What is a reasonly priced map API solution for a startup?

Question

I've been developing my application with Google Maps and the wonderful rails plugin for it, expecting to find that when I put my app into production that the commercial licensing wouldn't be too expensive.

Then I found out it cost $10,000/year, no exceptions so far.

http://www.47hats.com/2009/07/google-maps-the-10k-gotcha/

That's not a terrible price to pay for unlimited usage when your site becomes successful, but for those of us trying to build something from the ground up, that's a hefty price to pay. I've looked at Bing and Yahoo but they're very wishy-washy with what ballpark the pricing is. That on top of the fact I have to ditch my nice rails plugin YM4R for Google maps...

Is anyone out there using a map API solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get started with in a commercial aspect? I don't mind not using a plugin, I just need something that will work and is cost affordable in the beginning.

Answer 1

Hi Kevin,

I don't really know why you need some maps, but I would suggest you to check the OpenStreetMap project which is Open Source and Free Software.

Obviously, it's slightly less performant and accurate, but it's a very good product.

Answer 2

CloudMade has been recommended in this previous question. Have a look at their pricing.

Answer 3

Is your site going to be a paid based service?

Answer 4

My personal opinion would be to use the effective "standard" OSS libraries that form this type of stack.

OSGEO has a bunch of resources for exactly this.

PostGIS (database)
Apache (webserver)
MapServer (WMS compliant GIS server)
OpenStreetMap (the maps you'll need)
OpenScales or OpenLayers (Flex or JS API)

Total cost: a few hours of setup.