Why is maps.googleapis.com needed?
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Today, I was creating a page and after typing in the title, the URLs did not show up underneath as it had before. I looked at the list on NoScript and there was a new script: maps.googleapis.com. I had seen it before when I visited the Reader, but since it did not impact how it worked for me I did not allow it.
Now it seems if I want to edit any page or post URL, I need to allow maps.googleapis.com.
What does this script do exactly and why are maps needed for creating a post? This may seem a silly question, but I tend to be concerned by seeing so much google when I am not at a Google site.
Thank you for your time.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there!
The Google Maps API script that’s being called on that page may be a side effect of our geo-tagging feature. More info on that is here:
In short though, as long as you aren’t geo-tagging any of yours posts, we aren’t saving any location data for them, so there’s nothing to worry about privacy-wise.
You can read more about our privacy policies at the link below if you’d like:
Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with. :) Thanks!
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I appreciate your reply and links. I understand that if I do not enable geotagging, there would be no location, but what info is being sent to Google when that and the Gstatic scripts are enabled?
Later when trying to create post, I learned it does not only effect my ability to edit a URL, but changing the status of the post (examples: Private to Public, scheduling…) and I do not even have the ability to use the Add Media. I do not know what all else, as I gave up. That’s a lot of side effect.
Is there any way to bring back posting functionality when geotagging and its scripts are not enabled?
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what info is being sent to Google when that and the Gstatic scripts are enabled?
I’m not one of the WordPress.com developers, so I couldn’t tell you off-hand what information (if any) is being sent to Google.
I learned it does not only effect my ability to edit a URL, but changing the status of the post (examples: Private to Public, scheduling…) and I do not even have the ability to use the Add Media. I do not know what all else, as I gave up. That’s a lot of side effect. Is there any way to bring back posting functionality when geotagging and its scripts are not enabled?
I agree, it does seem to have quite a few side effects. As it is now though, I can’t imagine there’s any way around the limitations except to allow the script to run.
You might try enabling post by email though. That would let you post without even coming to WordPress.com. Enabling PBE is covered here:
Let me know if that works for you! :)
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Posting by email was something I’ve thought of. I’ve seen horror stories in the forum, so hesitate. A volunteer’s response was to make it as strong as a good password. Maybe this will work??
I am impressed with what can be done with email posting. I did not know I would have ability to schedule out posts and place them into categories. That is great!
Thank you so much for helping me through this.
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After a bit of testing with the Post by email, I was never able to embed images as I store them elsewhere. Nor would any links I created stick. This very well could be the email program we use, so not WP’s fault. The codes for status, categories, etc worked as they should.
I am having more issues with not using the google scripts. When I click on the link icon, the little form pops up, but when I click OK, all evidence I had ever created a post or page disappears. I check all the folders and these are just not there.
Another user was having troubles when not enabling this script.
https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/mapsgoogleapiscom?replies=3Their question was not answered either. Could you please go to development to find the answers to these questions?
I use NoScript for a reason and have no problem with using “first-party” (not sure if they are labelled like cookies) scripts within a website. But we ( my husband and I) want to block those we do not know we can trust. What does Google have to do with post and page creation? I have no problem with the indexing they do for my site so it can be up on their search engine, but this other stuff seems a bit odd.
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Hi there,
I’m looking into this a little further. I’ll let you know in a day or two what I find out. :)
Thanks!
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Thank you for the reply. I am eager to find out what you learn.
I did discover that not enabling that script will not allow me to view the Screen options or Help tabs at the top.
I’ve been able to post by using a weird workaround. I just do not dare link to anything again, but have no problems writing the text. I can save it in draft, then go to the All Posts page and use the quick edit to schedule out the posts I want published in the future. And those developers better not connect the maps.googleapis… script to this! :)
WP has really grown on me these last couple of years, so I’ll do what I can to keep posting.
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Hi!
I’m one of the developers at Automattic; Adam asked me to take a look into the issue you reported.
In answer to one of your questions, the scripts we run on the post page aren’t sending anything to Google unless you start typing things into the geo-location field (at which point it searches for whatever you type). The script being enqueued doesn’t send anything to begin with, it just loads their maps API code so we can perform the search if you choose to do so.
More importantly, I think, is that even if I remove the maps.googleapis.com script, the functionality of the page (at least in my tests) is unchanged (except for the geo-location widget of course). The inability to add media, edit the slug, etc, seems to be tied to allowing scripts from wordpress.com, which I’m afraid at the moment is just a requirement for using WordPress.com.
I think that you can safely block scripts from maps.googleapis.com and the post page will still work fine, as long as you allow scripts from wordpress.com.
That said, there may be something I’ve missed or misunderstood. If allowing scripts from wordpress.com doesn’t solve your post page issue, let me know!
– Payton
Code Wrangler | WordPress.com -
Goof afternoon,
Thank you so much for replying. I appreciate it.
I’ve always enabled the scripts for wordpress.com and wp.com. Without it, the little buttons for editing are not visible and other things do not work. I also enable the gravatar script when using WordPress.
I took a screen shot, so you can see what scripts I have enabled when I create a post. It is the top one in my media library, titled scripts.jpg. It shows that I put in a post title, but yet the URL was not created when I clicked down below, as it has always done before.
Is there something that might be wrong on my end? We upgraded our operating system the early part of June, but this started happening the day I wrote my initial question. We use Linux Fedora 18 and Firefox 21. I just saw Firefox updated. Can this be an issue? I am racking my brain trying to figure this out as you said posting should work without the maps. script.
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Ah hah, you’re right! I originally thought you just meant that you couldn’t see the buttons.
I took a deeper look and I think I found the problem. The scripts on the page are stopping when they can’t load the Google code and that’s breaking the Add Media button, etc. I think I have a fix that I’m just waiting to clear with some other folks. I or Adam will be in touch within the next day or so.
Thank you for your patience!
-Payton -
Hello again,
You should be able to use the other page functionality now without loading the maps.googleapis.com script.
Let me know if you encounter any other issues!
-Payton
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A big, big Thank you!! I was able to post and everything worked as it had before. I am so very grateful you fixed this and all the time you both spent with my issue until it was resolved.
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