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New Map APIs from Google
- euekebrb 3y ago[flagged]
- nilsmagnus 3y agoHow is an api for Pollen, Solar and Air Quality worthless noisy datasets?
- dartharva 3y agoThat's nice, would've been better if it endowed is basic features like the ability to extract and list places overlapping custom area polygons as well.
- cbg0 3y agoThe European Commission also has a nifty tool for estimating PV performance: https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html
- silvestrov 3y agoSeems like it just use simple geo location and does not take dust and rain into account. More sun but a lot of dust can be less efficient than less sun but no dust.
- csunbird 3y agoBut, it is free and it is already done. It is a good tool to estimate what would be your gain from solar power. And obviously one of the underrated advantages: It is not Google.
- londons_explore 3y agoI really wish Google would offer better lower level API's, and stop trying to do high level API's like "solar potential" and "pollen prediction". I basically just want a data dump of their whole map, like OSM provides, but I understand why they don't want to do that... So instead give me access to the whole maps database to run bigquery queries over it, and make me pay per record I touch or record in the result set. I'd love to be able to answer questions like "How far, on average, are my customers home addresses from the nearest footpath?", or "What percentage of residential addresses in the UK have an ATM within 1 mile", or "Give me a route from A to B, but not via any unpaved streets", or "Give me a list of the 100 biggest cities that have no ice rinks".
- pseg134 3y agoYeah and then someone would just export all of the data if they offered low level access. I can’t think of any reason google would take that risk for minimal API fees.
- londons_explore 3y agoFor most of the data, it's already possible to siphon it off. Just browse with a instrumented browser and you can download all the 3D map data for a city in a few minutes from a single session, simply emulating a user zooming around the city. Business data can likewise be methodologically downloaded, thousands of businesses per user account per day doesn't hit their rate limits. The polygons of roads and stuff are also easily extracted from a browser. And the Android/iOS mobile apps allow you to 'download for offline use', which is obfusticated but not properly encrypted. Charging $1 per 1000 records for API access would cost massive amounts for a competitor to download all the data - and besides, maps data is fairly easy to hide a few erroneous entries in and catch anyone using the data to start a clone of Google Maps.
- mtmail 3y ago> Business data can likewise be methodologically downloaded Google doesn't allow to store the data permanently. Just because it's technically possible doesn't make it legal. From the Google Places API terms "you must not pre-fetch, index, store, or cache any Content except under the limited conditions stated in the terms" "You can display Places API results on a Google Map, or without a map. If you want to display Places API results on a map, then these results must be displayed on a Google Map. It is prohibited to use Places API data on a map that is not a Google map."
- miroljub 3y agoNot interested. The main risk is, it's Google, and it will be discontinued or over-monetized eventually. Better look for more reliable alternatives.
- ch_sm 3y agoGoogle Places API is already sooo expensive, it’s silly.
- redeux 3y agoI’m relatively excited about the pollen API. I suffer from severe seasonal allergies. I know exactly what I’m allergic to because I’ve seen an allergist and I’ve undergone immunotherapy, and while that helped it didn’t cure it. I’ve struggled to find a good source of location specific pollen forecasting and historical data. The historical data is probably the most important for me because it would allow me to start taking medication weeks before the first pollen event, allowing for maximum therapeutic effect. I’m probably going to try to build something for myself later today and see if I can get the kind of data I’d like to see out of it.
- onli 3y agoJust don't disregard the warning in the other comments about google not being a reliable API provider. Especially with maps and weather APIs Google's track record is abysmal, and I personally had to swap out APIs for a FOSS project of mine because their API went away.
- kmlx 3y agowill these be available in the Google Maps app?
- diwakar2008 3y agoWhat is the source of the data though? If I want the latest AQI for Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, how do I know where Google is getting the data from? Interesting product spin though ...
- Maxious 3y agoFor India the source is Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) https://support.google.com/maps/answer/11270845 https://support.google.com/maps/answer/11270845
- diwakar2008 3y agoThank you!
- danjc 3y agoWow first pollen, now solar. Talk about building resilient communities.
- Omnipresent 3y agoThis is great but doesn't work for applications that don't have the luxury of the internet. What are some decent map alternatives for air-gapped (no internet access) applications.
- Gigachad 3y agoYou want live air quality data without internet?
- Rygian 3y agoOn Android (and iPhone I guess) OsmAnd is a navigation app that works offline (with map data from OpenStreetMap) and exposes an API as well as examples on how to use its core in other apps [1]. [1] https://osmand.net/docs/build-it/ https://osmand.net/docs/build-it/
- blamazon 3y agoOsmAnd is amazing! I use it for gravel biking and off road driving and it's just incredible at doing turn by turn navigation off a GPX file offline.
- Rygian 3y agoAnd yet no news on API to collect location data shared privately by friends and family (https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/62938530 https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/62938530)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- wiredfool 3y agoSolar potential is available at the global solar atlas (https://globalsolaratlas.info/map https://globalsolaratlas.info/map), including downloadable datasets.
- jd3 3y agoDC uses Palmetto mapdwell, which is the solar potential analytics platform + api that pepco, comed, exelon, bge, peco, etc. all use. https://mapdwell.com/en/solar/dc https://mapdwell.com/en/solar/dc This is the data that I took to my building's HOA board when proposing we retrofit our rooftop with solar.
- runako 3y agoThat's a neat project. A key difference is the Google dataset resolves down to the address level (at least in the US). So it is able to account for tree cover over individual buildings, which can be determinative to the economics of a solar install.
- jeffbee 3y agoThe demo in the article is way beyond this. They have elevation models of each house and optimize number and placement of panels.
- pedalpete 3y agoI believe OpenSolar.com is another alternative
- l5870uoo9y 3y agoAs an independent hacker using Google Maps or Mapbox have been out of reach for years given their high cost. Sure you get a free tier but as soon as you spend just a little above that it can quickly cost a small fortune. It is a bit sad for the developer community because there could without a doubt be a lot smaller and innovative projects that utilize maps if the pricing made that possible.
- leesalminen 3y agoI remember a few years ago when the address autocomplete API went from free to thousands of dollars. That was a surprise bill I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
- jamesfinlayson 3y agoI remember at a previous job someone cut the cost by only doing look-ups after the first three characters had been typed, and at another job someone getting an unexpected five figure bill (they had some explaining to do).
- simfree 3y agoEsri has a free address auto-complete API, and unlike Google who suggests addresses that aren't legal, USPS deliverable addresses, you nearly always get real, valid addresses from Esri since they are pulling USPS's dataset (who is the only org that is legally required to getsl notified when a city or county renames a road, renumbers a block of buildings, etc).
- lifechoseme123 3y agoCould someone please share their MapBox pricing vs usage experience? I am considering building a map related app on MapBox API. Alternatively, there's the OSS "OpenLayers": https://openlayers.org/en/latest/examples/ https://openlayers.org/en/latest/examples/
- martinkostov 3y agoWhen will such information be available in the Maps app?
- joshstrange 3y agoUnless it's internal/admin-only I can't see myself building on top of Google Maps APIs again. It's just too dang expensive. Maybe if some of the products I wrote were making money per-user (directly to me at least, I'm mainly B2B and so I could pass on the cost but the businesses don't care enough to pay it) I could justify it but just showing an interactive map of restaurant locations for a local food week ran up a couple hundred dollars. I spent a few hours and switched over to use ProtonMaps [0] and I've been very happy. I still use the Google API on the admin side to aid in looking up addresses but that usage is tiny compared to all the people viewing the data. That's all for a personal project but I've seen Google Maps costs spiral out of control at 2 different companies I've worked at. I pushed for OSM/etc at one company but was essentially told "Nobody ever got fired for buying Google Maps" (we were just drawing polygons on a map) and I think I might be successful at pushing for ProtonMaps (OSM under the covers) at my current. Google Maps lets you get your foot in the door "for free" but once you pass the free tier it's insane. [0] https://protomaps.com/ https://protomaps.com/
- brookst 3y agoWhich is funny because it seems misaligned with Google’s business model. Shouldn’t they be the cheapest option, and generating revenue by ad placements in 3rd party apps? I suppose the ad value of static images in tiles is low, and there’s no way to ensure that developers honor JavaScript or other interactivity for ads?
- joshstrange 3y agoI mean when it comes to interactive maps you have to load their JS to display them. Unlike OSM you don't have (legit) access to the raw tiles. You would think that base maps would be a loss-leader for them but with it's current pricing that doesn't seem to be the case. Places API or Directions API are even more crazy in pricing that I never even consider using them. I'd love to give exact driving/walking distances but the cost to do so would be astronomical, instead I just use the haversine formula to give "as the crow flies" distances. I would love to see some of the more complicated Google Maps APIs unseated by 3rd party providers (Places/Distance, I guess Solar/Pollen/etc too but I care less about those).
- udioron 3y agohttps://en.globes.co.il/en/article-google-launches-applications-based-on-breezometer-acquisition-1001456420 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-google-launches-applicati... > Google launches applications based on BreezoMeter acquisition > BreezoMeter, acquired by Google last year for $225 million, develops technology for predicting environmental hazards related to air quality and its impact on health.
- breakingrules 3y ago[dead]
- moneywoes 3y agoAre these free?
- irvinej00 3y agoJust waiting for the price hike once they have a monopoly in that niche
- intrasight 3y agoAnybody know if there's a way to add the pollution layer to regular Google Maps? After reading about the new NASA TEMPO satellite. Or how to get map from NASA? I see no links in their announcement. Just dug in a bit more and found this: https://tempo.si.edu/data.html https://tempo.si.edu/data.html Which links to https://ofmpub.epa.gov/rsig/rsigserver?index.html https://ofmpub.epa.gov/rsig/rsigserver?index.html which is offline.
- lea900 3y ago[dead]
- cornfutes 3y agoCan we just get an API to request saved lists such as “favorites” and “want to go”? My motivation is that there seems to be some consistency issues with the backend. I save a spot, and then it gets reverted. Given that I have over 6,000 spots saved, it’s impossible to keep track of when Google didn’t commit or, worst, reverted a past pin. I’m pretty OCD about n%-completion of my travels.
- glonq 3y agoFor 10+ years I've had great success using leaflet for my mapping needs, consuming maps from mapbox or OSM or our own tile server. I'd be hard-pressed to consider Google unless I needed some of the specialized GIS data that they carry.
- AlbertCory 3y agoI was the Ads rep to the Maps Monetization team at Google in 2010, and then I actually worked in Maps. Back then, Maps was a huge money loser. Placing ads outside the map data was a dismal failure financially, and they weren't yet selling "ads" inside the map (where you pay to have your business shown). API access was charged for, but as people have pointed out, it was a bargain compared to now. In any large company, sooner or later the CFO and minions will notice that you're losing money and demand you fix it. Thus, YouTube has all these ads that interrupt your viewing, besides coming up before you start. And Maps is raising API prices. If you read these articles, you see that ArcGIS has a fairly massive footprint in the geo space. Google is not the only game in town for geo information. I haven't done much with Apple Maps, but that seems to be improving, too. You can find details of what I did, including how to use a feature I did that's still there, at: https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-maps https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-maps and https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-maps-continued https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-maps-c...
- psadri 3y agoI wish YouTube would use some AI to pick more appropriate points in the video to insert their ads. The current viewing experience with ads is simply too jarring. Maybe that's the point :-)?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- efields 3y agoIs Solar API basically Project Sunroof but open to developers to put in any geo boundaries? This feels huge for scouting and conceptualizing solar projects. We have a small backyard operation that I want to scale to support a lifestyle, then have passive income as well.
- efields 3y agoClimate change brogrammer starter pack.
- Racing0461 3y agoIf google really cared about the environment, they wouldn't have mandated return to office. Anything they say from then on regarding the environment is null and void.
- dang 3y agoRecent and related: Announcing the Pollen API - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37304803 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37304803 - Aug 2023 (79 comments)
- dang 3y agoUrl changed from https://latlong.blog/2023/08/new-map-apis-from-google.html https://latlong.blog/2023/08/new-map-apis-from-google.html, which points to this. Submitters: "Please submit the original source. If a post reports on something found on another site, submit the latter." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dahwolf 3y agoDon't ever build anything large on top of Google Maps. Beyond the free tier and 200$ credit, prices are so insane that they would make Musk and that Reddit CEO blush. Have a look yourself: https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/#pricing-grid https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/#pricing-grid Hosting the simplest of maps (static map) cost 2$ per 1,000 requests. Imagine you integrate such a map into content. Even for smaller projects it's not uncommon to get traffic into the hundreds of thousands or even millions on a monthly basis. I'm talking page views, not unique visitors. That would set you back hundreds per month or even 1,000$. Just to show a bloody map. Actually, not a map. It's a static picture of a map. Add some basic map interactivity, even just things like pins using the JavaScript API, and it becomes 7 times more expensive than that. I'm not kidding. Say you make a map with pins showing current wildfires. Now consider this costing 14$ per every 1,000 requests. Do the math of your page gaining some basic popularity. 100,000 page hits? Not a big deal. That'll be 1,400$ please. In most projects you want your map to be more useful. Add (reverse) geocoding, place details, etc. That's 3 APIs. Assuming equal usage, that's over 5,000$. In one month. For a smallish audience. To enable fairly basic functionality. You can rent a goddamn Mercedes AMG for that kind of money.
- zh3 3y agoAlso it appears each reload is chargeable - so anyone who wants to make your life hard can trivially run up your bill (alternatively, pushes the cost and complexity of avoiding such attacks down to anyone trying to provide a service built on gmap).
- cornfutes 3y ago> You can rent a goddamn Mercedes AMG for that kind of money. Or you can have a webpage that serves useful information to 100,000 people.
- dahwolf 3y agoYou're missing the point entirely. It's not about the Mercedes. If anything, Google makes it impossible and unaffordable to serve up the useful information you desire.
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- xk2 3y ago[flagged]