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I am planning to release a commercial website (I have ads there and a shop) which is freely available for everybody. I want to add a google map to show some points of interest. The question is: Do I need the google api key for that or can I just use the iframe code that google gives me? Theoretically that would work, too.
I searched google, but could not find a clear answer...
Thanks :-)
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The Google Maps API is one of those clever bits of Google technology that helps you take the power of Google Maps and put it directly on your own site. It lets you add relevant content that is useful to your visitors and customise the look and feel of the map to fit with the style of your site.
API's are used for software applications to send and receive data. API's can also connect one program to another, to share functionality. In order to connect to or communicate with another API, an API key is necessary.
API keys provide project authorization By identifying the calling project, you can use API keys to associate usage information with that project. API keys allow the Extensible Service Proxy (ESP) to reject calls from projects that haven't been granted access or enabled in the API.
v2 of the Google Maps API is deprecated, so you should ideally use v3.
v3 does not need an API key as mentioned in the documentation.
Since v3 is the official version now, I assume the links given in google maps are for the version. You can always just try and see if embedding the iframe works for you. Though as noted, you can't really customize the map, so you should use the API. It's very simple to set up a basic map (read the tutorial).
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You don't need the Google Maps API key as long as you don't plan to include any special or customized maps in your website.
Using the iframe version is fine for basic Maps integration.
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