diff --git a/atom/app/atom_main_delegate.cc b/atom/app/atom_main_delegate.cc
index 8c7b7b67b947..b2c0683e3c0f 100644
--- a/atom/app/atom_main_delegate.cc
+++ b/atom/app/atom_main_delegate.cc
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include "atom/app/atom_content_client.h"
 #include "atom/browser/atom_browser_client.h"
 #include "atom/browser/relauncher.h"
-#include "atom/common/google_api_key.h"
 #include "atom/common/options_switches.h"
 #include "atom/renderer/atom_renderer_client.h"
 #include "atom/renderer/atom_sandboxed_renderer_client.h"
diff --git a/atom/browser/atom_browser_client.cc b/atom/browser/atom_browser_client.cc
index 950c6e2d238d..7f18f0750b93 100644
--- a/atom/browser/atom_browser_client.cc
+++ b/atom/browser/atom_browser_client.cc
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 #include "atom/browser/web_contents_permission_helper.h"
 #include "atom/browser/web_contents_preferences.h"
 #include "atom/browser/window_list.h"
-#include "atom/common/google_api_key.h"
 #include "atom/common/options_switches.h"
 #include "atom/common/platform_util.h"
 #include "base/command_line.h"
@@ -428,11 +427,11 @@ void AtomBrowserClient::DidCreatePpapiPlugin(content::BrowserPpapiHost* host) {
 #endif
 }
 
+// attempt to get api key from env
 std::string AtomBrowserClient::GetGeolocationApiKey() {
   std::unique_ptr<base::Environment> env(base::Environment::Create());
   std::string api_key;
-  if (!env->GetVar("GOOGLE_API_KEY", &api_key))
-    api_key = GOOGLEAPIS_API_KEY;
+  env->GetVar("GOOGLE_API_KEY", &api_key);
   return api_key;
 }
 
diff --git a/atom/common/google_api_key.h b/atom/common/google_api_key.h
deleted file mode 100644
index d27934595eac..000000000000
--- a/atom/common/google_api_key.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright (c) 2014 GitHub, Inc.
-// Use of this source code is governed by the MIT license that can be
-// found in the LICENSE file.
-
-#ifndef ATOM_COMMON_GOOGLE_API_KEY_H_
-#define ATOM_COMMON_GOOGLE_API_KEY_H_
-
-#ifndef GOOGLEAPIS_ENDPOINT
-#define GOOGLEAPIS_ENDPOINT \
-  "https://www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate?key="
-#endif
-
-#ifndef GOOGLEAPIS_API_KEY
-#define GOOGLEAPIS_API_KEY "AIzaSyAQfxPJiounkhOjODEO5ZieffeBv6yft2Q"
-#endif
-
-#endif  // ATOM_COMMON_GOOGLE_API_KEY_H_
diff --git a/docs/api/environment-variables.md b/docs/api/environment-variables.md
index fdc74aefffca..d31d769614f9 100644
--- a/docs/api/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/api/environment-variables.md
@@ -48,20 +48,16 @@ Unsupported options are:
 
 ### `GOOGLE_API_KEY`
 
-Electron includes a hardcoded API key for making requests to Google's geocoding
-webservice. Because this API key is included in every version of Electron, it
-often exceeds its usage quota. To work around this, you can supply your own
-Google API key in the environment. Place the following code in your main process
+You can provide an API key for making requests to Google's geocoding webservice. To do this, place the following code in your main process
 file, before opening any browser windows that will make geocoding requests:
 
 ```javascript
 process.env.GOOGLE_API_KEY = 'YOUR_KEY_HERE'
 ```
 
-For instructions on how to acquire a Google API key, visit [this page](https://www.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/api-keys).
-
+For instructions on how to acquire a Google API key, visit [this page](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key).
 By default, a newly generated Google API key may not be allowed to make
-geocoding requests. To enable geocoding requests, visit [this page](https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/geolocation/overview).
+geocoding requests. To enable geocoding requests, visit [this page](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/get-api-key).
 
 ### `ELECTRON_NO_ASAR`
 
diff --git a/filenames.gni b/filenames.gni
index 39597c667903..88138ed2175f 100644
--- a/filenames.gni
+++ b/filenames.gni
@@ -576,7 +576,6 @@ filenames = {
     "atom/common/crash_reporter/win/crash_service_main.h",
     "atom/common/draggable_region.cc",
     "atom/common/draggable_region.h",
-    "atom/common/google_api_key.h",
     "atom/common/heap_snapshot.cc",
     "atom/common/heap_snapshot.h",
     "atom/common/key_weak_map.h",