7 ms·

Google Maps API - More Than A Map

138 points by cleverjake 14y ago

keeptrying 14y ago
Well it shows the Google finally understands just-in-time or opportunistic Marketing. Their autonomous driving cars are going to change every market out there.
- revelation 14y ago
  This is marketed to (potential and current) API users, not iOS users. They have been getting some competition after their move to charge for API usage.
- taligent 14y ago
  Google didn't invent nor has a monopoly on autonomous driving cars. They are one of MANY players. So pretty sure everyone else will be able to change every market out there as well.
timmillwood 14y ago
If only there was a native iOS app for this! Time to switch to Android I think.
- kin 14y ago
  http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhone-5-will-see-Google-Maps-app-by-end-of-year-report http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhon...
taligent 14y ago
Definitely more than a map. Google's latest revenue source. So unfortunately as a developer I would rather spend my efforts helping to improve OpenStreetMap.
- mattdeboard 14y ago
  True, but if you're a business that needs this kind of data for your product, it's almost certainly cheaper to pay Google than to either develop it in-house or make contributing to OpenStreetMap part of your business. Personally, I'd rather build things than pay someone else for what they built, especially if the thing is interesting or "fun"; but reality confronts most of us. Smarter to pay for the wheel than reinvent your own (or waiting for someone else to do it, for free) ... at least, that's the assumption I'm operating on.
  - taligent 14y ago
    I think you misread what I said. It was that IF I was going to spend money on a mapping API I would rather use it to improve an open platform. Especially for something as key as mapping.
    - mattdeboard 14y ago
      Gotcha, I did misread.
smacktoward 14y ago
True, it's more than a map. It's a map AND a monthly bill!
- capo 14y ago
  It's mostly free actually, and the pricing is very flexible otherwise: http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-pricing-and-simplified-limits.html http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-pricin...
  - watty 14y ago
    Or pay a small $10k+ fee if you want to do one of these common things: * Your site is only available to paying customers. * Your site is only accessible within your company or on your intranet. * Your application relates to enterprise dispatch, fleet management, business asset tracking, or similar applications.
    - capo 14y ago
      They have different billing structure for enterprise stuffs, so!? businesses can usually negotiate terms with sales reps. If I remember correctly they were fined for giving enterprise access for free: http://searchengineland.com/french-court-fines-google-660000-dollars-google-maps-109930 http://searchengineland.com/french-court-fines-google-660000...
      - watty 14y ago
        My point was that it's not "mostly free", any serious business or website with a decent amount of traffic will be paying $$.
      - taligent 14y ago
        And if you are building a startup that wants to compete in these markets ? The definition of enterprise is pretty arbitrary these days.
johnjones 14y ago
I guess they are feeling the heat with the recent changes in pricing
sidcool 14y ago
Very well made.
- tsieling 14y ago
  It looks nice, but it breaks default browser navigation standards. The space bar doesn't paginate, and scrolling to the end of the page doesn't stop scrolling, but forces me back to the top of the page. This is happening in Safari, can't attest to other browsers, but I found it distracting.
untog 14y ago
Cynicism aside, this is very true. I've used a done of different mapping libraries, and the actual map display part is Google's weakest part- leaflet.js and ModestMaps are much faster, particularly on mobile devices. But on the flip side, I've never found a provider capable of geocoding as well as Google- especially with response times that allow you to make a typeahead address searcher. Google's Styled Map Tiles are still ahead of anyone else's offerings.
- bad_user 14y ago
  Even when you have a concrete latitude/longitude point, Google returns street addresses a lot more often than alternatives, such as Bing. And you're right about the response time, in comparison Bing is extremely slow. Unfortunately after getting passed the free tier, it gets kind of expensive.
  - epoxyhockey 14y ago
    I have been happily using Yahoo's geocoding service, with google coded as a backup service. My application doesn't require speed, so I don't know how it stacks up against google in that regard. I have run into a couple of cases where yahoo's street data was not as fresh as google's.
- randomaccount5 14y ago
  Not worldwide (Australia only) and not as permissive with input format, but geocoderweb.veda.com.au is very fast.
Spearchucker 14y ago
Maybe (ok, not maybe) I'm getting too philosophical about such decisions these days, but Google is, at it's heart, an ad company that happens to be really good at tech. Nokia is a tech company that is really good at tech. My choice is Nokia - they're just a closer match to the view I have of myself.
- desas 14y ago
  I'd argue that google is an ai company at heart, that just happens to make a fortune selling ads.
- jonknee 14y ago
  I think Google is a tech company that happens to be really good at ads (which is uses to fund all of its tech). Google didn't set out to sell advertising, it was just a way that they could continue solving big problems. For example, I don't think Google is spending big dollars on automated cars to advance its advertising business.
  - awolf 14y ago
    Google makes 99% of its money from ads, and it has pretty much always been that way. They're definitely an ad company.
    - prof_hobart 14y ago
      Their business model is undoubtedly ads. But I think that's slightly different from saying they are an ad company. As far as I can tell, the primary reason that Google exists is for clever technical people to do new geeky stuff. They need a way to fund that geeky stuff and that's where ads come in, but the ads and the revenue aren't where their real passion seems to be. If they could simply sit back and watch the $$ rolling in through ads without ever doing another bit of innovation, I doubt they would do it. This is quite different from the vast majority of companies. BP, for example, don't exist because their peope are passionate about drilling oil - it's because drilling oil is a very good way of making money. Even companies like MicroSoft exist (and pretty much always existed) primarily as a money-making business. Sure they attract lots of nerds, but the money driven the company's choices of where to deploy those nerds.
fudged71 14y ago
Mapping leads to directions leads to scanning leads to navigation leads to automated cars leads to autonomous bipeds. And facebook is trying to do to social mapping what google is doing to world mapping.
wmw 14y ago
I like the nice scrolling effect within the developer-stories/
- molmalo 14y ago
  Funny thing, in the last story, while it says Brazil, the background is from Women's Bridge (Puente de la Mujer) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer
davidlumley 14y ago
I can't help but feel this is an attempt to calm people from switching to mapbox (http://mapbox.com/ http://mapbox.com/) and OSM. The price is now on par but unless they improve their JavaScript API I can't find a compelling reason to go back to Google Maps.

138 points by cleverjake 14y ago

Well it shows the Google finally understands just-in-time or opportunistic Marketing. Their autonomous driving cars are going to change every market out there.

revelation 14y ago
This is marketed to (potential and current) API users, not iOS users. They have been getting some competition after their move to charge for API usage.
taligent 14y ago
Google didn't invent nor has a monopoly on autonomous driving cars. They are one of MANY players. So pretty sure everyone else will be able to change every market out there as well.

timmillwood 14y ago

If only there was a native iOS app for this! Time to switch to Android I think.

kin 14y ago
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhone-5-will-see-Google-Maps-app-by-end-of-year-report http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0926/iPhon...

taligent 14y ago

Definitely more than a map. Google's latest revenue source. So unfortunately as a developer I would rather spend my efforts helping to improve OpenStreetMap.

mattdeboard 14y ago
True, but if you're a business that needs this kind of data for your product, it's almost certainly cheaper to pay Google than to either develop it in-house or make contributing to OpenStreetMap part of your business. Personally, I'd rather build things than pay someone else for what they built, especially if the thing is interesting or "fun"; but reality confronts most of us. Smarter to pay for the wheel than reinvent your own (or waiting for someone else to do it, for free) ... at least, that's the assumption I'm operating on.
- taligent 14y ago
  I think you misread what I said. It was that IF I was going to spend money on a mapping API I would rather use it to improve an open platform. Especially for something as key as mapping.
  - mattdeboard 14y ago
    Gotcha, I did misread.

smacktoward 14y ago

True, it's more than a map. It's a map AND a monthly bill!

capo 14y ago
It's mostly free actually, and the pricing is very flexible otherwise: http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-pricing-and-simplified-limits.html http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2012/06/lower-pricin...
- watty 14y ago
  Or pay a small $10k+ fee if you want to do one of these common things: * Your site is only available to paying customers. * Your site is only accessible within your company or on your intranet. * Your application relates to enterprise dispatch, fleet management, business asset tracking, or similar applications.
  - capo 14y ago
    They have different billing structure for enterprise stuffs, so!? businesses can usually negotiate terms with sales reps. If I remember correctly they were fined for giving enterprise access for free: http://searchengineland.com/french-court-fines-google-660000-dollars-google-maps-109930 http://searchengineland.com/french-court-fines-google-660000...
    - watty 14y ago
      My point was that it's not "mostly free", any serious business or website with a decent amount of traffic will be paying $$.
    - taligent 14y ago
      And if you are building a startup that wants to compete in these markets ? The definition of enterprise is pretty arbitrary these days.

johnjones 14y ago

I guess they are feeling the heat with the recent changes in pricing

sidcool 14y ago

Very well made.

tsieling 14y ago
It looks nice, but it breaks default browser navigation standards. The space bar doesn't paginate, and scrolling to the end of the page doesn't stop scrolling, but forces me back to the top of the page. This is happening in Safari, can't attest to other browsers, but I found it distracting.

untog 14y ago

Cynicism aside, this is very true. I've used a done of different mapping libraries, and the actual map display part is Google's weakest part- leaflet.js and ModestMaps are much faster, particularly on mobile devices. But on the flip side, I've never found a provider capable of geocoding as well as Google- especially with response times that allow you to make a typeahead address searcher. Google's Styled Map Tiles are still ahead of anyone else's offerings.

bad_user 14y ago
Even when you have a concrete latitude/longitude point, Google returns street addresses a lot more often than alternatives, such as Bing. And you're right about the response time, in comparison Bing is extremely slow. Unfortunately after getting passed the free tier, it gets kind of expensive.
- epoxyhockey 14y ago
  I have been happily using Yahoo's geocoding service, with google coded as a backup service. My application doesn't require speed, so I don't know how it stacks up against google in that regard. I have run into a couple of cases where yahoo's street data was not as fresh as google's.
randomaccount5 14y ago
Not worldwide (Australia only) and not as permissive with input format, but geocoderweb.veda.com.au is very fast.

Spearchucker 14y ago

Maybe (ok, not maybe) I'm getting too philosophical about such decisions these days, but Google is, at it's heart, an ad company that happens to be really good at tech. Nokia is a tech company that is really good at tech. My choice is Nokia - they're just a closer match to the view I have of myself.

desas 14y ago
I'd argue that google is an ai company at heart, that just happens to make a fortune selling ads.
jonknee 14y ago
I think Google is a tech company that happens to be really good at ads (which is uses to fund all of its tech). Google didn't set out to sell advertising, it was just a way that they could continue solving big problems. For example, I don't think Google is spending big dollars on automated cars to advance its advertising business.
- awolf 14y ago
  Google makes 99% of its money from ads, and it has pretty much always been that way. They're definitely an ad company.
  - prof_hobart 14y ago
    Their business model is undoubtedly ads. But I think that's slightly different from saying they are an ad company. As far as I can tell, the primary reason that Google exists is for clever technical people to do new geeky stuff. They need a way to fund that geeky stuff and that's where ads come in, but the ads and the revenue aren't where their real passion seems to be. If they could simply sit back and watch the $$ rolling in through ads without ever doing another bit of innovation, I doubt they would do it. This is quite different from the vast majority of companies. BP, for example, don't exist because their peope are passionate about drilling oil - it's because drilling oil is a very good way of making money. Even companies like MicroSoft exist (and pretty much always existed) primarily as a money-making business. Sure they attract lots of nerds, but the money driven the company's choices of where to deploy those nerds.

fudged71 14y ago

Mapping leads to directions leads to scanning leads to navigation leads to automated cars leads to autonomous bipeds. And facebook is trying to do to social mapping what google is doing to world mapping.

wmw 14y ago

I like the nice scrolling effect within the developer-stories/

molmalo 14y ago
Funny thing, in the last story, while it says Brazil, the background is from Women's Bridge (Puente de la Mujer) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puente_de_la_Mujer

davidlumley 14y ago

I can't help but feel this is an attempt to calm people from switching to mapbox (http://mapbox.com/ http://mapbox.com/) and OSM. The price is now on par but unless they improve their JavaScript API I can't find a compelling reason to go back to Google Maps.