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Incyclist

Street View setup

Create a Google Maps API key.

Street View and Satellite View run on Google Maps. By default Incyclist uses its own Maps API key. This guide shows how to create your own key and enter it in Incyclist. It takes about ten minutes.

Why use your own key?

  • More features. With the Incyclist key, Street View and Satellite View are not available in Simulate mode, and side views are disabled. With your own key, they are available.
  • You keep Incyclist free. Incyclist pays for the map usage of everyone who uses its key. If those costs become unmanageable, the feature might have to be restricted or removed. Every rider who uses their own key reduces that risk.

Desktop only. Entering your own key is available in Incyclist for Windows, macOS and Linux. The Android and iOS apps do not use this page.

Before you start

  • You need a Google account.
  • Google requires a billing account for the Maps Platform, but normal individual use stays within Google's free allowance, so you will not be charged. Details
  • The Google Cloud console changes its look from time to time. The screenshots below may differ slightly from what you see, but the steps stay the same.

1. Open the Google Cloud console

Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Click on Create or select a project.

Google Cloud welcome page with the Create or select a project link highlighted

2. Create a project

Create a new project. The name is up to you — pick one you will recognise later, or keep the suggested one. Click Create.

New Project form with the project name field highlighted

3. Enable the Maps JavaScript API

Make sure your new project is selected, then open APIs & Services and click Enable APIs and services.

APIs and Services page with the Enable APIs and services button highlighted

In the API library, select Maps JavaScript API. This is the only API Incyclist needs.

API library with the Maps JavaScript API card highlighted

If Google asks you to accept the terms of service, type Confirm and click Accept & continue.

Terms of service dialog with Confirm typed in and Accept and continue highlighted

Click Enable.

Maps JavaScript API product page with the Enable button highlighted

4. Copy your key

Google now generates your API key. Copy it right away and keep it somewhere safe — the dialog is shown only once. (If you lose it, you can create a new key under Keys & Credentials.) Treat the key like a password and do not share it.

Get Started on Google Maps Platform dialog showing the generated API key (hidden in this screenshot)

Google then offers to restrict the key. You can click Maybe later to continue.

Protect your API key dialog with Maybe later highlighted

On the overview page, click Enable APIs if it is offered to finish the setup.

Google Maps Platform overview with the Enable APIs button highlighted

5. Enter the key in Incyclist

  1. Open the settings in Incyclist and go to the Ride section.
  2. Paste your key into the Maps API Key field.
  3. Restart Incyclist. The key is only read at startup, so Street View is not available until you have restarted the app.

After the restart, Incyclist uses your key. Street View and Satellite View are then available in Simulate mode, and side views are enabled.

Will I be charged?

For normal individual use, no. Google gives every account a free monthly allowance for the Maps Platform. At the time of writing it is 5,000 Street View loads and 10,000 Satellite View loads per month.

Google counts usage per ride, not per minute: every time Incyclist starts the main view (Street View or Satellite View) for a ride counts as one load. It does not matter how long you ride.

If you switch on side views, each side view is loaded separately by Google and counts as an additional load for that ride. A ride with side views therefore uses a few loads instead of one. Even so, riding several times a day, every day of the month, stays below the free allowance.

The key belongs to your Google account, so any usage above the allowance would be billed by Google to you — Incyclist is not involved and does not see your account. Google requires a billing account to be set up before the key works, but that does not mean you pay anything while you stay within the allowance.

If you want to be completely sure, you can set a daily quota or a budget alert for the project in the Google Cloud console. Google may change its prices and allowance over time, so the current numbers are on the Google Maps Platform pricing page.

Should I restrict the key?

It is optional. You can click Maybe later and add restrictions later under Keys & Credentials in the console.

Google offers two kinds of restriction, and only one of them suits Incyclist:

  • API restriction — recommended. Limit the key to the Maps JavaScript API. The key then cannot be used for anything else if it is ever leaked.
  • Application restriction — do not use. Incyclist does not load from a web server. The app runs from files bundled inside the desktop application, so there is no website address that Google could match against. A “Websites” (HTTP referrer) restriction would therefore block your own key, and Street View would stop working. An IP address restriction is not practical either, because your address changes. Leave the application restriction set to None.

If Street View stops working after you changed a restriction, set the application restriction back to None and restart Incyclist.

Something not working?

Check that the key was pasted without spaces, that you restarted Incyclist, and that the Maps JavaScript API is enabled for the project the key belongs to. More questions are answered in the FAQ, or send me an email.