If Your Organization Uses Google Maps, Routes, or Places, You May Need To Begin Paying For The Service

Good news and bad news: on July 17, 2018 Google’s new pricing structure kicks in for the use of Maps, Routes, and Places. Good news is it will go a long way toward ironing out a haphazard collection of existing APIs. Bad news is you’ll be required to create an account and a billing profile in order to use them.

While most users will fall within the pricing plan’s free use parameters, you’ll still need to keep a credit card on file and be pay if your usage goes over the free plan caps. If maintaining one more billing account and monitoring API usage seems like a negative return on investment for your time, then you may be better off not using those features.

In order to help figure out if you really need to use integrated maps, routes, and places functionality or if simply linking out to Google directions is a better option, I published an article at ArtsHacker yesterday with some tips on how to go about that process.

Get Ready To Begin Paying For Google Maps Integration

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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