Unable to authenticate the request. Provided 'signature' is not valid for the provided client ID. Java, Camel, Google Maps API, Signature, Geocode

Question

I am trying to use the Google Maps API for getting location, and subsequently nearby places.

I am sending the encoded URL to the API, for example, if I search for "Las Vegas, Nevada" the URL sent to API is: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Las+Vegas%2C+Nevada&client=gme-XXXXXXXXXX&signature=xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Here, clientID is fixed and does not change, but the signature is generated on the basis of the address "Las+Vegas%2C+Nevada", or whatever is searched.

Note that in the URL, the keyword, written as the address, is UTF-8 encoded (space replaced by '+', and comma by '%2C').

However, the URL for which the API performs the search after the request is sent is: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Las+Vegas,+Nevada&client=gme-XXXXXXXXXX&signature=zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Note that the spaces are still encoded as '+' but there is a comma present in this URL instead of '%2C' which results in a different signature being generated by the API, as the signature is generated on the basis of address. I'm getting the following error because of this:

"Unable to authenticate the request. Provided 'signature' is not valid for the provided client ID, or the provided 'client' is not valid. The signature was checked against the URL: /maps/api/geocode/json?address=Las+Vegas,+Nevada&clientID=gme-XXXXXXXXXX&signature=zzzzzzzzzzzzz. If this does not match the URL you requested, please ensure that your request is URL encoded correctly. Learn more: developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/webservices/auth"

Why is the comma not encoded in the URL that Maps API is using?

And is there any way to resolve this issue?

Answer 1

Simply wrap each paramater in the following

URLEncoder.encode(VARIABLE_NAME, "UTF-8")

this will cause it to be sent "url safe"!

Example:

URL url = new URL("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=" + URLEncoder.encode("Las Vegas, Nevada", "UTF-8") + &client=gme-XXXXXXXXXX&signature=xxxxxxxxxxxxx");