

Google Maps API - More Than A Map - cleverjake
http://www.morethanamap.com/

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untog
Cynicism aside, this is very true. I've used a done of different mapping
libraries, and the actual map display part is Google's weakest part-
leaflet.js and ModestMaps are much faster, particularly on mobile devices.

But on the flip side, I've never found a provider capable of geocoding as well
as Google- especially with response times that allow you to make a typeahead
address searcher. Google's Styled Map Tiles are still ahead of anyone else's
offerings.

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bad_user
Even when you have a concrete latitude/longitude point, Google returns street
addresses a lot more often than alternatives, such as Bing. And you're right
about the response time, in comparison Bing is extremely slow.

Unfortunately after getting passed the free tier, it gets kind of expensive.

~~~
epoxyhockey
I have been happily using Yahoo's geocoding service, with google coded as a
backup service. My application doesn't require speed, so I don't know how it
stacks up against google in that regard. I have run into a couple of cases
where yahoo's street data was not as fresh as google's.

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Spearchucker
Maybe (ok, not maybe) I'm getting too philosophical about such decisions these
days, but Google is, at it's heart, an ad company that happens to be really
good at tech. Nokia is a tech company that is really good at tech. My choice
is Nokia - they're just a closer match to the view I have of myself.

~~~
jonknee
I think Google is a tech company that happens to be really good at ads (which
is uses to fund all of its tech). Google didn't set out to sell advertising,
it was just a way that they could continue solving big problems.

For example, I don't think Google is spending big dollars on automated cars to
advance its advertising business.

~~~
awolf
Google makes 99% of its money from ads, and it has pretty much always been
that way.

They're definitely an ad company.

~~~
prof_hobart
Their business model is undoubtedly ads. But I think that's slightly different
from saying they are an ad company. As far as I can tell, the primary reason
that Google exists is for clever technical people to do new geeky stuff. They
need a way to fund that geeky stuff and that's where ads come in, but the ads
and the revenue aren't where their real passion seems to be. If they could
simply sit back and watch the $$ rolling in through ads without ever doing
another bit of innovation, I doubt they would do it.

This is quite different from the vast majority of companies. BP, for example,
don't exist because their peope are passionate about drilling oil - it's
because drilling oil is a very good way of making money. Even companies like
MicroSoft exist (and pretty much always existed) primarily as a money-making
business. Sure they attract lots of nerds, but the money driven the company's
choices of where to deploy those nerds.

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smacktoward
True, it's more than a map. It's a map AND a monthly bill!

~~~
capo
It's mostly free actually, and the pricing is very flexible otherwise:
[http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-
pricin...](http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-pricing-and-
simplified-limits.html)

~~~
taligent
It's 50c per 1000 requests. So if you were building a semi-popular website or
iPhone app with 10K requests/day it would be $150 a month. In what bizarro
world is that mostly free ?

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untog
In addition to what chrisbroadfoot said, 10K requests for $5? In what bizarro
world is that a problem, given the service you are receiving?

~~~
taligent
Remember that's 10K requests for $5 NOW. We could see it jump back to its
original price at any time of Google's choosing which would have been $40.

But the 10K requests bit is arbitrary. My point is that it is not mostly free.
It's not really even close to being free.

~~~
untog
Well sure, the price of anything can change in the future. It's difficult to
plan for that.

But as others have said, you get 25K free per day. It really depends how big
your audience is as to whether it's "mostly" free.

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johnjones
I guess they are feeling the heat with the recent changes in pricing

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davidlumley
I can't help but feel this is an attempt to calm people from switching to
mapbox (<http://mapbox.com/>) and OSM. The price is now on par but unless they
improve their JavaScript API I can't find a compelling reason to go back to
Google Maps.

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fudged71
Mapping leads to directions leads to scanning leads to navigation leads to
automated cars leads to autonomous bipeds.

And facebook is trying to do to social mapping what google is doing to world
mapping.

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wmw
I like the nice scrolling effect within the developer-stories/

~~~
molmalo
Funny thing, in the last story, while it says Brazil, the background is from
Women's Bridge (Puente de la Mujer) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer>

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keeptrying
Well it shows the Google finally understands just-in-time or opportunistic
Marketing.

Their autonomous driving cars are going to change every market out there.

~~~
revelation
This is marketed to (potential and current) API users, not iOS users. They
have been getting some competition after their move to charge for API usage.

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sidcool
Very well made.

~~~
tsieling
It looks nice, but it breaks default browser navigation standards. The space
bar doesn't paginate, and scrolling to the end of the page doesn't stop
scrolling, but forces me back to the top of the page. This is happening in
Safari, can't attest to other browsers, but I found it distracting.

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timmillwood
If only there was a native iOS app for this! Time to switch to Android I
think.

~~~
kin
[http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhon...](http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhone-5-will-
see-Google-Maps-app-by-end-of-year-report)

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taligent
Definitely more than a map. Google's latest revenue source.

So unfortunately as a developer I would rather spend my efforts helping to
improve OpenStreetMap.

~~~
mattdeboard
True, but if you're a business that needs this kind of data for your product,
it's almost certainly cheaper to pay Google than to either develop it in-house
or make contributing to OpenStreetMap part of your business. Personally, I'd
rather build things than pay someone else for what they built, especially if
the thing is interesting or "fun"; but reality confronts most of us. Smarter
to pay for the wheel than reinvent your own (or waiting for someone else to do
it, for free) ... at least, that's the assumption I'm operating on.

~~~
taligent
I think you misread what I said.

It was that IF I was going to spend money on a mapping API I would rather use
it to improve an open platform. Especially for something as key as mapping.

~~~
mattdeboard
Gotcha, I did misread.

