Google maps usage fees

Actual announcement here - <a href="http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction-of-usage-limits-to-maps.html" rel="nofollow">http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction...</a><p>Doesn't really need a blog to translate it.

Google charging for this is good only in that it guarantees attempts by other parties to create independent solutions that are lower cost.<p>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<p>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.

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.<p>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.<p>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.

Anyone worried by this should check out <a href="http://www.mapstraction.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.mapstraction.com</a><p>Javascript mapping abstraction library that lets you write code once and then switch between different mapping providers.

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.<p>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.<p>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...

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

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.<p>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 <i>mom</i> 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.<p>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".<p>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.<p>- One less Google Maps developer

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

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

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.

<a href="http://polymaps.org" rel="nofollow">http://polymaps.org</a> could be a good alternative if you are willing to ditch support for &#60;= ie8 (non svg browsers).

MapBox (<a href="http://mapbox.com/" rel="nofollow">http://mapbox.com/</a>) hosts tiles (<a href="http://tiles.mapbox.com/" rel="nofollow">http://tiles.mapbox.com/</a>) 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.

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

Regarding the static maps: <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/index.html#Limits" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/in...</a><p>Does the following statement still apply?<p>&#62; 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. &#62;&#62;

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.

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

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