CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-mapsgoogle-maps-api-3google-cloud-platform
Denis Zubkov
Denis Zubkov

Reputation: 137

What does Google mean by "user" in Maps Time Zone API quota?

Looking at the Time Zone API quota limit option that says:

"Requests per 100 seconds per user"

Was trying to find a clear definition of user but to no avail.

My intuitive guess it's an IP address... yet would like to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Would be good to know what does user mean exactly. Any ideas?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 251

Answers (1)

xomena
xomena

Reputation: 32178

I believe this is a confusion that comes from the fact that Google Maps APIs share the same developer console with Google Cloud Platform. The "Requests per 100 seconds per user" make sense in Google Cloud Platform, but I don't think they are really supported in Google Maps APIs.

If we check the documentation of Google Cloud Platform we will see the following explanation

To prevent individual users from using up your API quota, limit the number of requests per second per user for an API. Each API includes a default per-user limit, but you can modify that value as described in the previous section.

Individual users are identified by a unique string; if you're creating a server-side application (where the calling code is hosted on a server that you own) that makes requests on behalf of users, your requests must include the quotaUser parameter, as described below.

To identify a user, use the quotaUser=userID parameter. This value is for short term quota enforcement only, so you don't need to use a real user ID. You can choose any arbitrary string under forty characters long that uniquely identifies a user.

The quotaUser parameter is only used for capping requests per user per second. If you don't send the quotaUser parameter, then all calls are attributed to your server machines, in which case calls can't be capped by user.

source: https://cloud.google.com/apis/docs/capping-api-usage#limiting_requests_per_second_per_user

As far as I know none of Google Maps APIs support a quotaUser parameter, so this value doesn't make sense for Google Maps web services and as mentioned in the last paragraph Google Maps web services will attribute usage to server machines. In other words to IP addresses of your backend servers.

I hope this clarifies your doubt.

Upvotes: 2

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