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Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

geoapi.com

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Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#11

Post by nixme »

othman wrote: post #7
idoh wrote: post #4

That's a really nice service. So, how much is this going to cost?

Right now the model is free. We limit it to 20K hits per day. If you need more than that, ping us and we can help out (api at geoapi.com)

Will you charge in the future? Will there always be a free plan with a limited number of hits?

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#13

Post by wooster »

The sticking point with this, as with most geo APIs which depend on non-free data, is the terms of use:

"The data in the API is our intellectual property or that of our partners who provided it to us. It is not yours and we are not granting you any broad license to use this data outside of the use of the API."

"You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to:

a) cache, record, pre-fetch, or otherwise store any portion of the Company Content or attempt or provide a means to execute any "bulk download" operations;

...

j) make requests against the API that are not user initiated;"

http://code.google.com/p/geo-api/wiki/TermsOfUse

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#15

Post by othman »

wooster wrote: post #13

The sticking point with this, as with most geo APIs which depend on non-free data, is the terms of use: "The data in the API is our intellectual property or that of our partners who provided it to us. It is not yours and we are not granting you any broad license to use this data outside of the use of the API." "You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to: a) cache, record, pre-fetch, or other…

As you might guess, the ownership over the data is a tricky issue, where there are many variables that aren't under our control. Our objective is to make the information as open as possible within these constraints. One thing to note, however, is that the userview portion (i.e. the data that an app WRITES to the API) does remain under the app's control (i.e. developers don't relinquish ownership). Over time, we do think there will be an opportunity to have developers contribute their improvements to a common pool of information to benefit everyone.

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#16

Post by othman »

nixme wrote: post #11
othman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now the model is free. We limit it to 20K hits per day. If you need more than that, ping us and we can help out (api at geoapi.com)

Will you charge in the future? Will there always be a free plan with a limited number of hits?

There will always be a free plan with a relatively reasonable volume - at minimum, it will always be a 'fremium' kind of thing. At which point we start charging is, frankly, to ensure that we can at least cover serving costs.

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#17

Post by othman »

barmstrong wrote: post #14

It looks good but my biggest unanswered question when I saw it: What's the difference between this and the Google Geocode API?

Hi - it's actually quite different. As of now, we don't (yet) have a forward geocoding api exposed. Rather, most of the API functionality that's live is for backward geocoding. As in, with Google's Geocoder, you give a string and you get back a place. With us, you give a place (i.e. lat/lon) and you get where that place is and what's around it.

That being said, a number of people have been pinging us about getting simple geocoding functionality, so stay tuned for that as well :).

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#19

Post by othman »

othman wrote: post #17
barmstrong wrote: post #14

It looks good but my biggest unanswered question when I saw it: What's the difference between this and the Google Geocode API?

Hi - it's actually quite different. As of now, we don't (yet) have a forward geocoding api exposed. Rather, most of the API functionality that's live is for backward geocoding. As in, with Google's Geocoder, you give a string and you get back a place. With us, you give a place (i.e. lat/lon) and you get where that place is and what's around it. That being said, a number of people have been pinging us about getting si…

BTW, there are also a number of other differences - below is a quick list: - Type of data: One of things we do is combine a number of different datasets (16+ M businesses, points of interest, intersections, etc...) - Query type: You get very powerful expressiveness in the types of queries you do. You can literally make a request for 'Japanese restaurants that are within 1 mile and that are open at 10pm.' - Media layers: For most entities, you can get media layers such as Twitter and Flickr. For example, you can get tweets around the mission (http://api.geoapi.com/v1/e/mission-san-francisco-ca/view/twi...). We're adding more layers as we go. - UserView: Each developer gets a private namespace into which they can add information and run geo queries on it. Basically, you can annotate the world with close to zero effort.

Re: Tell HN: We just launched GeoAPI.com (read/write geo API)

#20

Post by fnid »

wooster wrote: post #13

The sticking point with this, as with most geo APIs which depend on non-free data, is the terms of use: "The data in the API is our intellectual property or that of our partners who provided it to us. It is not yours and we are not granting you any broad license to use this data outside of the use of the API." "You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to: a) cache, record, pre-fetch, or other…

This is why I don't understand copyright law. Aren't data facts? Facts can't be copyrighted, right? Where a business is located is a fact. How can they say how someone else can use that fact?
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