When we order food from Swiggy or Zomato, once the order is placed, we get an option to track the delivery agent. It might come as a surprise that the map used in the food delivery app is google maps. Even if we’re not accessing google maps directly, we still get to see our drop location and delivery agent’s live location. Also, we cannot use the google map in delivery services to perform any other functionality apart from tracking our food. In this case, Google Maps provides an API to food delivery applications for tracking purposes only.
Application Programming Interface (API) is a mechanism which allows different applications to communicate with each other. API’s help businesses connect many different applications, letting organizations extend their application’s functionality and data to other organization’s and third party developers.
In the above example, google maps needs to find the usage of the API functionality and data by Swiggy and Zomato. To provide unique identifiers to authenticate and authorize access to the API, API keys are used. These API should be kept private and not be shared with unauthorized users.
API keys serve the following purpose:
API keys allow an API provider, i.e. Google maps in this case to authenticate if the API is used by Swiggy or Zomato. This helps prevent unauthorized access or misuse of API.
From the above example, Swiggy and Zomato use API only for tracking purposes. The API key provided by Google Maps allows only tracking implementing authorization mechanisms to perform only authorized actions. This helps control the access to the services provided by API providers and prevent misuse and unauthorized actions.
The usage of API can be tracked by API provider with the help of API key. This in turn helps businesses to implement billing plans and keep track of functionality and data usage.When we order food from Swiggy or Zomato, once the order is placed, we get an option to track the delivery agent. It might come as a surprise that the map used in the food delivery app is google maps. Even if we’re not accessing google maps directly, we still get to see our drop location and delivery agent’s live location. Also, we cannot use the google map in delivery services to perform any other functionality apart from tracking our food. In this case, Google Maps provides an API to food delivery applications for tracking purposes only.
Application Programming Interface (API) is a mechanism which allows different applications to communicate with each other. API’s help businesses connect many different applications, letting organizations extend their application’s functionality and data to other organization’s and third party developers.
In the above example, google maps needs to find the usage of the API functionality and data by Swiggy and Zomato. To provide unique identifiers to authenticate and authorize access to the API, API keys are used. These API should be kept private and not be shared with unauthorized users.
API keys serve the following purpose:
API keys allow an API provider, i.e. Google maps in this case to authenticate if the API is used by Swiggy or Zomato. This helps prevent unauthorized access or misuse of API.
From the above example, Swiggy and Zomato use API only for tracking purposes. The API key provided by Google Maps allows only tracking implementing authorization mechanisms to perform only authorized actions. This helps control the access to the services provided by API providers and prevent misuse and unauthorized actions.
The usage of API can be tracked by API provider with the help of API key. This in turn helps businesses to implement billing plans and keep track of functionality and data usage.