Geocoding service for a startup? - google-maps

I'm working on an idea for a service that uses geocoded data (lat/lng) form a US address. Google maps API v3 has been awesome, until I read the terms of service and acceptable uses a little closer. The problem is that the terms seem to prohibit use of the maps API for any commercial use where the site is not freely accessibly to the public, such as a subscription based service. The alternative offered is Google Maps API Premier, but at $10,000 per year minimum, it's just not possible at this time.
Same goes for services offered by Yahoo! and MS - initial fees are small for enterprises, but for a very early stage startup (not even a finished prototype yet!) it's just not doable.
Geocoding process needs to be real-time and volume would be very small - user would enter address at setup time and only update it if needed.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

I've used geocoder.us for a few projects. They do require sign up for a commercial license, on the upside it only costs $50 per 20,000 lookups. I haven't used their commercial services though to know how reliable they are, but during startup and especially because there will primarily only be one lookup per user from what you say, this seems like a safe bet.

The software company I work for (Safe Software) has incorporated a geocoding service into our product (FME). The service is pxpoint from Proxix. I hear good things, so perhaps it's worth checking them out?

WorldWeatherOnline offers a geocoding API as part of their weather forecast service. The accuracy isn't great though. In some parts of my country, I'm getting bogus results. Their support has not been helpful in this matter.

Related

Google Maps API Alternatives?

Starting June 11, 2018: All Gogle Maps Platform API requests must include an API key; we no longer support keyless access. I heard that the gogle maps api-key is not free. Does anyone know any free alternatives it?
I am student.I need a map api and I don't have eneugh money.
I've used openstreetmap.org for a few projects, works well. That being said... a small project using the google api will usually not generate enough traffic to warrant any costs, as you're given a certain amount of traffic for free every month.

I want to know if the GraphHopper is free to use a company internally?

I need to develop an internal application where the user of a source and up to 8 destinations, the best route is drawn on the map and show the distance in km. So based on that mileage the system calculates how much it would cost.
I implemented this using the Google Maps API, but the application was limited to company then we would have to adiquirir a license.
I want to know if the GraphHopper is free to use a company internally.
The GraphHopper routing engine is Open Source under the permissive Apache License and is therefor free to use for anything. You could even integrate it in your products, modify GraphHopper and sell this, without notice to us or contributing back. Although it is encouraged to contribute back so that your feature gets maintained for free by us. Also you can host GraphHopper on your own servers for 'free' and do whatever you want with it.
The GraphHopper Directions API that we host falls under our usage terms and always requires an API key. We decided to make it free for development purposes and Open Source projects, both with a limit of currently 500 queries per day. So, the free usage of the API in a company internally would not be allowed. But there are custom packages possible - see the current pricing here.

Travelling Salesman with Google Maps API or any other

I have a list of addresses and need to find the best route that reaches every address and goes back to the start
With Google Maps API it is possible to calculate this with 8 waypoints I think but 8 isn't enough for my purposes.
Is there someone out there who offers route optimization with more than 8 waypoints? I mean there must be, right? This is a problem that many organisations need a solution to.
It is no problem at all if it costs a lot of money, the calculations are very heavy so I wouldn't expect any free service.
Does maybe google have a paid service for that (for SMEs)?
I'll take any ideas on how to solve this problem!
It should work from within an application, so I don't just need a webpage where you can enter the addresses and get a route back, I need something that has an API.
Gebweb tsp solver can help you to find a route. It's free. Link: https://code.google.com/p/google-maps-tsp-solver/
The solver source code is available under the MIT license. If you are interested in knowing about updates to this code, please subscribe to this mailing list.
Maps API for Business allows for 23 waypoints. See:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/reference#DirectionsRendererOptions
Find: Array of intermediate waypoints.
You're a Business Man, so this should work.

Maps-service for small internal project

I'm currently developing a small webpage for a customer where i need a simple map with pins. It's really basic usage and the customer is going to hit the page maybe 50-100 times/month, what is a good service price-wise? I have tried contacting google, bing, and two local (swedish) providers, but the customer service is.. not good...
Your problem is that you say it's an "internal" project - I assume this means that it's not hosted on a publicly-accessible webpage?
For non-public sites, both Google and Bing require you to take out an enterprise licence agreement, which is normally prohibitively expensive for small businesses. (Licences are individually-negotitated, but think of the order of $10,000 per annum).
Alternatively, you could look at using the Leaflet JS map control (http://leaflet.cloudmade.com), displaying data from open street map (http://osm.org) - both of which are free and open source (and, in many cases, have higher quality data than either Bing or Google anyway)
ask about the new Bing Maps CRM licensing thats available, it may well meet your needs and be cost effective for you

Identify Google traffic data inside application

I want to know how to read the traffic information from google map as here in the following image. Google only displays the traffic layer by red, green, and yellow lines. But how can an application identify the color and find out how much traffic there is between source and destination.
Visually users can see with their eyes and identify the colors but what about the application?
Google Maps API does not expose traffic data. Your best bet is probably to find a different solution for your traffic data. Microsoft MapPoint might meet your needs.
UPDATES to answer questions in comments:
Whether there is a free service may depend on what geographic area you are concerned with. I imagine (but don't know for certain) that there may be places where government entities make the data available. Or maybe not. Regardless, generally, no, you can't get this data for free. It is expensive and challenging to collect, and no doubt Google pays someone a substantial fee for the data (and is probably forbidden from distributing raw data).
Meanwhile, the data Yahoo! offers is completely different from Google's traffic data. Yahoo! provides information about accidents, road work, etc. Google's information has to do with the actual speed of vehicles on the roadway. As far as I know, Google does not provide that information with the Maps API.
In any event, Google's raw traffic data is unavailable to your application.
As always, what various services offer can and will change and this answer may not age well. But it is, to the best of my knowledge, accurate at the current time.