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Google maps usage fees

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Re: Google maps usage fees

#31

Post by JimmyL »

ericd wrote: post #15
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…

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

Congrats on PadMapper - it's a fantastic service, and makes looking for an apartment in a new city infinitely easier.

This doesn't help much in this situation, but thanks for all your work on it; I can't think of a single person in my social circle who's moved recently and hasn't used it.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#32

Post by ciupicri »

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 like Bing's bird's eye view too, but their interface doesn't compare with Google Maps.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#33

Post by sv123 »

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?

I am confused about this too. It seems like 99% of sites using maps would be doing it client side in which case the cost change wouldn't be a big deal, but maybe I am missing something.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#34

Post by kalleboo »

robrenaud wrote: post #23
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.

My main complaint about Google Maps is how it always assumes I'm in America. I live in Tokyo. My default location is Tokyo. I search for "Ginza". I get a sushi restaurant in Alabama.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#35

Post by ericd »

JimmyL wrote: post #31
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?

Congrats on PadMapper - it's a fantastic service, and makes looking for an apartment in a new city infinitely easier. This doesn't help much in this situation, but thanks for all your work on it; I can't think of a single person in my social circle who's moved recently and hasn't used it.

Still nice to hear, thanks very much :-) Notes from happy users make a really big difference.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#36

Post by sv123 »

anon_less23 wrote: post #14
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 just too high. I use a v3 styled map that logs about 15K map loads per day (there is a map on just about every page). That means my total cost per day would be $52, just for maps. I would have to make about $3.5 CPM via adsense to break even on map payments (that doesn't even include my hosting costs and other business expenses). This change is going to force me to revert back to un-styled maps and just ho…

It's been mentioned elsewhere in this thread but if you are using the client side maps js without an api key how do they track usage? Maybe there is something we are missing?

Re: Google maps usage fees

#37

Post by Stratoscope »

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?

They can and presumably do look at the referer header on the requests for .js files and map tiles.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#38

Post by Stratoscope »

sv123 wrote: post #33
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?

I am confused about this too. It seems like 99% of sites using maps would be doing it client side in which case the cost change wouldn't be a big deal, but maybe I am missing something.

They are talking about client-side APIs, but the limits are not per client IP address. They can look at the referer header to see what site embedded the map.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#39

Post by sv123 »

Stratoscope wrote: post #38
sv123 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am confused about this too. It seems like 99% of sites using maps would be doing it client side in which case the cost change wouldn't be a big deal, but maybe I am missing something.

They are talking about client-side APIs, but the limits are not per client IP address. They can look at the referer header to see what site embedded the map.

Not if your pages are https.

Re: Google maps usage fees

#40

Post by milkshakes »

ericd wrote: post #15
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…

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

tyvm for padmapper! fwiw i would definitely pay for your service, especially the bookmarks/favorites feature. it rules.
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