This analysis describes what Google Maps's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This clause establishes a contractual constraint on the customer's ability to generate and publish comparative performance data about the Maps APIs. The provision operates as a condition on the customer's authorized use of the service, requiring advance approval from Google for any benchmarking disclosure.
The updated terms establish a broader definition of activities that are subject to heightened restrictions under the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service. Previously, the definition enumerated specific high-risk categories. The revised language now encompasses any use case where service failure could reasonably be expected to result in death, serious personal injury, or severe environmental or property damage, and explicitly identifies weaponry as a restricted application. Developers and organizations using Google Maps for restricted purposes should review their use cases against the new definition to ensure continued compliance.
View change record →Under this provision, customers who conduct performance testing of the Maps APIs must obtain Google's prior written consent before publicly disclosing benchmark results or comparative analyses. The terms also prohibit customers from facilitating benchmarking activities by third parties without similar consent.
How other platforms handle this
You may not automatedly crawl or query the Services for any purpose or by any means (including, without limitation, screen and database scraping, spiders, robots, crawlers and any other automated activity with the purpose of obtaining information from the Services) unless you have received prior exp...
relate to transactions involving (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime... (i) involve offering or receiving payments for the purpose of bribery or corruption.
You must not, and must not allow others to: Facilitate illegal or harmful activity through the End User Services; Cause harm to us or others through the End User Services;
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"No Benchmarking. Customer will not, and will not assist others to, benchmark or compare the Maps APIs against any other product or service, or publicly disclose such benchmark or comparison, without Google's prior written consent.— Excerpt from Google Maps's Google Maps Platform Terms of Service
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This clause establishes a contractual constraint on the customer's ability to generate and publish comparative performance data about the Maps APIs. The provision operates as a condition on the customer's authorized use of the service, requiring advance approval from Google for any benchmarking disclosure.
Under this provision, customers who conduct performance testing of the Maps APIs must obtain Google's prior written consent before publicly disclosing benchmark results or comparative analyses. The terms also prohibit customers from facilitating benchmarking activities by third parties without similar consent.
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