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Google Maps API key

Enable the Google map and Google address autocomplete in your module: create a Google Cloud account, enable the APIs, then create and restrict your key.

Updated August 2026

Your booking module works without any key: addresses are suggested by a built-in search service and the map uses an OpenStreetMap background. By entering your own Google Maps API key, you replace those services with Google’s: Google address suggestions, a Google Maps map and Google route calculation. It is optional, but it gives your customers the address experience they already know.

What the key changes in your module

  • Address search — the Pick-up address and Drop-off address fields show Google Places suggestions, the same ones as on Google Maps.
  • Map — if the Show map option is enabled, the module displays a Google Maps map instead of the OpenStreetMap background.
  • Route, distance and duration — the trip is calculated by Google Directions: the route is drawn on the map, along with the distance and travel time.
  • Manually created bookings — in your admin area, the address field of a booking you create by hand also benefits from Google autocomplete.
  • Country restriction — if you have limited address search to one country in Module settings, that restriction also applies to Google suggestions.

Step 1 — Create a Google Cloud account

  1. Go to cloud.google.com.
  2. Click Get started for free (or Start now) and sign in with a Google account — preferably your business one.
  3. Fill in the sign-up details: your company information and a bank card. The card is only used to check that you are not a robot; Google charges nothing during the trial period.
  4. Once sign-up is complete, you land on the Google Cloud console.

Finally, make sure a project is selected at the top of the console (Google creates one automatically, often named “My First Project”). Every step below applies to the project currently displayed.

Step 2 — Enable the four APIs

The module uses four Google APIs. All four must be enabled, otherwise address search or the map stays silent. Open each link, check that the project shown at the top is the right one, then click Enable:

If a Manage button appears instead of Enable, the API is already active: move on to the next one.

Step 3 — Create the API key

  1. In the console, open APIs & Services › Credentials.
  2. Click Create credentials, then API key.
  3. Google displays your key, a long string usually starting with AIza. Copy it: you are about to paste it into ClickChauffeur.

Step 4 — Restrict the key

An unrestricted key can be reused by anyone and billed to your account. Take two minutes to limit it. On the Credentials page, click the name of your key, then:

  • Application restrictions — choose Websites and add the address https://app.clickchauffeur.com/*.
  • API restrictions — choose Restrict key and tick only the four APIs from step 2.

Save. Changes can take a few minutes to propagate on Google’s side.

Step 5 — Enter the key in ClickChauffeur

  1. In your ClickChauffeur account, open the Web integration section.
  2. In the module customization panel, expand Google Maps.
  3. Paste your key into the Google Maps API field.
  4. Click Save.

The module preview reloads: type an address into Pick-up address and the Google suggestions should appear. If you enabled Show map, the map takes on the Google Maps look.

Removing the key

Simply clear the Google Maps API field in Web integration, then click Save. The module immediately falls back to the built-in address search and the OpenStreetMap background: nothing is lost and no booking is affected.

Troubleshooting

  • No address suggestions — the Places API or Places API (New) is not enabled on the key’s project, or the key was copied incorrectly.
  • The map stays blank or greyed out — the Maps JavaScript API is not enabled, or the billing account is not active on the project.
  • Addresses work but no distance or duration — the Directions API is not enabled.
  • It used to work, then stopped — check that the account is not sitting on an expired trial period (see step 1) and that no quota has been reached under APIs & Services › Quotas.
  • Suggestions ignore certain countries — that is the country restriction in your Module settings, not the key.