what api is the easiest to use in calculating the distance between two addresses using roads not the straight line distance. i would like to use a different api than googles since i heard their api is not for paid apps. i would like the api to be easy to implement and would appreciate if that api offered some sample code.
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25answers:
2Bing term of service says you can't: `commercialize (i.e., sell, rent, or lease) Bing results`. Don't know if this has the same meaning as the "free" restriction Google imposes. Microsoft legal document is certainly harder to read.
slebetman
2010-08-18 12:54:34
ok, so bad idea, I see ...
Hinek
2010-08-18 14:28:06
A:
Actually, you can use google maps/earth for paid apps. In fact, the paid version has more advanced features. But it is quite expensive (to me at least). To quote Google:
Google Maps API Premier is extremely cost-effective, starting at just $10,000 per year. Pricing is based on the number of map page views for externally facing websites. For internal uses, it is based on page views or number of vehicles being tracked.
See the Google enterprise page for details: http://www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/index.html
Having looked around it appears that some of the other geospatial software/services are even more expensive. I guess Google is not that expensive compared to everything else in the industry. Apparently TripAdvisor is one of their clients.
It should be noted that Google doesn't prevent you from making money from using Google maps. A lot of real estate agents for example use Google maps to sell houses. You just cannot block the public from using the maps feature on your site - for example requiring a paid login account. A lot of businesses still use the free version of Google maps. The key is, sell other things but make the map feature free.
slebetman
2010-08-18 12:44:25
thats way to much for me to pay. im just a 16 year old :pim looking for an easy to use module to add two adress and return the distance by roads. shouldnt be too advanced
Alx
2010-08-18 12:53:39
I think it will be hard to find something cheap or free, because the geo data alone costs some thousand bucks. Why should someone pay for the geo data to offer you a free API for your non-free application ;-)
Hinek
2010-08-18 14:31:35
its not only a geo data applcation it uses 2 addresses to find the distance and use that in a series of calculations to find a cost.
Alx
2010-08-18 15:26:05
@Alx: Think about it. Having a database of all roads and back alleys is itself a very advanced thing. Implementing a routing algorithm for it to find a path from A to B is non-trivial and finding the shortest route in a short amount of time is even less trivial. From that, to then calculate distance is quite advanced. Even if we limit it to North America. Google is trying to do it for the whole planet (there are areas that Google still haven't properly mapped, my house for instance). I think you are underestimating the difficulty of the task when you say it shouldn't be too advanced.
slebetman
2010-08-18 16:23:55
i saw a lot of application that featured this feature in the appstore i though it was an easier task to achieve. i saw any apps get addresses and then show u the distance and cost required. my application needs something like that but thats not its main feature
Alx
2010-08-18 16:41:57