You only need this article if you chose "My own Google account". The simpler option,
CMS Maps, needs none of it — no Google account, no project, no key, no card on file with Google, and no limit on how many stops a route can have. See
Routes for the choice between them.
Using your own Google account means the map work is billed by Google to you rather than through your CMS balance. Google includes roughly 10,000 address lookups and 5,000 routes free every month, which covers most organizations, and a route can hold up to 25 stops.
Setting it up takes about fifteen minutes. You'll need a Google account and a credit card — Google asks for one even if you never go past the free allowance.
Setting Up the Key
Everything here happens in the Google Cloud Console. Keep CMS open in another tab: Settings → Integrations → Google Maps, with My own Google account selected. The same numbered steps are listed there, each one a link straight to the right page in the console.
A project is the container Google bills and measures everything under. Create one and name it something you'll recognize in a year — CMS Maps is fine. If you already have a project for something else, you can use it, but a separate one keeps the usage figures readable.
Google won't serve map data without a card on file, even inside the free allowance. Add the billing account and make sure it is linked to the project you just made — a project with no billing is the single most common reason the test below fails.
Worth doing while you're there: set a budget alert on the project. Google can email you if the month's usage passes an amount you choose, so a surprise stays small.
Each one does a different part of the job, and Routes needs all five:
| Service | What Routes uses it for |
|---|
| Maps JavaScript | Drawing the map you see on the page |
| Geocoding | Turning a family's address into a point on the map |
| Routes | Working out the driving order and the travel times |
| Places API (New) | The address suggestions when you type a start or end address |
| Maps Embed | Checking the key is good without spending anything |
Enable them one at a time from the console's API library. If billing isn't set up yet, Google stops you at the first one and asks for it then.
Create an API key in the console's credentials page. Then, before you leave it, add the website restriction that CMS shows you in step 4 of the same settings page — there's a copy button beside it, so copy it rather than typing it.
The restriction tells Google to accept the key only when the request comes from your CMS site. The key itself travels to the browser in order to draw a map, so without that restriction anyone who found it could spend your Google allowance.
Paste the key into Google Maps key and click Test key. CMS tries each of the five services and your billing, and reports back a line each:
- A green tick means that service answered.
- A red cross shows Google's own reason, with a link to the page that fixes it.
Save map settings stays disabled until the test passes. That is deliberate — a key that would fail on your first real route fails here instead, where it costs nothing and nobody is waiting on a delivery list.
When the Test Fails
| What it says | What to do |
|---|
| Billing isn't enabled | Go back to step 2. Check the billing account is linked to this project, not another one |
| A service isn't enabled | Step 3, for that one service. The link in the error opens its page directly |
| The key is blocked for this website | Step 4 — the website restriction is missing or doesn't match. Copy it again from CMS |
| The key is invalid | Usually a partial copy and paste. Copy the whole key again; it begins with AIza |
Changes in the Google console can take a few minutes to take effect. If an error looks wrong, wait a moment and test again before changing anything else.
Afterwards
Routes now works with your key, and Google bills you directly for anything past their monthly allowance. Two things to keep in mind:
- Routes are capped at 25 stops. A longer list has to be split, or switched to CMS Maps, which has no cap. CMS offers you that choice when a route goes over.
- Keep the key. If it is ever deleted or restricted differently in the console, Routes stops working and the test is where you'll see why.
Changing your mind is easy: choose CMS Maps on the same settings page and save. Nothing in the Google console needs undoing — though you may want to delete the key if you have no other use for it.