

Google has recently updated the terms and conditions for their API, now you have to have a credit card on file and an API key to be able to use the plugin.

You can see the changes here:

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/usage-and-billing

https://developers.google.com/maps/billing/important-updates#product_changes

Unless you are heavily using their service, you will not see any change and the service will remain free. (they offer a $200/month credit against any charges)

hope that solves your issue. It did for me,

Best,

Jerry Kornbluth

Hey,

Like Jerry said, Google has made a lot of changes to their Geocoder API recently. You now have to link an API key to the plugin, a payment method needs to be linked to that API key and you'll need to enable the Geocoder feature. I've just released a new version of the plugin that has more detailed notes on enabling the API. Here are the new notes:

GETTING STARTED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, if you're planning to display your geocoded addresses on a Google Map,
you'll need to get an API key. The steps to do this are below (Requires Google account):

* Visit https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/get-api-key
* Click 'Get Started'
* Select 'Maps' and click 'Continue'
* Click the dropdown to either select an existing project or create a new one, 'Next'
* Follow the steps to create/enable a billing account for this project.
* Accept the prompt to enable the Maps API.
* Copy the API key and paste it into the value for
$GLOBALS['GEOCODER_GOOGLE_API_KEY'], and click 'Done'
* The final step is to enable the Geocoding API.
* On the Projects homepage, select the APIs from the left hand menu.
* Click the Geocoding API link under the Unused APIs menu.
* When the Geocoding API detail page appears, click the 'Enable' button.
* (Optional) Click 'Secure Credentials'
* Under Application Restrictions, select HTTP Referrers
* Add the domain for the website(s) this API key will be used on (for example localhost,
example.com, 8.8.8.8)
* Click API restrictions
* Select the Geocoding API from the dropdown
* Click Save

I'd recommend upgrading to the latest version of the plugin, this should resolve the issues you're having.

Thanks for the update Greg,

I believe you need the new API Key account whether you are displaying map info or not when using the Geocoder Plugin

I had to do that on a Geocoder install that I am using in order to get the thing to work again.

Best,

Jerry

Hey,

Jerry: Yup, you even need an API key if you want to display a basic Google map. They've really tightened up the requirements for using the map system. 

commonSenseDesign: We can definitely carry out that upgrade for you. If you send an email to consulting@interactivetools.com we can get that process going.