4 ms·

> $350 versus $0.50! It's not as impressive as you make it sound. The real value of the Maps API is in 1) routing and 2) local business details. These are both

by gniv 4y ago

> $350 versus $0.50! It's not as impressive as you make it sound. The real value of the Maps API is in 1) routing and 2) local business details. These are both hard for anybody else to provide, so Google prices them accordingly. The price for the tiles is just an extension to the overall pricing.

yunohn 4y ago
Exactly this. Google Maps isn’t charging for raw bandwidth/storage. They spend massive amounts on R&D to make Maps the most useful and competitive global mapping solution. This comes at a cost, which is completely different than using community-maintained partially-complete OSM maps.
- Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
  A little naughty to describe OSM as "partially complete" but not Google. Last time I looked, Google didn't have a fraction of the footpaths or cycleways around here that OSM has.
ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> These are both hard for anybody else to provide, so Google prices them accordingly. I used to provide data to Google, mark missing postboxes, etc. Then I realised I am just helping them make money. Also they used to be quick, and got sloppy - 7 years ago my submission would get processed in 1 week. Recently i submitted nearby postbox, with GPS coordinates and pictures - 6 months, no responce. This is lile with social networks - the content is what matters, and people give it away for free
- bjelkeman-again 4y ago
  Better spend that time on Open Street Map then.
  - m4rtink 4y ago
    I would argue its easier and quite fun to do via StreetComplete: https://streetcomplete.app/ https://streetcomplete.app/ (Mobile app where you can fix and enhance OpenStreetMap data on the go.)
danpalmer 4y ago
Additionally, embedding maps in websites, the thing that most small businesses are wanting to do, is free. The pricing looks to me like it's centered around features that companies might be integrating into their products in order to monetise, which seems fair.
- wcedmisten 4y ago
  Only for a static image of a map. The "slippy" map that supports zooming and panning isn't free.
  - danpalmer 4y ago
    Actually as far as I can tell it's the other way around: if you embed the JS map it's free, but static tiles are charged API requests. I suspect this is because the JS map allows Google to create onwards journeys into Google Maps, and has limited utility outside embedding maps, whereas the static map tiles could be used in all sorts of products. I could be wrong though.
    - wcedmisten 4y ago
      Ah yeah, I think you're right. I may have been looking at old documentation on pricing.
  - CharlieDigital 4y ago
    It is more or less free. It's known as the Maps Embed API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/get-started https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/get-s... > All Maps Embed API requests are available at no charge with unlimited usage. I used it for my app (https://turas.app https://turas.app) and it is very, very capable for a free product (cross my fingers that they don't jack it up like they did Maps API proper).
einpoklum 4y ago
> local business details That situation is actually kind of outrageous. Municipalities and governmental bodies feed data into Google rather than publicly-accessible platforms (like OSM). And so do the private businesses, with no regulatory mechanism forcing either them to submit the same data to local / public databases (like yellow pages, national map site / registries, or OSM) or forcing Google to provide dumps of its data for the public to use. I hate having to access Google to find information which is simply not available in map for, or at all, elsewhere.
- troyvit 4y ago
  Yeah I agree. As near as I can tell municipalities treat Alphabet like their own data utility. They consider it an extension of their government. I have two kids in public school and those schools' reliance on these closed platforms is almost 100% complete for everything from newsletters to surveys to class sign-up and bill payment. It is the largest thing that keeps me from de-googling my life. I'm not necessarily saying municipalities should build this stuff out themselves, only that it freaks me out when small governments rely on giant corporations to support their infrastructure.
narrowtux 4y ago
There are lots of usecases for apps that don't need these advanced features, and just want a nice backdrop for their geo data. The current offerings of google, mapbox, bing, etc are prohibitively expensive when you just need a small subset of their features. The company I work for is a happy customer of maptiler.com which even offers routing and reverse geocoding. It might not be as great and up to date as google's, but it's more than enough for our apps.
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  In this case you should just use Leaflet and OpenStreetMap for a grand total of $0 per month.
  - narrowtux 4y ago
    That is usually out of the question, because raster tiles don't allow you to customize the map (colors, which features to display at which zoom levels, etc). I find openstreetmap way too busy as a backdrop for data. As I've said, the solutions are there, and there is an actual demand for cheap vector tile hosting without all of the other cruft that is bundled in the commercial solutions but isn't actually needed.
    - habi 4y ago
      > I find openstreetmap way too busy as a backdrop for data. Fortunately there’s a large selection of background layers for leaflet: http://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/ http://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/ I quite like CartoDB Positron for as a muted background.
      - narrowtux 4y ago
        Thanks, but I'm really happy with our vector tileset solution, and don't want to downgrade to raster tiles. They are pretty slow compared to vector tiles with mapbox/maplibre gl.
  - 4y ago
flangola7 4y ago
They could have it initially run a Google api search and cache that kind of local data for when the next person runs it
johannes1234321 4y ago
Local business details also can be the opposite of what you want: You don't want your competitors on the map. Not sure if there are ready use alternatives, but at least in theory with OSM you could fully control what is being shown. And what not.
- samschooler 4y ago
  I will say I'm for this setup, but what you're saying is not exactly true. You can customize what is shown with the styling wizard, and completely remove types of markers from maps you create. https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/ https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/
DeathArrow 4y ago
>The real value of the Maps API is in 1) routing and 2) local business details. Google is crowdsourcing both

by gniv 4y ago

yunohn 4y ago

Exactly this. Google Maps isn’t charging for raw bandwidth/storage. They spend massive amounts on R&D to make Maps the most useful and competitive global mapping solution. This comes at a cost, which is completely different than using community-maintained partially-complete OSM maps.

Doctor_Fegg 4y ago
A little naughty to describe OSM as "partially complete" but not Google. Last time I looked, Google didn't have a fraction of the footpaths or cycleways around here that OSM has.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago

> These are both hard for anybody else to provide, so Google prices them accordingly. I used to provide data to Google, mark missing postboxes, etc. Then I realised I am just helping them make money. Also they used to be quick, and got sloppy - 7 years ago my submission would get processed in 1 week. Recently i submitted nearby postbox, with GPS coordinates and pictures - 6 months, no responce. This is lile with social networks - the content is what matters, and people give it away for free

bjelkeman-again 4y ago
Better spend that time on Open Street Map then.
- m4rtink 4y ago
  I would argue its easier and quite fun to do via StreetComplete: https://streetcomplete.app/ https://streetcomplete.app/ (Mobile app where you can fix and enhance OpenStreetMap data on the go.)

danpalmer 4y ago

Additionally, embedding maps in websites, the thing that most small businesses are wanting to do, is free. The pricing looks to me like it's centered around features that companies might be integrating into their products in order to monetise, which seems fair.

wcedmisten 4y ago
Only for a static image of a map. The "slippy" map that supports zooming and panning isn't free.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  Actually as far as I can tell it's the other way around: if you embed the JS map it's free, but static tiles are charged API requests. I suspect this is because the JS map allows Google to create onwards journeys into Google Maps, and has limited utility outside embedding maps, whereas the static map tiles could be used in all sorts of products. I could be wrong though.
  - wcedmisten 4y ago
    Ah yeah, I think you're right. I may have been looking at old documentation on pricing.
- CharlieDigital 4y ago
  It is more or less free. It's known as the Maps Embed API: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/get-started https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/get-s... > All Maps Embed API requests are available at no charge with unlimited usage. I used it for my app (https://turas.app https://turas.app) and it is very, very capable for a free product (cross my fingers that they don't jack it up like they did Maps API proper).

einpoklum 4y ago

> local business details That situation is actually kind of outrageous. Municipalities and governmental bodies feed data into Google rather than publicly-accessible platforms (like OSM). And so do the private businesses, with no regulatory mechanism forcing either them to submit the same data to local / public databases (like yellow pages, national map site / registries, or OSM) or forcing Google to provide dumps of its data for the public to use. I hate having to access Google to find information which is simply not available in map for, or at all, elsewhere.

troyvit 4y ago
Yeah I agree. As near as I can tell municipalities treat Alphabet like their own data utility. They consider it an extension of their government. I have two kids in public school and those schools' reliance on these closed platforms is almost 100% complete for everything from newsletters to surveys to class sign-up and bill payment. It is the largest thing that keeps me from de-googling my life. I'm not necessarily saying municipalities should build this stuff out themselves, only that it freaks me out when small governments rely on giant corporations to support their infrastructure.

narrowtux 4y ago

There are lots of usecases for apps that don't need these advanced features, and just want a nice backdrop for their geo data. The current offerings of google, mapbox, bing, etc are prohibitively expensive when you just need a small subset of their features. The company I work for is a happy customer of maptiler.com which even offers routing and reverse geocoding. It might not be as great and up to date as google's, but it's more than enough for our apps.

iLoveOncall 4y ago
In this case you should just use Leaflet and OpenStreetMap for a grand total of $0 per month.
- narrowtux 4y ago
  That is usually out of the question, because raster tiles don't allow you to customize the map (colors, which features to display at which zoom levels, etc). I find openstreetmap way too busy as a backdrop for data. As I've said, the solutions are there, and there is an actual demand for cheap vector tile hosting without all of the other cruft that is bundled in the commercial solutions but isn't actually needed.
  - habi 4y ago
    > I find openstreetmap way too busy as a backdrop for data. Fortunately there’s a large selection of background layers for leaflet: http://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/ http://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/ I quite like CartoDB Positron for as a muted background.
    - narrowtux 4y ago
      Thanks, but I'm really happy with our vector tileset solution, and don't want to downgrade to raster tiles. They are pretty slow compared to vector tiles with mapbox/maplibre gl.
- 4y ago

flangola7 4y ago

They could have it initially run a Google api search and cache that kind of local data for when the next person runs it

johannes1234321 4y ago

Local business details also can be the opposite of what you want: You don't want your competitors on the map. Not sure if there are ready use alternatives, but at least in theory with OSM you could fully control what is being shown. And what not.

samschooler 4y ago
I will say I'm for this setup, but what you're saying is not exactly true. You can customize what is shown with the styling wizard, and completely remove types of markers from maps you create. https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/ https://mapstyle.withgoogle.com/

DeathArrow 4y ago

>The real value of the Maps API is in 1) routing and 2) local business details. Google is crowdsourcing both