From July 16, 2018 a new consumption-based rate plan will come into effect for Maps, Routes and Places, Google has announced a change that will affect the use of the API (Application Programming Interface) from Google Maps, one of the most used applications in the world within websites.
What are the Google Maps API?
APIs (called "Application Programming Interface") are programming interfaces that software manufacturers (such as Google) make available to allow developers to use additional features.
Within corporate websites, the Google Maps API is used to embed the Google Maps map, in order to provide more details on the location and route to reach the company.
What will change from July 16th?
Business users, who have long been accustomed to not having to pay to use Google services within a certain limit of use; from July 16, they will be forced to say goodbye to old habits, but only when certain viewing thresholds are exceeded.
Google Maps Platform informs about prices and communicates this to its users:
"As the prices of our core products depend on consumption, you only pay for actual use. You also receive $ 200 of free usage every month and you can set usage limits to protect yourself from unexpected increases. For more information on individual API pricing changes, see the Existing User Guide. You can also analyze current API usage in the console and estimate monthly costs with the pricing calculator."
How will the new platform work?
You will need to have a billing account to use the service, where every month there will be $ 200 free credit for the use of the APIs that will be used for viewing the maps. In addition to this threshold, however, you will pay.
The company will therefore have to create its own billing account with associated payment method (even if it will not be needed in case of limited use of the service).
If you do not pay beyond a certain threshold of views, you will no longer see the map on the site.
If we make heavy use of maps and don't want to spend money, we can think of alternatives to Google Maps that do the same job worthily.
How much do you pay once the threshold is exceeded?
For now, businesses have up to 25,000 free map views per day. Thereafter, a $ 0.50 fee will be charged for every 1,000 additional requests.
From July 16, for the same type of map, the maximum will become 28,000 views, no longer daily but monthly. Google will charge the subsequent costs for packages of 1,000 views ($ 7 instead of 50 cents), but always having the first $ 200 free that Google makes available every month.
Are there alternatives to Google Maps?
Google Maps is the best cartography tool that allows you to get information on how to travel by car, on foot, by public transport in every corner of the globe.
However, there are other free map services that help us find street and 360 ° panoramic maps of big cities such as Bing Maps, Carto, Here, IGN, Jawg.io, Mapbox, Mapca, Mappy, MapQuest, ViaMichelin, Wemap ... but they will work in the same way? better always ask for support from your webmaster who takes care of the management of the website!
