New Geocaching.com Maps and the Google Issue
Today, Groundspeak rolled out another regular update of Geocaching.com and, amongst many other alterations (including bug fixes and new features), changed its default maps from Google Maps to MapQuest (which uses OpenStreetMap).
This is as much a tale of Google Maps, probably moreso, than it is of Groundspeak and Geocaching.com. To fully understand what is happening, we need to go right back to the start.
First, a brief introduction to some geekery. An Application Programming Interface (API) is the means whereby different pieces of software can be connected and communicate – be it websites or applications. For geocachers, Geocaching.com used the Google Maps API to embed Google Maps onto its cache pages, and this is what this issue is all about.
On April 8th, 2011, it was revealed on the Google Geo Developers blog that the Google Maps/Google Earth API terms of service were being changed. One of the key points of this announcement was that websites were eventually going to have either reduce their map usage to new limits placed on free use of the Google Maps API, or pay to obtain commercial usage – either through a per 1000-view model, or what is assumedly a very expensive Google Maps API Premier license.
This was followed up by a further announcement by Google on October 26th, 2011 that further reinforced these changes, and outlined that its new usage limits would begin to be clearly enforced early in 2012.
So, the situation we had late last year was this:
- Google Maps was free;
- Google Maps was going to become more expensive in early 2012;
- Geocaching.com was using Google Maps, and serving up a lot of pages with Google Maps.
This meant that Groundspeak would have had three options when the Google Maps API usage limits were enforced:
- Pay Google’s per 1000 map view charges;
- Purchase a Google Maps API Premier license;
- Change its web mapping service.
So, that brings us to today – Valentine’s Day 2012 in the United States – a day that has seen some love lost for Groundspeak as it moved away from Google Maps with its site update. However, let’s be clear about this upfront – the problem is not Groundspeak, but rather the pricing that Groundspeak would have had to pay to license the Google Maps API. This is nothing more than business decisons being made by both sides.
For a long time, Google made its Maps API free to lure developers in. Over the last year, it has attempted to monetise the free service it is providing. This is, of course, within their rights, although as is always the case when you try to add a fee to a paid service, you run the risk of of being called out on the bait-and-switch.
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