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Wikipedia’s Mobile Apps Drop Google Maps for OpenStreetMap

63 points by sbashyal 15y ago

glesica 15y ago
It's nice that Google provided access for free for so long, allowing the development of so many location-aware products and services. But it's also nice that a healthy competitive environment is developing around the maps themselves.
- Apple-Guy 15y ago
  But isn't Google's motto open and free?
  - Karunamon 15y ago
    Since when? Besides, it is still open and free.. to end users. You're only affected by the pricing changes if you utilize their API's as a developer.
yuvipanda 15y ago
Am one of the devs working on the App. The App is Open Source and available for forking at https://github.com/wikimedia/WikipediaMobile https://github.com/wikimedia/WikipediaMobile. We're also switching to a 2 week release cycle so updates should be faster. Please poke us/me with any questions you might have :)
sp332 15y ago
Google Maps is in a rough spot right now. They're not better than their competitors, so most of their users are just there out of momentum. If Google does anything to annoy their users, masses of them will leave for Bing Maps or OSM. If they want to make some money, they will have to improve their product first.
- Steko 15y ago
  "They're not better than their competitors" I guess my mileage varies widely here, they're far and away the best.
  - TillE 15y ago
    But OSM is "good enough" for most purposes. It's a real shame that Google have decided they no longer want to be the universal, free solution for maps. They were the standard for so long. I don't understand what they're doing, especially with the ridiculous pricing.
    - zmmmmm 15y ago
      Well, they were sued for providing maps for free: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2012/02/02/french_judge_says_free_google_maps_are_anticompetitive_and_illegal http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2012/02/02/french_... I don't quite understand why they are charging as much as they are (pretty much unaffordable for a low margin, high traffic business), but it does seem like the free ride had to end.
    - robryan 15y ago
      They could easily monetize it and still keep these customers. The scheme they have chosen seems all about making money in the short term. One thing they could do is open up local ads to 3rd party maps use in return for keeping them free. Also just charging a rate that sites can afford would be good, google has more than enough data to decide what the average site with high traffic can afford.
    - Steko 15y ago
      Is their pricing really that bad? I'd assume it's just what's required to break even.
      - redstar504 15y ago
        My startup utilizes maps and we were thinking of using Google until they quoted us $18,000 USD/year

63 points by sbashyal 15y ago

It's nice that Google provided access for free for so long, allowing the development of so many location-aware products and services. But it's also nice that a healthy competitive environment is developing around the maps themselves.

Apple-Guy 15y ago
But isn't Google's motto open and free?
- Karunamon 15y ago
  Since when? Besides, it is still open and free.. to end users. You're only affected by the pricing changes if you utilize their API's as a developer.

yuvipanda 15y ago

Am one of the devs working on the App. The App is Open Source and available for forking at https://github.com/wikimedia/WikipediaMobile https://github.com/wikimedia/WikipediaMobile. We're also switching to a 2 week release cycle so updates should be faster. Please poke us/me with any questions you might have :)

sp332 15y ago

Google Maps is in a rough spot right now. They're not better than their competitors, so most of their users are just there out of momentum. If Google does anything to annoy their users, masses of them will leave for Bing Maps or OSM. If they want to make some money, they will have to improve their product first.

Steko 15y ago
"They're not better than their competitors" I guess my mileage varies widely here, they're far and away the best.
- TillE 15y ago
  But OSM is "good enough" for most purposes. It's a real shame that Google have decided they no longer want to be the universal, free solution for maps. They were the standard for so long. I don't understand what they're doing, especially with the ridiculous pricing.
  - zmmmmm 15y ago
    Well, they were sued for providing maps for free: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2012/02/02/french_judge_says_free_google_maps_are_anticompetitive_and_illegal http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2012/02/02/french_... I don't quite understand why they are charging as much as they are (pretty much unaffordable for a low margin, high traffic business), but it does seem like the free ride had to end.
  - robryan 15y ago
    They could easily monetize it and still keep these customers. The scheme they have chosen seems all about making money in the short term. One thing they could do is open up local ads to 3rd party maps use in return for keeping them free. Also just charging a rate that sites can afford would be good, google has more than enough data to decide what the average site with high traffic can afford.
  - Steko 15y ago
    Is their pricing really that bad? I'd assume it's just what's required to break even.
    - redstar504 15y ago
      My startup utilizes maps and we were thinking of using Google until they quoted us $18,000 USD/year