Legally storing location data?

[Eric Dooley]

It appears that I am not allowed to store (ex. in a database) geocoded location data generated from Google unless I use it strictly within Google Maps. I would like to not have this restriction (though at the time I can't think of any other application but GM). Therefore, if I use a 3rd party geocoder, but still display the results in Google Maps (or Bing, or anything else), it is my understanding that this would be perfectly fine? (someone correct me if this is wrong)

However, what if I were to geocode elsewhere, update GM with the result, but then allow the user to drag the marker to adjust the final location (in the event that the geocode was slightly off). Does this then bind the location data to Google--as I have now used GM as a tool to obtain the final location--thus rendering it unusable in any other mapping application?

Any further insights in the legality and usage of storing location data via GM would be very much appreciated.
-Eric

[Michael Geary]

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Eric Dooley <ericd...@gmail.com> wrote:

It appears that I am not allowed to store (ex. in a database) geocoded location data generated from Google unless I use it strictly within Google Maps. I would like to not have this restriction (though at the time I can't think of any other application but GM). Therefore, if I use a 3rd party geocoder, but still display the results in Google Maps (or Bing, or anything else), it is my understanding that this would be perfectly fine? (someone correct me if this is wrong)

Sure, that's fine.

 

However, what if I were to geocode elsewhere, update GM with the result, but then allow the user to drag the marker to adjust the final location (in the event that the geocode was slightly off). Does this then bind the location data to Google--as I have now used GM as a tool to obtain the final location--thus rendering it unusable in any other mapping application?

Naw, that doesn't matter at all. Interacting with a Maps API map doesn't give Google any ownership of the location data. That's between you and your users.

-Mike

[Eric Dooley]

Mike. This is good news, thanks for the reply. Not to question your authority, but how do you know this to be true? Is it buried in Google's TOS somewhere because I couldn't find anything that explicitly says this. I'm definitely inclined to agree with you, but I just wanted the peace of mind before I go any further on my project.

Also, do you (or anyone else) know if I could use Google's geocoder just as a lookup, but not to store its results. For example, a user types his address and clicks "Check it on the map". If it's the one they want, they simply submit (and I store) the address they originally typed. They only used the geocoder as a verification method to *their* data, not Google's.

Thanks in advance.

[Luke Mahé]

You would need to look up the ToS/licenses of the third party geocoder as they may not allow that data to be used or displayed on other Maps.

-- Luke

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[Michael Geary]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 3:15 AM, Eric Dooley <ericd...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mike. This is good news, thanks for the reply. Not to question your authority, but how do you know this to be true? Is it buried in Google's TOS somewhere because I couldn't find anything that explicitly says this. I'm definitely inclined to agree with you, but I just wanted the peace of mind before I go any further on my project.

I don't have any authority! :-) I'm just a long-time Maps API developer with a good practical understanding of the TOS.

Any other maps developer will give you the same answer, though. There must be thousands upon thousands of sites that do exactly what you're talking about - saving locations that are generated by user input. It's not a problem at all.

 

Also, do you (or anyone else) know if I could use Google's geocoder just as a lookup, but not to store its results. For example, a user types his address and clicks "Check it on the map". If it's the one they want, they simply submit (and I store) the address they originally typed. They only used the geocoder as a verification method to *their* data, not Google's.

Sure, why not? You're using the geocoding as part of a Maps API application. You're not storing the geocoded data. Nothing wrong with that either.

(But don't take my word for any of this...)

-Mike