Google Maps Places Autocomplete Setup

1. Get Google Maps API Key

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project or select existing one
3. Enable the Places API (New) and Maps JavaScript API
4. Create credentials (API Key)
5. Restrict the API key to your domains for security

2. Configure API Key in Rails

For Development:

# Add to your .env file or export as environment variable
export GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

For Production (Recommended):

# Edit Rails credentials
EDITOR=nano rails credentials:edit

# Add this structure:
google_maps:
  api_key: your_api_key_here

3. API Key Restrictions (Security)

Application Restrictions:

• HTTP referrers (web sites)
• Add your domains:
  • localhost:3000/* (development)
  • yourdomain.com/* (production)
  • *.yourdomain.com/* (subdomains)

API Restrictions:

• Restrict to these APIs only:
  • Maps JavaScript API
  • Places API (New)

4. Test the Integration

1. Start your Rails server: rails server
2. Navigate to event edit form
3. Try typing in location fields
4. You should see Google Places suggestions

5. Troubleshooting

• Check browser console for errors
• Verify API key is loaded: console.log(window.google)
• Ensure Places API is enabled in Google Cloud Console
• Check API key restrictions match your domain

6. Cost Considerations

• Places Autocomplete: $0.00282 per request (first 100,000 requests/month free)
• Places Details: $0.017 per request
• Monitor usage in Google Cloud Console