Google maps usage fees • Hacker News Board

Re: Google maps usage fees

#21

Post by ericd » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:19 PM UTC

djb_hackernews wrote: post #20

ericd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the person behind PadMapper ( http://www.padmapper.com ), this isn't the best news I've gotten this week. What's yours?

Hi Eric! I run http://impromptudo.com . Though it's been neglected. Obviously PadMapper is/was a huge influence on my project, keep up the good work. Any plans for your next move? New map provider? Pony up?

Haha very cool idea! There's even stuff happening near me, amazingly enough.

Not sure yet, have to look at the options.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#22

Post by jen_h » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:22 PM UTC

Do wish that they had released the Maps API to the API console in parallel with this announcement so that we'd know what we were in for (or at least given a date for its release so that we know when to check back?). My back of the envelope estimate for our usage is just a little bit terrifying right now.

Also not a fan of having to go through a Sales rep to find out anything about the pricing structure for Premiere.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#23

Post by robrenaud » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:30 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #17

Google charging for this is good only in that it guarantees attempts by other parties to create independent solutions that are lower cost. Sometimes I worry google is too good at things like gmail, maps, etc. and it causes others to not even try to develop competitive services I was surprised to discover bing maps is far better than google maps at some things, particularly their "bird's eye view" and they find addres…

I work on google maps. You can fix the geocode of your address from google maps itself. If the problem in your town is more systemic than "maps can't locate my road" or "maps misplaces my address on the road", please send me an email with some details and I'll investigate (but I don't work all that close to the geocoding portion of the service), rrenaud@google.com.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#24

Post by lcm133 » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:34 PM UTC

A storm cloud in the distance but I wouldn't start freaking out just yet. "We will also provide at least 30 days notice on this blog before enforcement of the usage limits and billing for excess usage begins." I hope they'll need to pull a "Qwickster" on this one.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#25

Post by willfully_lost » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:37 PM UTC

Aren't the limits IP based? This page on Google's 'Geocoding Strategies' seems to say so: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/articles/geocodestrat.html#...

So as long as your call to the Maps API goes out client side, aren't you ok?

Re: Google maps usage fees

#26

Post by mrud » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 3:44 PM UTC

freyfogle wrote: post #7

Anyone worried by this should check out http://www.mapstraction.com Javascript mapping abstraction library that lets you write code once and then switch between different mapping providers.

There is also http://openlayers.org supporting all different kind of formts (GeoJSON, GPX, WKT...) and different providers like google, bing, osm, ... It even supports mobile

Have a look at http://openlayers.org/dev/examples/ for their examples

Re: Google maps usage fees

#27

Post by ajtaylor » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 4:03 PM UTC

willfully_lost wrote: post #25

Aren't the limits IP based? This page on Google's 'Geocoding Strategies' seems to say so: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/articles/geocodestrat.html#... So as long as your call to the Maps API goes out client side, aren't you ok?

Probably, since the new JS Maps v3 API a key is no longer required.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#28

Post by megaman821 » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 4:11 PM UTC

djb_hackernews wrote: post #13

As someone who runs a service where a google map is THE interface, I don't think these rates are all that bad considering how powerful of a tool gmaps is. However, my service doesn't come close to the 25k required before billing comes in to the picture. I do wonder what the people behind padmapper.com think, which most likely will get charged and has a similar gmap as the service interface. The really interesting cas…

It would be fairly ironic if Yelp has to pay, seeing as how Google uses Yelp ratings in their maps freely and wants to charge Yelp to use maps on their site.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#29

Post by krosaen » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 4:16 PM UTC

i think http://leaflet.cloudmade.com just got a lot more interesting; like polymaps but supports older versions of ie.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#30

Post by btb » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 4:25 PM UTC

PedroCandeias wrote: post #2

$4 / $8 cpm? Isn't that a tad high for websites which use gmaps and rely on advertising revenue?

Yes it is, at least for us. We run a 15 mio pageview/month website, completely reliant on advertising, and we have a google map on probably 4 mio of those pageviews. So our bill is going from free to 16.000$ pr month

$4 cpm is interestingly enough the same as we charge our own advertisers leaving zero profit margin for us. We are now in the process of converting our website to another map provider.