Is instead of using multiple keys, writing an AutoGUI script better? Of course I know both are against their ToS.
How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
151–160 of 172 posts
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#152I wonder why none are talking about an automated GUI script instead of multiple keys? (I know both are against Google’s ToS)
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#153Only works if you have a fleet. Perhaps we should share the data so even people without a fleet (or a small fleet) could benefit.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would certainly be interesting if they had compared the quality of Mapbox’s traffic data to Google’s. Perhaps the authors tried this and the data wasn’t as good? But it’s not mentioned. OpenStreetMap itself is just the base map, not a provider of traffic data or routing.
Yeah. Mapbox is getting there but I don't think they have the same volume of users contributing traffic data as Google does.
Indeed, and it will be very hard getting anywhere near as good as Google's without owning Android which nobody else could possibly do.
I still think location data collection for the public good should be run by someone who is not Google / Facebook / some other company that doesn't already track everything about you. I'd be happy to send my real-time location to a company like Mozilla or some mapping company (just in the tiny netherlands I know of AND, Geodan, OsmAnd... I'd be fine if any of them organize this).
We also have some open data via the government, based on detection loops in the road, but if I remember correctly it's only (or mainly) on highways.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#155Well, that's more clever than a company I did due diligence for. Their strategy was to have a pool of API keys attached to new accounts that would take advantage of the Google Maps API free tier, and monitor its usage. As the free tier usage would run out, the system would roll over to a new API key automatically. Wrote that one up in big red marker in my report...
Pooling free-tier accounts is usually against ToS.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#156I wonder if they simply tried calling Google and negotiating a volume based discount. I realize Google is notoriously impersonal, but I always prefer if you can solve a problem without code.
I worked with a major automotive company that was upgrading its head units to be more user friendly. Their #1 customer request at the time was to have it use Google Maps, so they tried to negotiate a discount with Google. I can't share the discount amount, but it was laughably small and the company would have been shelling out millions of dollars a month to Google for the integration. Needless to say, they stuck with…
I was actually kind of surprised that my spouse's new company car did not come with either Google Maps or OpenStreetMap but instead credits the map data to some mapping company from eastern Europe if I remember correctly -- the data looks like whitelabeled TomTom or HERE data.
I just wish they would either augment their data with OSM or augment OSM with their data: now, with proprietary data, the data was already old when we got the car, and the fixes I contributed to OSM are obviously not in there.
Instead of contracting some middle man for inferior map data, they could have used completely free (as in beer) data for the regions where OSM is more up to date and complete than any commercial provider (empirically, this is most of the land mass on earth plus countries with a lot of mapping enthusiasts and/or free government data, like Germany and the Netherlands).
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#157I've build my own tile server map with mapbox gl spec, thx to them, with simple osm features, data about transportation is fair enough to get some basic calculation features, i mean it's a good start, Google maps pricing is insane, if u plan to support thousands of users like us this gonna kill your profitability, we have no money to invest for that part and imo u should be vendor less if u want to develop ur activit…
Hey, just a heads up: the "thx", "u", and spelling mistakes make your comment less attractive to read. I'm not saying your English has to be flawless, but things like using "u" instead of "you" is a choice.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it insane that the fact that Google is constantly harvesting device locations is blatantly obvious from things like this, but yet if you make that claim in other contexts people will be extremely skeptical and demand extensive proof.
Those phones all had Google Maps app open. That Google is harvesting device locations while you have a Google app open showing your GPS location should not be a surprise. What would be a surprise is if Google forced on your GPS to gather your location in other contexts.
GPS is definitely the best way of ascertaining a device's location but far from the only one. Google's own location API lets you access fine location (GPS) or coarse (triangulating via cell towers).
After public outcry and legal action Google stopped driveby data harvesting by Street View vehicles but it remains unclear if they stopped collecting SSIDs and MAC addresses (I guess if you squint hard enough you could say that these are publicly available data points).
It doesn't take too much tin foil to think that android may be phoning home when it detects an SSID, the physical location of which is already known.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder how Google prices this api? The actual cost must be difficult to determine because if the source data. Perhaps they have some margin formula for “buying” data from their internal sources. It seems to me that they are value pricing and since they are close to a monopoly on this service they are testing the price elasticity.
The data for traffic is usually needed in real time, not just dumping historical data in one call and sitting on it. With that in mind, the most obvious pricing policy seems to be to either charge per API call or to have subscription tiers where you have a cap on maximum number of API calls per hour or per day or whatever other time interval they choose.
Sorry, I meant the price it sets for the api calls. The article calls out $10/1000 so the current price is a penny per call. I’m interested in how they set that rate.
Re: How We reduced our Google Maps API cost
#160Random thought but I think it’s funny how about 40 years ago, people would write about their tricks to save program memory usage. Now, people are talking about how to shave costs of doing API calls.
Meanwhile, the old maxim "All programming is ultimately an exercise in caching" seems to have been forgotten entirely. This whole thread is just surreal.
Yeah, it is amusing. Given the small set of fixed routes, this problem is just crying out for "local" caching of the expensive data. I guess what is old is new again...