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Google Maps Platform

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Re: Google Maps Platform

#111

Post by jakecopp »

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?

Yep! There are a bunch of Libraries that integrate with OpenStreetMap, see the "Libraries for Developers" section: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Android

Mapbox also has Android implementations, not sure if you can sign up without a credit card though.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#112

Post by akura »

outside2344 wrote: post #52
kinard wrote: post #12

WOW, my costs are going to go from about $320 per month to $3,750 per month. Time to find a different solution! GULP!

I'm using Mapbox - much nicer and much cheaper - check them out.

Is there a places type autocomplete equivilent for mapbox? I can't see anything in their services list

Re: Google Maps Platform

#113

Post by maxerickson »

puzzle wrote: post #107
mtmail wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mapbox no longer guarantees a time ( https://twitter.com/Anonymaps/status/913812009547902978 ) Worst I've read about is 3 months. That surprising because openstreetmap.org's tile servers aim for sub-10 minute updates and often I see my changes even faster. https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=61040

Well, they probably have some kind of tile "lint", need to precompute a bunch of routing data (depending on what their actual algorithm is), sync all their rendering/prerendering pipelines at a common revision, propagate outputs to cache servers, etc. So it can't easily be done at every change, unless they have a design where small incremental deltas are explicitly supported by all their services. It is a time- and r…

The concern seems to be moderation (but they haven't made a clear statement about it either). The current pace of updates is slower than what they were doing a year ago, so it probably isn't a technical thing.

Their routing engine updates more frequently than the rendering data.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#115

Post by mtmail »

jakecopp wrote: post #100
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'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).

Re: Google Maps Platform

#116

Post by maxerickson »

samstave wrote: post #67

Ive always wondered why Google Maps hasnttaken that of a topological yellow pages - where you have a limited blurb that can appear on your location beacon if your a business and if I search for "thing near me" your location and blurb can pop on a users' map and if they click on you to go to you, think of it as an ad click to your location. Or is this already a thing? EDIT: This looks exactly like what they are doing…

I think it's one of the things that was behind the big push for Google+. Facebook won, but at the time they hadn't quite yet become the default place for small businesses to do social media.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#117

Post by lukeqsee »

akura wrote: post #110
kinard wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps, Places and Geocoding

I'm just starting a side project that uses similar, i think it's the pricing around autocomplete and places information that seems like the most painful part to me. Currently I'm using it to search and add points on a map, it seems like it could really add up

There are a few free alternatives to Google:

arcgis has a free place suggestions API: https://developers.arcgis.com/rest/geocode/api-reference/geo...

OpenCageData is pretty good for geocoding with a good free tier.

My company https://stadiamaps.com does map tiles at very generous tiers.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#118

Post by chrishynes »

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?

Re: Google Maps Platform

#119

Post by thecodemonkey »

I just wanted to add that geocod.io is now a viable alternative to Google Maps for geocoding in terms of both accuracy and pricing.

We’re going to continue having a no-credit-card-required 2,500/day free limit, as well as the most affordable pricing, without restrictions. Including a plan that allows for unlimited geocoding. https://geocod.io/pricing

Full disclaimer: I’m one of the Geocodio founders.

Re: Google Maps Platform

#120

Post by lukeqsee »

elyobo wrote: post #97
kinard wrote: post #12

WOW, my costs are going to go from about $320 per month to $3,750 per month. Time to find a different solution! GULP!

Try $0/month to $20k/month :-/

What services do you use? I'm working on a startup in this space, and I could definitely recommend a set of services that replace Google for much cheaper (even if you didn't use us ;) ).
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