Maps JavaScript API Version Update

[Aleh Medzviadziuk]

We will be making the current weekly version the new quarterly version on the week of May 31, 2021. The versions will then be:

Weekly: 3.45
Quarterly: 3.44
Frozen: 3.43

3.42 will be retired.

If you don't specify a version (or request a retired version), you will be served a default version, which depending on your key configuration will be either 3.44 or 3.45. But a developer specified version will always be honored and served when requested when it's an existing version.

For more information about Maps API versioning, see:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/versions

To report issues with any version of the API, see:
https://issuetracker.google.com/savedsearches/558438

Version 3.45 (now in Weekly) reduces its impact onto the JavaScript global namespace of the parent webpage, a.k.a the window object. Our intention with this change is to avoid involuntarily overwriting global variables or polyfills.

What do I need to know?

When JavaScript polyfills are needed by a user's browser for Maps JavaScript API, the API will no longer export those as global variables. As a consequence, pages that mistakenly relied on the API providing polyfills for third-party or embedded code may stop functioning correctly.

Additionally, when using the Geometry Library the following variables are no longer exported into the global namespace: Spherical, PolyGeometry, and PolylineCodec. These facilities will remain available in their intended namespace within google.maps.geometry.

What do I need to do?

If you use Maps JavaScript API with the Quarterly channel, please verify that your pages still work as intended with the Weekly version of the API, for instance using a script tag such as this one to load the API:

<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_API_KEY&callback=initMap&v=weekly"></script>

While we took every precaution to minimize the chance of disruption and estimate the risk of breaking existing pages as very low, we evaluated that customers using the API with the Geometry Library are the most likely to be affected by side-effects of these clean-ups, as well as users of Internet Explorer.

How can I get help?

If you determine that your web page requires polyfills, we recommend https://polyfill.io to that effect.

Should you need further help to ensure your web pages remain compatible with Maps JavaScript API, please check out our support options.