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I am developing an Android app which uses Google Maps Android API v2. While testing the app on several devices, I noticed that one device (Galaxy S4) has started displaying extra copyright information along the bottom right corner of the map (in addition to the usual Google logo displayed in the bottom left corner of the map):

Cropped map showing additional copyright text

The extra text

© 2015 Google - Map data © 2015 Google

does not appear on other devices. It also does not appear in the stock Google Maps app on the affected phone.

Does anyone know why this information appears, and why it appears only on some devices? Obscuring the copyright info is not permitted by the Google Maps Terms of Service (refer to the answer by @miselking for more information), but I'd like to understand when it will/won't show so that I can accommodate it in my layout in an appropriate way if necessary. For example, I already use padding at the bottom of the map to avoid covering the Google logo with a legend. The padding moves the extra copyright information up too, with the following (awkward-looking) result:

Copyright text shifted by map padding

I've noticed that this Google video on map padding displays a variant of the copyright text in the bottom right of the map, and also confirms that the copyright text is supposed to be shifted by the map padding. In this case, the copyright information reads

© 2014 Google - Map data © 2014 GBRMPA, Google, MapIT

There is still no indication given as to when this information may or may not appear, however.

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  • Just started seeing this in an existing app on a couple development devices (Nexus 6 (5.0.?) and Galaxy S5 (4.4.4)). The copyright year has bumped to 2015 but otherwise the text and format are the same as you reported. The Galaxy S5 is using Google Play Services 6.5.99, but other test devices also using 6.5.99 do not display the copyright text. – stkent Feb 11 '15 at 17:20
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    @stkent "The padding moves the extra copyright information up too" -- I'd consider filing a bug report with the Maps team, asking them to document how developers are supposed to avoid obscuring this notice, since it does not follow the prior padding recommendations. Along the way, you might be able to find out the conditions under which this appears. Beyond that, I doubt that many people outside of Google know the rules of the game here. – CommonsWare Feb 13 '15 at 12:21
  • @CommonsWare the logo does respect the padding set on the map, so I believe that is functioning as intended. As far as I can tell though, using bottom padding is only going to produce a decent-looking UI if your custom overlay is a full-width bar (at least on the devices that are showing the extra copyright info...) – stkent Feb 13 '15 at 13:22

2 Answers2

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Well, as per Google Maps Terms of Service section 8.5:

8.5 Proprietary Rights Notices. You agree that you will not remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary rights notices (including copyright and trademark notices, Terms of Use links, or Brand Features) that may be affixed to or provided through the Service. Where such notices are not affixed within the Service, you agree to display such notices according to the Maps APIs Documentation.

and 9.4:

9.4 Attribution.

(a) Content provided to you through the Service may contain the trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features of Google, its partners, or other third party rights holders of content indexed by Google. When Google provides this attribution, you must display it as provided through the Service or as described in the Maps APIs Documentation and may not delete or in any manner alter these trade names, trademarks, service marks, logos, domain names, and other distinctive brand features.

(b) You agree to include and display the "powered by Google" attribution (and/or any other attribution(s) required by Google as described in the Maps APIs Documentation) conspicuously on the page, in close proximity and adjacent to the Service search box and Google search results. If you use the standard Google search control, or the standard Google search control form, this attribution will be included automatically, and you agree not to modify or obscure this automatically-generated attribution.

(c) You understand and agree that Google has the sole right and discretion to determine whether your attribution(s) are in compliance with the above requirements.

you are obliged to display copyright and trademark notices etc, etc... You could (but shouldn't) try to hide those, there are a couple of solutions (ideas) here and here but I didn't test those, so I cannot tell you if they will work or not. And why they appear on some devices and not on others? Hmm, not sure, who knows what google did, they crazy... :D

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miselking
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  • We actually already use map padding to reposition the 'regular' logo in the bottom left (otherwise it would be obscured by our legend), but this also affects the additional copyright information in the bottom right corner, making it look even worse... To be clear, I understand that hiding the copyright info is not allowed - understanding _why_ it sometimes does/doesn't show is more of a priority. Once I know that, I can figure out how best to accommodate it. – stkent Feb 11 '15 at 18:09
  • Updated original question to reflect your information. – stkent Feb 11 '15 at 18:13
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What about enabling and disabling Layers from the google maps? I'm assuming you are working with v3.

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/layer-kml

There's a couple of example where enabling and disabling some this layers have been useful for me. Hope it helps

Jose Ortega
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