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Google Maps Platform

cloud.google.com

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Re: Google Maps Platform

#141

Post by ageofwant »

jedberg wrote: post #74
canada_dry wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only silver lining is that www.openstreetmap.org (OSM) will hopefully get more love. Since google admits that 98% of current users will continue to incur 0 cost this is simply a blatant way of getting a real name associated with their user data.

Why does everyone always assume the worst? > this is simply a blatant way of getting a real name associated with their user data Or maybe it's a way to control access to their systems in a more reasonable and auditable way, and prevent some abuse too.

Not assuming the worst has gotten us to the current state of personal exposure to entities whose core welfare concerns does not align with or extend those of an individual.

Not assuming the worst as default will only make matters worse. Even if Google has very good and honest intentions with gathering this information at this time, you have to assume the inevitability of that changing in future, either under duress of corporate existence or being compelled by larger more powerful actors.

Have I read the above 5 years ago I would have rolled my eyes at yet another privacy nut raving on the internets.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#142

Post by spectre256 »

2dvisio wrote: post #109

Wow. I teach a course of mobile programming with Android. Now I will have to remove the section explaining Google maps API as I cannot ask my students to add their Credit card info online just for the course... Any other free alternative?

Hey 2dvisio,

I'm an ex-Mapzen alum who runs https://geocode.earth. We don't have a permanent free tier at the moment (our geocoder is solid but the service is new!), but we want to find ways to contribute to the community where we can. I would be happy to set up a temporary free tier on our service for one of your classes.

Shoot me an email, julian at geocode dot earth and we can figure something out

Re: Google Maps Platform

#143

Post by rhodysurf »

DomesticMouse wrote: post #136
2dvisio wrote: post #109

Wow. I teach a course of mobile programming with Android. Now I will have to remove the section explaining Google maps API as I cannot ask my students to add their Credit card info online just for the course... Any other free alternative?

Fwiw, there is a viable work around. Android (and iOS) usage of the Google Maps APIs remain free. See the Mobile Native Dynamic Maps line on our pricing sheet: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/sheet/ You can construct API keys that are restricted to an Android signing key, use it for the duration of the class, and then revoke it after the course work is done.

Oh wow... why is this not mentioned higher? Big break for me that iOS and Android remain free

Re: Google Maps Platform

#144

Post by dabernathy89 »

tyleregeto wrote: post #87
NelsonMinar wrote: post #71

Mapbox has an excellent alternative map platform based largely but not entirely on OpenStreetMap data. Mapbox GL JS in particular is a joy to work with and extend. https://www.mapbox.com/ It's not free, but it's very easy to use and the pricing is roughly 1/10th of Google's when you get past the free tier: https://www.mapbox.com/pricing/ Mapzen used to be an alternative but sadly they shut down. However many of their…

Mapbox is pretty expensive for small commercial apps, $499 flat rate + usage costs. If your commercial usage is on the smaller side, the new Google Maps pricing looks really good. I was a Mapzen customer, their pricing model was great, very sorry to see it go.

I've never understood Mapbox pricing. $499 lets you give maps access to 250 users. That's steep for solo devs / small shops that want to create a map-based app. And there's no way of knowing how that pricing will scale without contacting them for an enterprise plan!

Re: Google Maps Platform

#145

Post by elyobo »

lukeqsee wrote: post #137
elyobo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Primarily just maps; real estate sector. The $20k is a ballpark for one project, another would add another ~$5k a month. It's a good motivation to improve our usage of their APIs and I'm sure that I can bring down those cost estimates (by reducing API usage overall and by switching some to use the static map API - although the caps on resolution gave us problems with that in the past).

That makes sense; well, if you wish, please reach out to me at luke@stadiamaps.com We have a lot of customers in real estate, and would love to set you up with something that would be significantly less than $25k. These situations are why we started the company. :) I think our tiers work very well for the real estate space overall.

I'll have a look, thanks. Your pricing looks much more reasonable - I suspect you're going to be seeing a large spike in demand.

Initial work on reducing load looks very promising though (lazy loading only when users scroll as far as the map on property pages, pooling map instances/dom elements and reusing them across a React app so that they're not recreated) - both things I really should have been doing already anyway. I guess that's part of the motivation for the change - even if I don't pay anything, I'm now costing Google less.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#146

Post by draeert »

jakecopp wrote: post #102
robryan wrote: post #83

I don’t know how competitive the pricing is, but it is interesting how the comments go when Google does try and charge a high price for something over simply monetizing via advertising. I wonder if the perception would be different if Google Maps were a standalone startup developing a world class mapping product. Where the common manta would be along the lines of double your pricing.

I think the problem is users don't want to pay and have their data scrutinized for ads. It would be like if you paid Facebook and still had your data going to many third parties. I think Mapbox has a very different reputation for this reason (also they contribute back to OpenStreetMap).

Google doesn't store user data when you use the paid version of maps. For example when you call places API on the premium plan nothing is ever stored on Google's side after the query is made and results returned.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#147

Post by dabernathy89 »

chrishynes wrote: post #118
NelsonMinar wrote: post #71

Mapbox has an excellent alternative map platform based largely but not entirely on OpenStreetMap data. Mapbox GL JS in particular is a joy to work with and extend. https://www.mapbox.com/ It's not free, but it's very easy to use and the pricing is roughly 1/10th of Google's when you get past the free tier: https://www.mapbox.com/pricing/ Mapzen used to be an alternative but sadly they shut down. However many of their…

Thinking seriously about switching to MapBox. Google's pricing is insane after this change -- $7 per 1000 map views!?!?! Did they add an extra zero accidentally?

For reference - If i'm reading this right, it was 50 cents per 1000 map views before (up to 100k per day).

https://web.archive.org/web/20180307020901/https://developer...

Re: Google Maps Platform

#150

Post by jakecopp »

mtmail wrote: post #115
jakecopp wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mapbox's maps look great, though I wish they had a generic product like Google Maps that I could use. Does any such general navigation app using Mapbox exist? Basically a vector OpenStreetMap with good search and routing.

https://www.mapquest.com/ uses Mapbox in the background. https://maps.mapcat.com/ uses OpenStreetMap vector tiles. On mobile I use https://maps.me/download/ (free, offline use possible).

MapQuest feels a bit strange with the huge amount of advertising. I'd much rather pay.
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