Comment on Google Changes Price Structure for Google Maps API Developers
skip0110@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Maplibre (maplibre.org) offers a beautiful open source solution. There are affordable open source solutions for OSM base maps too (github.com/protomaps/basemaps), where you can host the whole thing as a single static file.
No one should be paying Google per API key :)
along_the_road@beehaw.org 3 weeks ago
Do these solutions provide address autocomplete suggestions, directions, or streetview like images?
nyankas@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
That really depends on the service you’re looking at and what your needs are. Google probably offers the best all-round package, but depending on your needs, there are often times good or even better alternatives available.
As far as I know, address completion is supported by almost every alternative. At least I don’t know of one which doesn’t support that.
The quality of directions not only depends on the product, but also the method of transport you want directions for and the geographic region your targeting. For example, Google is, in my experience, very good for cars, but terrible for cycling. At least in Europe, OSM based maps generally include far more paths and details, which, combined with a good routing engine, results in better routes. I have made very good experiences with OpenRouteService.
For SteetView-like images you’re unfortunately pretty much limited to Google or Apple. Mapillary exists, but, as it’s crowdsourced, quality and coverage just aren’t all that great.
I think that there’s a good open alternative for most use cases of embedded maps available, as few of them really need StreetView or traffic-based routing. If that’s the case, though, you’re unfortunately stuck with Google or Apple.