The Google Maps API server rejected your request

Bug #624981 reported by Curtis Hovey
278
This bug affects 57 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Launchpad itself
Fix Released
Critical
Curtis Hovey

Bug Description

Launchpad users who have enabled maps are seeing a popup stating that "the Google Maps API server rejected your request". Google recognises this as a problem with their service: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464

Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map" checkbox. If this problem persists, we will consider removing maps from Launchpad until the issue is addresses.

A new bug for potentially re-enabling the FOAF/Gmaps HTTPS support in the Launchpad instance has been filed at bug #738084 ("Adding the Gmaps feature back in"). If you feel strongly about maps being available, or not available, please follow-up of that report if you feel strongly.

Related branches

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
assignee: nobody → Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
status: Triaged → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

Just hit this too; I guess disable it ideally until Google fixes their end if possible.

Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

This is getting quite irritating ...I'm reviewing team membership applications at the moment and wanting to quickly check people's karma/activity---each of which results in the focus-stealing popup.

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

gmaps have been annoying users since they arrived, and we provided a way to turn them off as stated above:
    Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map" checkbox.

We are experimenting with a way to disable them for all user at this moment.

Revision history for this message
Semir Hodzic (semir004) wrote : Re: [Bug 624981] Re: The Google Maps API server rejected your request

What about setting "[ ] Display map" (dont show map) as default for now,
until major fix or delete?

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 9:33 PM, Curtis Hovey <email address hidden>wrote:

> gmaps have been annoying users since they arrived, and we provided a way to
> turn them off as stated above:
> Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display
> map" checkbox.
>
> We are experimenting with a way to disable them for all user at this
> moment.
>
> --
> The Google Maps API server rejected your request
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/624981
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug (624979).
>
> Status in The Launchpad Registry: In Progress
>
> Bug description:
> Launchpad users who have enabled maps are seeing a popup stating that "the
> Google Maps API server rejected your request". Google recognises this as a
> problem with their service:
> http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464
>
> Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map"
> checkbox. If this problem persists, we will consider removing maps from
> Launchpad until the issue is addresses.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad-registry/+bug/624981/+subscribe
>

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

[ ] Display map is a cookie in your browser. I cannot do that without landing a large code change. I can kill the feature easily. The problem remains is how to turn it back on without waiting 2 days.

Revision history for this message
Semir Hodzic (semir004) wrote :

Hmm..

Can you disable showing of error message by editing api script?

Its not solution but...we even dont know will the maps remain at page..

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 9:51 PM, Curtis Hovey <email address hidden>wrote:

> [ ] Display map is a cookie in your browser. I cannot do that without
> landing a large code change. I can kill the feature easily. The problem
> remains is how to turn it back on without waiting 2 days.
>
> --
> The Google Maps API server rejected your request
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/624981
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug (624979).
>
> Status in The Launchpad Registry: In Progress
>
> Bug description:
> Launchpad users who have enabled maps are seeing a popup stating that "the
> Google Maps API server rejected your request". Google recognises this as a
> problem with their service:
> http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464
>
> Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map"
> checkbox. If this problem persists, we will consider removing maps from
> Launchpad until the issue is addresses.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad-registry/+bug/624981/+subscribe
>

Revision history for this message
Semir Hodzic (semir004) wrote :

"G_INCOMPAT = true;alert("The Google Maps API server rejected your
request...."

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 10:37 PM, Semir <email address hidden> wrote:

> Hmm..
>
> Can you disable showing of error message by editing api script?
>
> Its not solution but...we even dont know will the maps remain at page..
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 9:51 PM, Curtis Hovey <email address hidden>wrote:
>
>> [ ] Display map is a cookie in your browser. I cannot do that without
>> landing a large code change. I can kill the feature easily. The problem
>> remains is how to turn it back on without waiting 2 days.
>>
>> --
>> The Google Maps API server rejected your request
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/624981
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of a duplicate bug (624979).
>>
>> Status in The Launchpad Registry: In Progress
>>
>> Bug description:
>> Launchpad users who have enabled maps are seeing a popup stating that "the
>> Google Maps API server rejected your request". Google recognises this as a
>> problem with their service:
>> http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464
>>
>> Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map"
>> checkbox. If this problem persists, we will consider removing maps from
>> Launchpad until the issue is addresses.
>>
>> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad-registry/+bug/624981/+subscribe
>>
>
>

Revision history for this message
Semir Hodzic (semir004) wrote :

Ups :/ thats on google servers..

On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 10:38 PM, Semir <email address hidden> wrote:

> "G_INCOMPAT = true;alert("The Google Maps API server rejected your
> request...."
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 10:37 PM, Semir <email address hidden> wrote:
>
>> Hmm..
>>
>> Can you disable showing of error message by editing api script?
>>
>> Its not solution but...we even dont know will the maps remain at page..
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 9:51 PM, Curtis Hovey <<email address hidden>
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> [ ] Display map is a cookie in your browser. I cannot do that without
>>> landing a large code change. I can kill the feature easily. The problem
>>> remains is how to turn it back on without waiting 2 days.
>>>
>>> --
>>> The Google Maps API server rejected your request
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/624981
>>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>>> of a duplicate bug (624979).
>>>
>>> Status in The Launchpad Registry: In Progress
>>>
>>> Bug description:
>>> Launchpad users who have enabled maps are seeing a popup stating that
>>> "the Google Maps API server rejected your request". Google recognises this
>>> as a problem with their service:
>>> http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464
>>>
>>> Launchpad users can avoid the message by unchecking the "[X] Display map"
>>> checkbox. If this problem persists, we will consider removing maps from
>>> Launchpad until the issue is addresses.
>>>
>>> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad-registry/+bug/624981/+subscribe
>>>
>>
>>
>

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

We have a patch candidate to disable google maps across Launchpad. We cannot test it at the moment :(. We are waiting for staging to complete its update. We will probably loose our admins for the weekend in an hour. This is excruciatingly painful.

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad QA Bot (lpqabot) wrote : Bug fixed by a commit
tags: added: qa-needstesting
Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

Google appear to have fixed this from their end. It is no longer Critical!

Revision history for this message
Sebastian Lai (user17) wrote :

> Google appear to have fixed this from their end. It is no longer Critical!

still getting the error though...

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

i am as well

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
tags: removed: qa-needstesting
Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

The error is still present. The branch that disables Google failed to merge into the production branch. I am now starting a new branch that includes all the services.features infrastructure so that production and devel have the same code to enable/disable gmaps.

Revision history for this message
Ayrton Santana (ayrton) wrote :

Maybe change from GoogleMaps to OpenStreetMap fix the problem.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/

What you think?

Revision history for this message
Jeff Craig (foxxtrot) wrote :

@ayrton: That discussion has another (old-ish) bug open for it. https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/launchpad-registry/+bug/264138

Revision history for this message
Alan Bell (alanbell) wrote :

Is this bug because the sensor parameter is now mandatory? If so it isn't going to be fixed at the Google end, it needs to be fixed in Launchpad. I think when including the google api javascript there should be a sensor parameter after the key, so instead of:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=gme-canonical&file=api&v=2&key=ABQIAAAACeZ5XCmHJlEwBYdSuT5n8xSpSJz2e5W2U1FEKkpRR5DvAoRnExQHcQr64ybfyPfb3_vaIFpvET1ZJg

it should be:

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=gme-canonical&file=api&v=2&key=ABQIAAAACeZ5XCmHJlEwBYdSuT5n8xSpSJz2e5W2U1FEKkpRR5DvAoRnExQHcQr64ybfyPfb3_vaIFpvET1ZJg&sensor=false

There are several points in the google maps javascript where the parameters including the sensor parameter get passed to different bits of the google maps back end and it seems that the sensor parameter is required, but up to recently has not been enforced.

I started down this line of thinking after reading this:
http://help.hackshackers.com/questions/648/the-google-maps-api-server-rejected-your-request-the-client-parameter-specifie

Revision history for this message
Launchpad QA Bot (lpqabot) wrote :
tags: added: qa-needstesting
Revision history for this message
Alan Bell (alanbell) wrote :

The link to a Google issue is totally *not* the Google maps team acknowledging an issue http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/base/thread?hl=en&tid=462f63cbd84b4464
it is a problem on the Google Merchant Center site, presumably where they embed a Google map and are consumers of the maps service, just like Launchpad is.

Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
tags: added: qa-ok
removed: qa-needstesting
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Glyph Lefkowitz (glyph) wrote :

Is "fix released" supposed to mean that it's live on the main site, or is there a separate "fix deployed" state for that? Because I'm still seeing it.

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

I agree it is not released contrary to the email stating that the fix was released. I will ask an admin to look into this.

Changed in launchpad-registry:
status: Fix Released → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Russel Winder (russel) wrote :

Is the fix to simply remove the map completely? As at 2010-08-31 18:35+01:00, I get the problem on https://launchpad.net/~russel, but if I try https://edge.launchpad.net/~russel the map is not present at all.

Revision history for this message
Russel Winder (russel) wrote :

Ayrton, I think switching to OpenStreetMap would be splendid idea. Or perhaps offering each individual a choice of using Google Maps or OpenStreetMap?

Revision history for this message
Curtis Hovey (sinzui) wrote :

The fix was set to edge automatically. The manual release to lpnet failed because half of the changes are missing.

There is already and bug and a blueprint tracking the issue. The community are welcome to produce a OSM implementation that is a drop-in replacement for Google maps. It would be lovely to have a mapping library that can be incorporated into our test suite.

Revision history for this message
Alan Bell (alanbell) wrote :

This isn't a fix though is it? It is removal of the map feature altogether. When this lands should a new bug be filed for "the maps have disappeared"?

Revision history for this message
Robert Collins (lifeless) wrote : Re: [Bug 624981] Re: The Google Maps API server rejected your request

On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 8:39 PM, Alan Bell <email address hidden> wrote:
> This isn't a fix though is it? It is removal of the map feature
> altogether. When this lands should a new bug be filed for "the maps have
> disappeared"?

The CP to production should happen anytime now; just waiting for some
things to clear up with the system state.

I think this bug should stay open till we have identified and restored
google maps service, whatever the root cause.

Revision history for this message
Ayrton Santana (ayrton) wrote :

If I go to my profile page and hit https://edge.launchpad.net/~ayrton/+editlocation the error still appear.

Revision history for this message
Ayrton Santana (ayrton) wrote :

Maybe is better to set the bug to "In Progress".

Revision history for this message
Stefano Rivera (stefanor) wrote :

> Is this bug because the sensor parameter is now mandatory?
> If so it isn't going to be fixed at the Google end, it needs to be fixed
> in Launchpad. I think when including the google api javascript
> there should be a sensor parameter after the key

According to someone inside Google Maps:

> In v3 of the Maps API, the sensor parameter is required.
> Also, in v3, no API key is needed.

Revision history for this message
Timothy (timothy-stranex) wrote :

The editlocation page is loading the Maps API from this URL:

https://maps-api-ssl.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&amp;client=gme-canonical&amp;file=api&amp;v=2&amp;key=ABQIAAAACeZ5XCmHJlEwBYdSuT5n8xSpSJz2e5W2U1FEKkpRR5DvAoRnExQHcQr64ybfyPfb3_vaIFpvET1ZJg

Notice the client=gme-canonical parameter. The parameter specifies a Maps API Premier client name. The client "gme-canonical" expired almost a year ago so it's basically luck that this worked at all since then. There are three possible ways to solve this:
1. Canonical could renew their account.
2. Someone could update the launchpad javascript code to use the new v3 API which doesn't require a key.
3. The client= parameter could be removed and the free API used instead. (Possibly the simplest fix.)
Note that SSL is unavailable for (2) and (3), which may be a problem.

Besides this, there are a couple of other issues which could cause problems in the future:
1. The key= parameter is for the free API key. Either the key= or client= parameter should be specified but not both.
2. The sensor parameter is required. It seems that launchpad doesn't use GPS locations of its users so sensor=false would be appropriate.

Revision history for this message
Timothy (timothy-stranex) wrote :
Curtis Hovey (sinzui)
Changed in launchpad-registry:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) wrote :

Where is this fixed? Staging doesn't show maps on user pages.

Revision history for this message
Robert Collins (lifeless) wrote :

The feature has been removed : it was going to cost an exorbitant
amount to retain the service; if a openstreet map provider with a
sensible price (needs to be https hosted) turns up, or once we've
cleared a bunch of backlog, we may revisit this.

Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

Popey: the "fix" is to remove gmaps, for the moment; because it is using the http: scheme, rather than https:, and mixing the two causes warning (unencrypted content included in encrypted page).

Revision history for this message
Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote :

As of today, Gmaps HTTPS is no longer a premium feature:

  http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/03/improving-security-of-google-apis-with.html

and so it could be reincorporated.

Revision history for this message
Robert Collins (lifeless) wrote :

Paul, please open a new bug about adding this feature back in; this bug is closed.

Paul Sladen (sladen)
description: updated
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