Can I implement Google maps or another mapping API on my site?

Question

9.1 Free, Public Accessibility to Your Maps API Implementation. Your Maps API Implementation must be generally accessible to users without charge. You may require users to log in to your Maps API Implementation if you do not require users to pay a fee.not require users to pay a fee.

I write a web portal and sell it. The company that bought it then offers access to it for free to a select group of people. I want to incorporate one small feature using the maps API to let them put points on a map and share those points with other people.

I suspect it violates those terms, but I am not sure. If it does, can anyone think of a suitable solution? Can I put the mapping part on a public bit of the site? I could host the tool separately, for example, and make it accessible to everyone. Is there an alternate free API I could use?

Answer 1

I wondered that myself with a recent project, but I suspect it is OK. It says that it is OK to require users to log in, provided they are not required to pay a fee.

That is, the users of the web site are not required to pay a fee. The fact that you sold the portal to someone else is not relevant at all; it's the end-users that matter for that. If they are 'required to pay a fee', it isn't appropriate. It seems also that the word 'required' would allow its use on a site that offered 'freemium' access, too.

Answer 2

You really want a lawyer to review your implementation if you are unsure whether it violates the TOS or not. That said, google does offer a "premiere" service that allows you to implement it on private sites. You may want to look into using this (the cost scales with number of requests.)