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Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

arstechnica.com

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Re: Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

#3
" - the "JavaScript API or the static maps API will be capped at 25,000 map loads per day.

- They will be expected to pay a fee of $4 per thousand loads in excess of the limit.

- The cap is set to 2,500 loads for styled maps that customize the presentation.

- After 25,000 loads, the overage fee for styled maps will bump up to $8 per thousand. "

That is no joke, a $4 - $8 CPM on map loads means your app has to be doing substantially better than that, which is NOT an easy enterprise.

Re: Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

#4
This has an MBA-in-charge smell about it.

I'm not certain how many GMap implementations there are that exceed a 25k/day load, but my back-of-the-napkin guesstimation is But, those are exactly the sites that I want using my maps, instead of Yahoo or Bing or some other provider.

Unless there's something I'm missing, this seems penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Re: Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

#5

This has an MBA-in-charge smell about it. I'm not certain how many GMap implementations there are that exceed a 25k/day load, but my back-of-the-napkin guesstimation is But, those are exactly the sites that I want using my maps, instead of Yahoo or Bing or some other provider. Unless there's something I'm missing, this seems penny-wise and pound-foolish.

There's actually not a huge benefit to Google in my site using Google Maps instead of Yahoo Maps. There is a branding benefit for sure, but there are no links to Google services, no ads, or anything like that.

I've been wondering for a long time when this would come- the processing (getting directions, geocoding, etc) and bandwidth (for map images) demands must be huge, with comparatively little payback.

It'll be interesting to see how many big operations pay up, and how many switch. To an extent switching might be futile- if Google can't afford to keep the maps offering free, do you really think Yahoo can?

Re: Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

#9
I will be switching.

I quite like the Google Maps API but in my company we're just not able to pay for things with credit cards or in fact to pay for anything we don't know the cost of up-front (i.e. variable billing). We'll happily and routinely pay hundreds of millions to suppliers so long as we have a contract, of course.

This is no doubt more of an indictment of my employer's internal processes and policies rather than Google, but it does mean that the "standard" maps platform I built will have to be re-written to use another source of tile data etc.

But it does seem like this means I have some re-work to do :-(

Re: Google warns that rate limits, overage fees are coming to Maps API

#10
Seems to me like Google has only two dials: free or expensive. For example, in the case of Google Apps, the jump from free to $50 per account / year is rather steep imo. $4 fee for each 1K over seems rather expensive. Anybody know the price range for the subscription?
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