I've been having an issue generating a geocode map of a large list of postcodes (~29,000) online, and finally found a site named 'EasyMapMaker'. It seemed to work fine, although took a very long time as expected, but a great number of postcodes are not in the correct location.
When entering these postcodes into google maps, they are not recognised or incorrect. I assume then that the errors in EasyMapMaker, which uses the Google geocoding API, are related to google.
My question is, Is there an alternative free software with a large data limit that functions off of something other than the Google Geocoding API, and is likely to be faster with less margin of error?
For the UK Ordnance Survey offer a free dataset which is updated quarterly, called Code-Point Open, this would give you "street level" geocoding meaning that the location information would match the postcode rather than each individual address. They also make this available as an API.
For global geocoding then you could look at Mapbox, which uses Open Street Map data so the coverage depends on how much data people have contributed.
This question has been asked in a few places on SO, but I've found the answers to be either slightly contradictory or "thin"... so I'm not sure if asking again will help but here goes.
The google "help" page says that the google team maintains a "presence" on SO, so if you are a google chap, please could you make this clear, and if you are not please also make this clear, thank you :)
So, what I want to do...
User searches for a set of locations. These will be used to form a travel itinerary. I want to take the lat/lng and the address components and store them in my own database so that when another uses search for trips in some country, some place etc etc I can go about finding them.
The big question, does the terms of conditions allow this? The relevant bit that worries me is...
10.1.3 Restrictions against Data Export or Copying.
... snip ...
(b) No Pre-Fetching, Caching, or Storage of Content. You must not
pre-fetch, cache, or store any Content, except that you may store: (i)
limited amounts of Content for the purpose of improving the
performance of your Maps API Implementation if you do so temporarily
(and in no event for more than 30 calendar days), ...snip... For example,
you must not use the Content to create an independent database of "places"
or other local listings information.
Would what I want to do violate this. It sounds to me like it might, but then that renders the question, why would I use google maps for this kind of application? Other travel sites appear to?!
There is no problem if you store
latitude and longitude
addresses
As those would be "user preferences" in your app.
The restrictions on data export refer to the tiles and photos used to display the maps. In general people want this feature to have a cache mechanism or provide offline functionality. This is not allowed* and only the official mobile app has this features.
*Google actually allows it, but you have to read the finer print, more on that below.
Longer answer, analyzing the ToC:
No Pre-Fetching, Caching, or Storage of Content. You must not pre-fetch, cache, or store any Content...
What does content mean? This is map tiles, terrain tiles, photos of places, satellite photos etc. The content, in the ToC, is anything that has been created by Google and provided as part of the Google map service. But, not everything provided in the service has been created nor is owned by Google.
Addresses are not created or owned by Google, this is public information. What Google has done is to gather them and put them in a presentable, easy to search, interface. But it is not part of "the content".
GPS locations are not created or owned by Google, this is public information as well. In fact, GPS was created by the department of defense (DoD) in the US. They are the ones who control its use.
...For example, you must not use the Content to create an independent database of "places" or other local listings information.
It wouldn't be fair to Google if you downloaded a subset of the content, lets say all the tiles and photos for your home town. Once you have your copy of the files, you do a little processing on them, maybe add trivia or fun facts that only you know because you grew up there. And then use that to provide a re-branded service. Something called JimboMaps perhaps. That is the type of thing that is prohibited.
you may store: (i) limited amounts of Content for the purpose of improving the performance of your Maps API Implementation if you do so temporarily
Guess what, you are actually allowed to store content in you database. Any of it, photos, tiles etc. The catch is:
You can store limited amounts. A few blocks, probably a small region is ok. But don't store a whole town or suburb.
You can't store anything for more than 30 days.
The only valid reason to do this is performance improvement of your application. See this: Google Maps v3 - Map tile caching on client?
...you must not use the Content to create an independent database of "places" or other local listings information.
It is just saying that you are not allowed to create JimboMaps.
The newest Google Maps Platform Terms of Service (which takes effect July 16, 2018) is a bit more explicit about this.
3.2.4 Restrictions Against Misusing the Services.
(a) No Scraping. Customer will not extract, export, or scrape Google
Maps Content for use outside the Services. For example, Customer will
not:(i) pre-fetch, cache, index, or store Google Maps Content for more
than 30 days; (ii) bulk download geocodes; or (iii) copy business
names, addresses, or user reviews.
Yes, the address might be public knowledge, but the process to obtain it is subject to the terms of the service you use...
This is from Google's Developer pages:
https://developers.google.com/maps/articles/geocodestrat
*Caching Considerations
The Google Maps API allows you to cache geocodes (i.e. store them on your server for a limited period). Caching can be useful if you have to repeatedly look up the same address. However, there are two important things to keep in mind.
1.The Google Maps API Terms of Service allow you to use geocodes derived from the service on Google Maps or Google Earth only. You may not sell or distribute them in other fashion.
2.Geocoding changes often as our data gets more and more accurate. So even if you have cached data, you should refresh it periodically, to make sure you are getting the best geocodes for your locations.
The Google Maps API for Flash requires the use of API keys. Many people mistakenly think quotas are tied to keys. However, keys don't affect your geocoding quota at all. Registering for a new key won't help. Quota is solely tied to IP addresses. Therefore a new key won't give you any more quota at a particular IP address.*
This quote from their website (https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/geocoding-strategies) says you can save data for your use if you know you will need it many times, but recommends you update periodically.
Caching considerations
The Google Maps Platform Terms of Service allow you to cache geocodes (that is, store them on your server for a limited period). Caching can be useful if you have to repeatedly look up the same address. However, keep in mind that geocoding results change as our data gets more and more accurate. So even if you have cached data, you should refresh it periodically, to make sure you are getting the best geocodes for your locations.
TL;DR: I think storing lat/long from services provided by Google is not allowed
Google Maps Platforms terms (21.11.2019)
3.2.4 Restrictions Against Misusing the Services.
(a) No Scraping. Customer will not extract, export, or otherwise scrape Google Maps Content for use outside the Services. For example, Customer will not: (i) pre-fetch, index, store, reshare, or rehost Google Maps Content outside the services; (ii) bulk download Google Maps tiles, Street View images, geocodes, directions, distance matrix results, roads information, places information, elevation values, and time zone details; (iii) copy and save business names, addresses, or user reviews; or (iv) use Google Maps Content with text-to-speech services.
To me it looks like storing lat/long is (even explicitly) prohibited.
"Google Maps Content" is actually defined in the terms & conditions.
"Google Maps Content" means any content provided through the Services (whether created by Google or its third-party licensors), including map and terrain data, imagery, traffic data, and places data (including business listings).
Also the remark about it being ok to cache data for some time and periodically refresh it is no longer there, see Geocoding API Policies.
Pre-Fetching, Caching, or Storage of Content
Applications using the Geocoding API are bound by the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service. Section 3.2.4(a) and (b) of the terms states that you must not pre-fetch, index, store, or cache any Content except under the limited conditions stated in the terms.
Note that the place ID, used to uniquely identify a place, is exempt from the caching restriction. You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely. Place ID values are returned in the place_id field in Geocoding API responses.
For what it's worth you can store Place IDs instead of lat/long ;-)
You may want to use another service for lat/long geocoding.
Like others have said, the updated terms https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/#3.-license. section 3.2.3 (b) explicitly states (May 6, 2020)
(b) No Caching. Customer will not cache Google Maps Content except as expressly permitted under the Maps Service Specific Terms.
BUT
The specific terms (handily not linked in the terms, that I could easily see) mention this
(hopefully this is the specific terms https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/maps-service-terms updated June 14, 2020)
1.4 Caching. Customer can temporarily cache latitude (lat) and longitude (lng) values from the Directions API for up to 30 consecutive calendar days, after which Customer must delete the cached latitude and longitude values. Customer can cache Directions API Place ID (place_id) values, in accordance with the Directions API Policies.
Section 1.4 is for the directions API, but most of the other API's have the same exception. Unfortunately it doesn't mention address data.
I am planning to build an app that would find the shortest distance from one location to another and other things too.
It requires the latitudes and longitudes of a place and distance of all the coordinates from say X meters from it, distance in the sense of actual road distance. I do not want any graphics or showing the map but just the plain data.
This means that i can query for some address with the distance X, and it would give me the details. I looked into Google Map Api, but that looks like to cater for some kind of client job scheduling. I even looked into Bing Map Api. It seemed to provide things. But i thought to ask here before proceeding.
Any tips on available options ?
Fortunately you should be able to find many many code samples out there for models. But first:
I'm not sure what you mean by Google Maps API looks like it caters to client job scheduling; it actually is pretty much the opposite! There are limitations to how many requests per day can come from one IP. Also, the licensing for Google Maps is made for client facing applications like web based Store Locators (the application that I used it for) and often requires you to display a Google Map with the information.
You do have a limited license to do business related geocoding and searches.
I think you may be more interested in a product like Microsoft MapPoint http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/en-us/home.aspx
While there are many competing products and services, the price point here is great. You may also be able to get it for free along with other apps if you register for their BizSpark program http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/default.aspx
HTH
Geezer
For a project at my university I have to collect information about Google Indoor Maps. I spent several hours searching information about how Google Indoor Navigation really works. I've found several links on how to create Google Floor Plans like this:
http://support.google.com/gmm/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1685896
And how you can improve location accuracy with the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker app:
http://support.google.com/gmm/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2667756&topic=1685871&ctx=topic
They say the app collects public broadcast data. But nowhere information about which information is collected and how. Several discussions here and a few articles I found say that google uses wifi-access points and the cellular antennas for indoor positioning. But I couldn't find any official information from Google, which I can use in my project.
Can you suggest me where I can find answers to the following questions:
How does the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker really work? Which information is collected and how? A official technical Google paper would be nice, so I can use that for my work.
How can I increase the accuracy of the Google indoor navigation, by adding Wifi Access Points, Bluetooth stations or other technology?
How can I add additional information like Emergency exits and toilets to a floor plan, so the user can navigate with his smartphone to this special points?
Is it possible to add information about rooms, so the user can tap with the finger on them to get additional information? For Example which department is situated in this room and so on?
I found a lot stuff about indoor positioning and indoor navigation. But nothing about how google uses them.
Thanks in advance.
This project just provides maps for indoor places. It doesn't do anything special to augment navigation in these places beyond the standard (GPS, WiFi, etc).
When they talk about (augmenting) positioning with Wifi and Cellular data, they are talking about the same stuff they use on the regular Google maps. This data is collected from cell tower info, and the Wifi stuff is sniffed from the Google street-view cars and then augmented by user-data as people with devices come into contact with these devices and send info back to Google.
It is not very accurate - or even accurate as GPS. It is kind of a "ballpark" estimate. For example, if a Google street-view car detected your WiFi signal when it drove by your house - if you had no GPS, and Google Maps saw your WiFi box, it could estimate that you were somewhere within a few hundred feet of where the Google Street View car detected the signal.
Not as accurate as GPS - but not too bad if you conciser within a few hundred feet better than "no idea". In short - these sources to not give you better or more refined positioning of indoor places. They would be good - for example - to be able to tell you that you are in that particular building if you were inside, and out of GPS coverage.
Indoor positioning uses WLAN interface. To estimate the real-time location of a user, location systems have to perform a number of steps and various calculations. The calculation of more than one distance from several Access Points (APs) could be used to estimate the exact
location.
The main principle states that signal strength at the receiver is inversely proportional to the square of the distance that the signal travels.
RSS fingerprinting method is used which is based on recording and sampling of patterns of radio signals in specific environment called as pattern recognition or fingerprinting.
Since this post is a little old I thought I would still add my thoughts. First of all you can make edits for your own custom maps using MyMaps. As the previous answers stated Google Maps uses cell data, wifi data, gps, etc for tracking. It can also use phone sensor data such as your accellerometer. With the current level of wifi infrastructure it can actually be quite accurate using a method of wifi fingerprinting (The more access points the more accurate it will be given they are effectively positioned). There are several scholarly articles demonstrating its viability down to a couple meters of accuracy. I would suggest reading an article on RSSI fingerprinting. Also check the google maps developer documentation for more detail on editing map information.
Also I was reading that they will be using light detection for additional indoor accuracy (not sure if implemented yet).
Google Maps can't calculate a route that crosses Equator - Colombia borders, and this analysis from a Wikipedia user shows the regions it considers contiguous. It is possible to compute a route in Yahoo! Maps from Punta Arenas to Maracaibo, but not to Alaska.
Why does this services have such limitations? Is there a similar analysis of contiguous regions for other web routing services?
The closest similar "analysis" I know of for Bing Maps is the table given at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd435699.aspx, which shows the routing capabilities provided for each country (Basic/Full).
Interestingly, even though both Ecuador and Colombia are listed as having only "Basic" routing functionality, Bing Maps does correctly find the route between Tulcan and Ipiales shown in your first example: http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9MC44MjE2NDA5OTgxMjgxNn4tNzcuNjg2OTIzOTgwNzEyODkmbHZsPTEzJnN0eT1yJnJ0cD1wb3MuMC44MjE1MjBfLTc3LjczMjE3MF9UdWxjJUMzJUExbiUyQyUyMEVjdWFkb3JfX19lX35wb3MuMC44MjE3NjJfLTc3LjY0MTY3OF9JcGlhbGVzJTJDJTIwQ29sb21iaWFfX19lXyZtb2RlPUQmcnRvcD0wfjB+MH4=
I guess the reason why routing capability must be compartmentalised into discrete countries is because the data required is gathered from national agencies (e.g. government datasets) and managed/updated on a per-country basis - but this obviously creates an interesting problem for routing across borders, as in your examples.
I have to be honest and say that I've never really considered the issue before, so I'd like to thank you for raising the question!
Update: Note that, according to the spreadsheet linked from https://developers.google.com/maps/faq#whatcountries, Google Maps doesn't support directions within either Ecuador or Colombia either - let alone a route that crosses between them!