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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

#61

Post by rmc »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #21

I remember in the 90s when we lambasted Microsoft for cornering markets with free products (IE) so they could drive out the competition (Netscape) and eventually start charging for them when we had no other choice. Luckily that never really happened, Microsoft never started charging for IE. While Google isn't exactly doing that here, it's coming awfully close.

Thankfully there is an alternative now (that wasn't nearly as good 5 years ago): OpenStreetMap.

Their main *.openstreetmap.org has Tile Usage Policies, but there are other companies that provide free serives, and you can also host it yourself, render your own map, and pay your own bills. The data & tool chain is entirely Open, so you are not at the mercy of anyone.

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

#62

Post by rmc »

7952 wrote: post #46
untog wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 int…

Don't forget the cost of the actual data. Remote sensing satellites are not cheap. Google Maps is heavily dependant on a few companies who provide the bulk of the data.

They have driven cars around nearly all the roads in several countries taking photos of everything... They could use that to make better maps.

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

#63

Post by thomasgerbe »

chrismealy wrote: post #2

Yahoo maps isn't bad, and as far as I can tell they aren't enforcing their limits.

Meh.

Google maps UI is by far better than Yahoo maps. That and the street view/bike maps/etc. are features that give it a nice edge over alternatives.

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

#64

Post by rmc »

untog wrote: post #5
jroseattle wrote: post #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.

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 int…

One advantage of Google releasing Google Maps for free was that now everyone & companies got used to having web maps, and hence places started to put their locations on the map (so it'll show up in google maps). There is now a lot more geographical data out there on the web.

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

#65

Post by chc »

alphamale3000 wrote: post #36
ChrisLTD wrote: post #21

I remember in the 90s when we lambasted Microsoft for cornering markets with free products (IE) so they could drive out the competition (Netscape) and eventually start charging for them when we had no other choice. Luckily that never really happened, Microsoft never started charging for IE. While Google isn't exactly doing that here, it's coming awfully close.

When you can't innovate anymore, you increase your prices. After a few years, the company becomes a dinosaur loaded with cash... like Microsoft.

In what kind of bizarro business model are price increases and innovation interchangeable?

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

#66

Post by bad_user »

rmc wrote: post #61
ChrisLTD wrote: post #21

I remember in the 90s when we lambasted Microsoft for cornering markets with free products (IE) so they could drive out the competition (Netscape) and eventually start charging for them when we had no other choice. Luckily that never really happened, Microsoft never started charging for IE. While Google isn't exactly doing that here, it's coming awfully close.

Thankfully there is an alternative now (that wasn't nearly as good 5 years ago): OpenStreetMap. Their main *.openstreetmap.org has Tile Usage Policies, but there are other companies that provide free serives, and you can also host it yourself, render your own map, and pay your own bills. The data & tool chain is entirely Open, so you are not at the mercy of anyone.

Unfortunately OpenStreetMap doesn't really cut it.

I'm using the GMaps API for geocoding addresses and in that regard it's the best one available, especially since it has a pretty high tolerance for spellings and non-standard address formats.

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

#67

Post by arctangent »

v01 wrote: post #57
arctangent wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine so - I've already requested info. It will take my company literally months to push through a contract for something like this. Google will be required to tender, alongside other comparable services. I just don't see that happening...

If your company is going to consume large volumes of mapcalls you will definitely need the tiered pricing which they do offer per client basis. It's possible to get 50% discounts of the $4 price (if you do more that 100,000,000 per year)

The main problem is that my company (an executive agency of the UK government, effectively) can't enter into this kind of financial agreement easily, precisely because we have such a huge budget (numbered in the billions).

Any contract we sign needs to be for a fixed price, rather than a variable amount. And amounts above a certain limit need to go out to competitive tender, which takes a long time. (I'm not sure Google or the other players in this space would even bother to tender anyway.)

So the only option remaining is to rebuild the mapping solution using another technology to ensure continuity of service.

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

#68

Post by pamelafox »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #21

I remember in the 90s when we lambasted Microsoft for cornering markets with free products (IE) so they could drive out the competition (Netscape) and eventually start charging for them when we had no other choice. Luckily that never really happened, Microsoft never started charging for IE. While Google isn't exactly doing that here, it's coming awfully close.

Though that's how it may look, I don't think that was the strategy from the beginning.

I worked as the support engineer for the Google Maps API starting in 2007, in the early days of the API. We didn't think about monetization then. But then the GFC happened, and all over Google, there was a bigger emphasis on monetization -- basically every product had to eventually monetize. We experimented with different types of ads, but as it turns out, map-based advertising is difficult -- it's hard to know why a user is looking at a particular map, it's hard to get advertisers to geo-locate their ads accurately, it's hard to squish ads on a map without adding clutter, etc. While we continued to experiment with ads, we started talking about "ala carte" pricing, letting developers pay-per-view, per-geocode, etc, as a form of monetization.

That was about the time I left Google, when the monetization strategy was still unclear. It looks like they managed to implement ala carte from the technical perspective and decided to introduce it. Though it is a harsh reality check for developers who are already using the Maps API on popular free websites, I think its probably for the best. If I was given the choice between no Maps API at all, a Maps API with (not-so-relevant) ads, and a Maps API with incremental pricing, I'd personally opt for the latter. And who knows, maybe map-based ads will become an option in the future for those who prefer that option.

And if the pricing doesn't work for your site, there are multiple open-source mapping libraries that could use some love to bring them up to par with the Google Maps API (both from the developer & user usability perspective). I mentioned some in this talk: http://www.slideshare.net/wuzziwug/open-maps-or-close-enough... ...but there have been a few new entries in the space since then.

(Note: As I no longer work for them, nothing I say should be taken as official word from Google.)

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