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Common reasons for the message include set up issues with the Google Maps API key, and not having an associated credit card on the Google account. Either of these will result in Google showing a development version of the map which is a greyed out map with a 'For development purposes only' message across it.
You need to find the one called key= or googleapikey= and copy/paste the API key you got before right after it. Once the key is inserted and the page is saved the map should no longer show the “For Development Purposes Only” Error.
Google Maps is a Web-based service that provides detailed information about geographical regions and sites around the world. In addition to conventional road maps, Google Maps offers aerial and satellite views of many places. In some cities, Google Maps offers street views comprising photographs taken from vehicles.
Google Maps is no longer free. You have to associate a credit card so that you can get billed if your site has requests that exceed the $200 credit they give you monthly for free. That is why you get the watermarked maps.
For more information, see: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/
Update: A common problem with the new billing system is that you now have to activate each API separately. They all have different pricing (some are even free), so Google makes a point of having you enable them individually for your domain. I was never a heavy user of Google Maps, but I get the feeling that there are many more APIs now than there used to be.
So if you're still getting a restricted usage message after you've enabled billing, find out what API you need exactly for the features you want to offer, and check if it's enabled. The API settings are annoyingly hard to find.
Watermarked with “for development purposes only” is returned when any of the following is true:
As Victoria wrote, Google Maps is no longer free, but you can switch your map provider. You may be interested in OpenStreetMap, there is an easy way to use it on your site described here: https://handyman.dulare.com/switching-from-google-maps-to-openstreetmap/
Unfortunately, on the OpenStreetMap, there is no easy way to provide directions from one point to another, there is also no street view.
For my purposes I ended up using an alternative https://www.openstreetmap.org/ .
As recommended in a comment, I used the "Google Maps Platform API Checker" Chrome add-in to identify and resolve the issue.
Essentially, this add-in directed me to here where I was able to sign in to Google and create a free API key.
Afterwards, I updated my JavaScript and it immediately resolved this issue.
Old JavaScript: ...script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3" ...
Updated Javascript:...script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=*****GOOGLE API KEY******&v=3" ...
The add-in then validated the JS API call. Hope this helps someone resolve the issue quickly!
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