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"Google puts a limit on free Google Maps API: over 25,000 daily and you pay"


taeke

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Actually, this has nothing to do with the maps for our devices, but when you open the Geocaching Maps, this uses Google Maps. I assume that the map API's are used to display the caches on the map? In that case I the 25,000/day limit of API calls will be surpassed many times, with the activity going on here, and will it cost Groundspeak an additional $4 per 1000 API-calls.

I assume that Groundspeak won't pick up the cost of this, and would think that the premium member price will go up or mapping becomes an additoinal feature for extra pay, and that the free members won't have access to the mapping feature anymore.

 

But this is all if Groundspeak actually uses Google's API's for the mapping feature.

 

Anyone who knows?

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Disclaimer: I'm not speaking for Google, here...I don't know the scale of Groundspeak's use, but some napkin scratching shows it's probable that they exceed 25K views a day. A cache page load shows two maps by default. One carload of people loading and logging, say, the E.T. power trail series would be about half that, right?

 

You can easily confirm that geocaching.com is using the Google Maps API in several ways. Do a 'view source' on any page and search for "maps.google.com/maps/api' and theyt'll pop out. PQ previews and the cache pages are examples where Google Maps are used effectively to make the service better.

 

As for Google Maps being available only to members, that would require a Premiere license anyway. See http://code.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#tos_commercial

 

It's not like Bing maps are free at scale, either. I don't know their definition of "transaction" at http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/licensing.aspx, but it seems to me like their allowed free use is even lower.

 

It's not like the sky is falling. Businesses buy and sell services all the time - that's what they do. I remember the days of really horrible online mapping on this site and I'm glad to have good maps now.

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