Session Tokens  |  Places API  |  Google for Developers (2024)

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Place Autocomplete uses session tokens to group the query and selectionphases of a user autocomplete search into a discrete session for billingpurposes. The session begins when the user starts typing a query, and concludeswhen they select a place and a call to Place Details is made. Each session canhave multiple autocomplete queries, followed by one place selection. The APIkey(s) used for each request within a session must belong to the sameGoogle Cloud Console project. Once a session has concluded, the token is no longervalid; your app must generate a fresh token for each session. If thesessiontoken parameter is omitted, or if you reuse a sessiontoken, the session is charged as if no session token was provided (each requestis billed separately).

We recommend the following guidelines:

• Use session tokens for all autocomplete sessions.
• Generate a fresh token for each session.
• Ensure that the API key(s) used for all Place Autocomplete and Place Details requests within a session belong to the same Google Cloud Console project.
• Be sure to pass a unique session token for each new session. Using the same token for more than one session will result in each request being billed individually.

You can optionally omit the autocomplete session token from a request. Ifthe session token is omitted, each request is billed separately, triggering theAutocomplete - Per RequestSKU. If you reuse a session token, the session is considered invalid and therequests are charged as if no session token was provided.

Example

As the user types a query, an autocomplete request is called every fewkeystrokes (not per-character), and a list of possible results is returned.When the user makes a selection from the result list, the selection counts asa request, and all of the requests made during the search are bundled andcounted as a single request. If the user selects a place, the search query isavailable at no charge, and only the Place data request is charged. If the user does not make aselection within a few minutes of the beginning of the session, only thesearch query is charged.

Let's examine this flow of events from the perspective of an app.

1. A user begins typing a query to search for "Paris, France".
2. Upon detecting user input, the app creates a new session token, "Token A".
3. As the user types, the API makes an autocomplete request every few characters, displaying a new list of potential results for each:
   "P"
   "Par"
   "Paris,"
   "Paris, Fr"
   
4. When the user makes a selection:
   • All requests resulting from the query are grouped and added to the session represented by "Token A", as a single request.
   • The user's selection is counted as a Place Detail request, and added to the session represented by "Token A".
5. The session is concluded, and the app discards "Token A".

For more information about how Autocomplete requests are billed, seeUsage and Billing.

Create session tokens

You can create session tokens using whichever programmatic mechanism youprefer. We recommend using a version 4 UUIDfor session tokens.