Google Maps stopped displaying

[siriusly]

Hi – Following an update of the WP core from 4.4 to 4.5.2, the Google Maps on this site stopped displaying in any view — single event or venues — just empty box, or none at all. Maps were previously working just fine.

Thought maybe it was outdated ECPro, so updated to most recent version, added Google API key, and still no maps. Turned off all other plugins, tried Twenty Fourteen theme… still no maps. However, with Twenty Fourteen active, a map would display for about half a second in single event view, and then change to a gray box error message. Still no maps on venue view at all.

Not sure if this is relevant, but when I used a Google API domain with wildcards as in *.domain.org/* the key did not work at all — just got an API key error message.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley and welcome back!

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are sorry to hear about the maps no longer displaying properly.
I would love to help you with this topic.

As a first question, was there at any point some kind of caching plugin activated on the site (prior to the upgrade for instance) ?

As per your other question, it could be related. Based on the message, it looks like Google is not authorizing you for some reason.
Most users are able to get the maps to work with no Google APIs at all (at least temporarily). I would recommend trying that as well.

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,
Geoff B.

[siriusly]

The site is hosted with Dreamhost’s DreamPress service, so their Varnish caching is in place. The site uses a plugin for clearing the varnish cache, and it has been cleared numerous times. The issue with the maps first appeared with the upgrade to WP 4.5.2, and continued with the ECPro upgrade and no Google API key, so I added the API key, thinking that might be the problem

[siriusly]

One more note… I tried deleting the API key, but it doesn’t change when I save the settings… even when I clear the Varnish cache… field still contains the key.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley,

Thank you for providing back and providing very valuable information.

I believe there might be several unfortunate issues happening at once here.
I would love to clarify and help solve each of these.

There is currently a know bug for that will be addressed in the next maintenance release.
Some of our customers, are not able to save settings properly.

This is why you are probably unable to remove the api key.

I have a workaround for that specific bug that involves being comfortable using phpMyAdmin.
Let me know if you would be interested in that ?

As for the Google Maps specific issue, it’s 2 folded:

1. Some web hosts have a shared Google API key built-in. But that API typically has a fixed limit of allowed API calls per month. Once it runs out, the maps will be out for everybody sharing that API key on that web hosts servers. I can’t guarantee for sure that this is the case of your web host, but you can usually ask them if that’s the case and if they have workarounds.
2. The API key you are using seems to be missing a URL authorization at Google’s level. I would recommend contacting them or simply looking up their API doc. This way you should be able to find out how to get your site’s URL authorized to use that API key.

Furthermore, you are absolutely right, flushing your Varnish cache every step of the way will certainly help to get things running again.

Have a great day!

Geoff B.

[siriusly]

Hi Geoff —
I’m comfortable with PHPMyAdmin, so, yes, please send the workaround.

There seemed to be some weirdness going on with the URL authorisation for the Google API… initially, I entered the URL with wildcards (*), as per Google’s example (*.domainname.org/*), and got a URL error when I checked the console. It is now entered in the Google API as the primary domain (domainname.org), and that seemed to eliminate the error, even though the maps don’t display properly.

Have a ticket opened with the webhost to see about their Google Maps API limts… no answer yet.

Any idea when the next maintenance release will be available?

Thanks!

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley,

Thank you for writing back.

The 4.2.1 was just released and should fix the settings not saving issue.
I would recommend trying it our first.

If that does not work out, you can try my brutal workaround.
As a disclaimer, please make a backup before hand and restore it if anything goes wrong. Also, as you might know, any direct tweak in phpMyAdmin is at your own risks (although it should go smoothly if it’s done well.

The only 2 downsides of my solution is that:

1. You will temporarily loose all of your the Events Calendar settings
2. You will need to re-save your permalinks properly

You can find my solution here (it spans over 2 comments, so you’ll need to read them both): https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/eventssettingsdisplay-does-not-save/#post-1126309

As for the Google API issue, I did my due diligence and I can confirm that what I said in the previous reply is true.
Hopefully, being able to experiment with different combinations of API keys will help.

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,
Geoff B.

[siriusly]

This reply is private.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley,

I’m glad that the save settings issue is gone!

I’m sorry that we did not yet find a solution to your Google Maps issue.
The next step on my end will be to follow up with Dev to see if they have additional ideas about this (on Monday).

On your end, if you don’t mind (and perhaps using a maintenance plugin), you could go through our testing for conflicts procedure and let us know what you find out.

Basically the goal here is to rule out any potential conflict.

Have a good week-end,

Geoff B.

[Geoff B.]

Hello Shelley,

While talking to Dev, I stumbled upon the following post which I believe describes your exact situation (no Google Maps without the API): http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.ca/2016/06/building-for-scale-updates-to-google.html

Simply put, Google has changed their policy on Google Maps API.

At this point, if you haven’t already read it, another useful ressource would be: https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/setting-up-your-google-maps-api-key/

If none of these are helpful, you might want to open a ticket with Google to see what more they require from your specific config.

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,
Geoff B.

[siriusly]

Hi Geoff —

I believe we’re coming full circle with the problem now… I’ve tried configuring this in every possible way — with & without the API key entered, with & without the functions.php workaround code, with all plugins disabled and Twenty Fourteen theme, and every combination thereof.

So, I created a new API key (for the third time), and the only change I made was to add _two_ URLs to the Google Maps javascript API key authorization list:
domain.org (without wildcards) and *.domain.org/* (with wildcards)

(The functions.php workaround code is deleted.)

Maps now display properly.

When just one of those domain authorizations are included in the API listing, map display fails.

If anyone has an explanation as to why this would be the case, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks!

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley,

I’m super stoked that you found a workaround!

Thank you for sticking through on this one and for sharing your awesome solution with everybody.

I have shared this with Dev and I will check to see if they have an explanation for it.

Best regards,

Geoff B.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening Shelley,

As promised, I followed-up with Dev to get an explanation on why you require 2 URLs in your API for the Maps to display properly.

According to the person who wrote the knowledge base article ( https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/setting-up-your-google-maps-api-key/ which was updated following your great insight), the changes made at Google’s level on June 22nd regarding API authorization is less permissive than before.

In short, and I believe this would be a good question for the good folks at Google, the wildcard alone URL no longer passes that authorization test, it has to be combined with a specific URL.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with on this topic.

Best regards,

Geoff B.

 

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