Google Map API Key

https://webflow.com/feature/google-maps-api-key

This wasn’t address on the above mentioned page… (or at least I didn’t see it).

It currently doesn’t affect me… but if I ever become an ex-Webflow customer

  • I could see how something like this could affect my clients or myself.

It’s clear (to me) that Webflow is not responsible for Google’s actions…

  • (but may not be clear to someone else)…

So… perhaps @webflow wants to add / clarify / address

  • the potential situation before it becomes a situation.

I’m guessing this dramatically affects

  1. all former Webflow customers, and
  2. current customers who don’t return often.

From what I understand… if you’ve already exported a website that had a Google Map on it

  • come July 1st: the map will no longer function correctly UNLESS YOU
  1. Return to Webflow, enter your own Google Map API Key AND
  2. Re-export the site to your own server.

If you are a former Webflow client… you don’t have the ability to “fix the problem”

  • without becoming a Webflow customer again (which means out-of-pocket-money)

What if you used Webflow to create a free website ? Is the new API Key still required ?

Here’s a Scenario:

After using the wonderful Webflow Designer to create an incredible website… the

  1. (Web Designer) moves on to their next project or
  2. (Small Business Owner) goes back to managing their business

…3, 6, 12 months later… they find out the map on their site is not working.

They contact the Web Designer, or return to Webflow - angry / upset / perturbed / etc.

Perhaps, Webflow should mass email all former and current clients ?

I personally think having a non-working map on your website - is not a good thing.

Again - personally… if I knew of upcoming issue…

  • and If I had the ability to fix the problem at little or no cost…
    ----- that would leave a better taste in my mouth.

Just a suggestion. If I’m over-inflating this… then that’s fine. As a business owners… I just don’t like un-expected surprises.

@callmevlad @thesergie @waldo @PixelGeek @cyberdave

If you are a former Webflow client… you don’t have the ability to “fix the problem” without becoming a Webflow customer again (which means out-of-pocket-money)

@Revolution That’s not the case at all - this post shows steps on how to resolve this by a search-replace in your exported code, without having to go to Webflow or pay anything.

To your broader question - unfortunately it’s very hard to predict what 3rd parties will do in the future. For example, it’s theoretically possible that Google will decide that providing Google Fonts for free is no longer in their best interests, or Typekit could go out of business, or Vimeo could decide to start charging for all embed traffic. That would be terrible for the web, and those scenarios are very unlikely to ever happen, but there’s just no way to guarantee that these external dependencies will never change. It’s a fact of life on the web that browsers change, libraries get deprecated, old CDNs disappear, 3rd party services change, etc - and sometimes that does require manual effort to fix. At Webflow, our goal is to shield you from as much of that manual effort as possible, but we can’t guarantee that it will never happen. I hope that makes sense.

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