

Google maps usage fees - djd
http://blog.programmableweb.com/2011/10/27/google-maps-usage-fees-how-many-developers-will-have-to-pay/

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bcl
Actual announcement here -
[http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction...](http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction-
of-usage-limits-to-maps.html)

Doesn't really need a blog to translate it.

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ck2
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 addresses far
better in my town where Google will pick the wrong spot.

~~~
robrenaud
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.

~~~
kalleboo
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.

~~~
ciupicri
If you're logged in there should be a "Set default location" or "Change
default location" link on the left side, just bellow "Get directions" and "My
places".

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ajtaylor
At $work in Australia, we went through this a couple months ago. After an
initial quote that was beyond ridiculous, we worked out a much better deal
with the local Google reseller. In addition, to help keep map views down we
stopped unconditionally loading the map. Instead we have a placeholder image
which when clicked loads the maps API dynamically. Google's fine with this
behaviour as long as we don't use their map image.

We looked at other map providers, and in particular Bing and TileStream/OSM.
But Bing's cost was 1) nearly what Google wanted and 2) confusing to try and
get an actual price because there are about 10 different ways to get a Bing
maps license. OSM ended up being ruled out because 1) we weren't confident in
the data quality in India and Malaysia and 2) I couldn't find an easy way to
geocode.

I wish I had known about the Mapstraction project freyfogle mentioned. I would
have seriously considered using it since we were already moving from v2 to v3
of the Google Maps API. Future proofing our maps implementation would have
been nice.

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freyfogle
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.

~~~
tmcw
(full disclosure; have patches in many mapping frameworks, and a surplus of
opinions)

You're probably better off just using a straight-up real maps API, like the
MapQuest open tile API [1], and an open-source framework directly. And for
this, use Leaflet or Modest Maps javascript. Not OpenLayers unless you really,
really need OpenLayers.

[1]: <http://developer.mapquest.com/web/products/open/map>

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djb_hackernews
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 cases will be things like Yelp, where the map is a
small feature to the overall service. At 1.5M page views/day that's $1,500 per
day...

~~~
ericd
As the person behind PadMapper (<http://www.padmapper.com>), this isn't the
best news I've gotten this week.

What's yours?

~~~
djb_hackernews
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?

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

Not sure yet, have to look at the options.

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

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anon_less23
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
hope my traffic doesn't grow above 25K. If that happens, I'd definitely switch
to another map provider.

I think the key thing here is that the google map is a backdrop for my
website/app, it is not the main feature. I am happy to pay a reasonable price
for my usage, but I am not going to be _forced_ to pay an unreasonably high
price for it.

~~~
sv123
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?

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ytadesse
I wonder if any Google reps are reading this? I highly believe that this forum
represents the general feelings held by most developers using Google maps.

Google appears to be forgetting that their success has more to do with their
name at this point than their products. Not to knock Google Plus, but, had it
not had the name Google in front of it, it would have been just an
afterthought that would have received a half-pager from Alexia on TechCrunch.
Making Google Maps free is what led to Google Maps being ubiquitous and that
eventually led to Google Maps becoming the defacto map provider in the same
way that Google Search is the defacto search provider. Now, even my _mom_
tells me to "Use Goooogle Map". This type of tactic keeps Google on the tip of
everyone's tongue ... even the tongue of my computer-illiterate mother.

Although I avoid being an alarmist, this recent change will lead to developers
shying away from Google Maps in their own sites and/or switching away from it
if they've already used it. This will in-turn expose end-users to other
experiences and will gradually reduce people's association of Google to all
that is "finding stuff using the internet".

So, yes, what I am implying is that Google should run Google Maps at a loss
for the simple sake of maintaining their brand's presence in the online world.
Some may say that this is bad business since it involves losing money, BUT, I
say it's quite the opposite. Having my own mother be aware of Google Maps
without ever having used it herself is testament to the success of the brand.

\- One less Google Maps developer

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willfully_lost
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#...](http://code.google.com/apis/maps/articles/geocodestrat.html#quota-
limits)

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

~~~
sv123
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.

~~~
Stratoscope
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.

~~~
sv123
Not if your pages are https.

~~~
ohashi
Google blocks you from seeing referred search terms and you flip it around so
they can't see what server the requests on their API are coming from. Seems
kind of fair, right?

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xedarius
Does this mean that Apple will have to pay for all of the iPhone users?

~~~
thibaut_barrere
My (not wild) guess is that there was already a contract. Not sure who's
paying who, though :)

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mikerg87
Is this for public facing sites? I remember there used to be an annual fee of
$8 000 plus a pageview hit if you had an intranet app. We ended up using OSM
because of it.

~~~
btn
Private/internal-only sites still require a Premiere licence ("starting at
just $10,000 per year").

~~~
ericd
Apparently that scales linearly - $10k per million pageviews in a given year.
10 million pageviews in 2012? $100k that year.

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krosaen
<http://polymaps.org> could be a good alternative if you are willing to ditch
support for <= ie8 (non svg browsers).

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tmcw
MapBox (<http://mapbox.com/>) hosts tiles (<http://tiles.mapbox.com/>) that
you can use with much less restrictions, and download full tilesets if you
want to really hammer a server. There's also a tool (TileMill) for designing
maps from scratch or with OpenStreetMap data. It's a self-plug (I work there),
but pretty relevant today.

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jen_h
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.

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danso
Regarding the static maps:
[http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/in...](http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/index.html#Limits)

Does the following statement still apply?

> Use of the Google Static Maps API is subject to a query limit of 1000 unique
> (different) image requests per viewer per day. Since this restriction is a
> quota per viewer, most developers should not need to worry about exceeding
> their quota. >>

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lcm133
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.

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guimarin
time to rethink the business model on my 'free' maps overlay program...

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

