Which mapping API would work best for my situation?

Question

My requirements are fairly straightforward, so I am hoping someone can give me a little guidance.

I am writing a (commercial) software app that needs to return the distance and ETA from a fixed point to a desination. I am not concerned with the actual maps, as I am not displaying them. I just need to be able to pass a start/stop to an API and have it return these results.

I have looked into MapQuest, Google, and Microsoft, but am not sure which is the best for my situation. I am leaning towards Mapquest, but am still not sure. Since this is for commercial use, I know that I will have to pay a fee, so I want to make sure I select the correct service; otherwise, I will end up paying for something that I cannot use. All of these choices are overkill for what I need, but I don't know what else is out there - if anything.

Any input is appreciated.

Answer 1

You can use a spatial enabled database to calculate the distance with no need of maps at all. Home page of PostGis

Answer 2

I am not concerned with the actual maps, as I am not displaying them

Then the Google Maps API isn't much use to you, unless you go with a Premier license.

In that case, the Directions API would be perfect: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/directions/

Answer 3

If your website is not available to the public, and is behind a paywall, then here are your prices for the google api.

Product Offering:

Google Maps API Premier OEM pricing

Page View Pricing(Pooled usage between all of your customers)

Page View is a single load of the Google Maps JavaScript by the end user's browser

For Internal Facing/Business to Business Paid Applications (pricing includes $2,500/year developer's license) *$11,250 for 100K page views per year * $20,000 for 250K page views per year * $37,500 for 500K views per year * $72,500 for 1.5 million page views per year * Please call for pricing above 1.5 million internal page views per year

For External/Business to Consumer Paid Applications (pricing includes $2,500/year developer's license) * $20,000 for 1 million page views per year * $37,500 for 2 million page views per year * $55,000 for 3 million page views per year * $72,500 for 5 million page views per year * Please call for pricing above 5 external million page views per year