Google Maps Platform Terms of Service

This document governs developer and business access to Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs, including Maps, Routes, and Places products, establishing a contractual relationship under Google's general Terms of Service supplemented by Maps Platform-specific provisions. The agreement states that customers must obtain a Google Maps Platform account, agree to pay applicable fees based on usage tiers, and comply with technical restrictions including pre-approved use cases, attribution requirements, and prohibitions on caching, exporting, or recreating map data outside authorized workflows. Notably, the terms assert broad restrictions on how API output data may be stored, combined with third-party data, or used outside the Maps interface, which creates operational constraints that are narrower than what many developers might expect under standard API licensing and may require careful review of data pipeline architecture. The agreement engages general data protection frameworks including GDPR and CCPA insofar as personal data may be processed through API requests such as geocoding or location queries, and Maps Platform customers acting as data controllers should evaluate whether a Data Processing Amendment with Google is required. Material compliance considerations include attribution obligations, usage policy enforcement that can result in API key suspension, and the interaction between Maps Platform data restrictions and internal data governance or analytics workflows.