Transaction limits and associated costs

[abanjo]

Hi,

in the last weeks, in the FAQ i found a new paragraph dedicated to the usage limits.

Here a piece of it:

"What transaction limits apply to the Maps API?

There are currently no limits on the number of web based JavaScript or Flash maps a site can generate. However the Google Maps API Web Services and Google Static Maps API do have daily limits that are specified in their documentation.

From October 1st 2011 commercial web sites and applications using the Maps API may at no cost generate:

up to 2,500 map transactions per day that have been modified using the Styled Maps feature

up to 25,000 map transactions per day in total

..."

and here the part relative to the costs:

"What constitutes a 'map transaction' in the context of the transaction limits that apply to the Maps API?

A single map transaction occurs when:

the Maps JavaScript API (V2 or V3) is loaded by a web page or application;

a SWF that loads the Maps API for Flash is loaded by a web page or application; or

a single request is made for a map image from the Static Maps API.

a single request is made for a panorama image from the Street View Image API."

So if i correctly understand, if my site generate more than 25.000 transactions  i must pay $4 for each slot of 1000 extra transactions.

What is not clear to me is:

- if i use the javascript V3 version, the 25.000 are calculated for the IP ( so the client ), the domain ( so the web site ) or what?

- Well, the costs are for commercial web site... but what is considered  "commercial" from Google? A page with banners (es Adsense ) is considered as commercial? 

- 4$ for 1000 transactions?? well if a transaction is generated for each maps load, this is quite near to pageviews. So, if i put an adsense banner MAYBE i can reach a 0,80$ RPM... so i pay 4 to gain less than 1? I think this a great problem for the major part of web sites.

Maybe ( i hope ) i don't understand well what is written.

Can anyone help me to clarify these doubts?

Thanks

Davide

[Martin™]

To be honest most (all!) questions such as yours seem to go PARTLY or
WHOLLY unanswered not just in this group but also in the API 2 group
too.

I suspect that Google don't have a 'concrete' answer and are happy to
leave us all wondering what is what...

Martin.


On Oct 10, 2:42 pm, abanjo <aba...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,in the last weeks, in the FAQ i found a new paragraph dedicated to the
> usage limits.Here a piece of it:*"What transaction limits apply to the Maps
> API?*
> *There are currently no limits on the number of web based JavaScript or

> Flash maps a site can generate. However the Google Maps API Web Services and
> Google Static Maps API do have daily limits that are specified in their

> documentation.**From October 1st 2011 commercial web sites and applications
> using the Maps API may at no cost generate:**up to 2,500 map transactions
> per day that have been modified using the Styled Maps feature**up to 25,000
> map transactions per day in total*..."and here the part relative to the
> costs:
> *"What constitutes a 'map transaction' in the context of the transaction

> limits that apply to the Maps API?

> **A single map transaction occurs when:**the Maps JavaScript API (V2 or V3)
> is loaded by a web page or application;**a SWF that loads the Maps API for
> Flash is loaded by a web page or application; or**a single request is made
> for a map image from the Static Maps API.**a single request is made for a
> panorama image from the Street View Image API."*

> So if i correctly understand, if my site generate more than 25.000

> transactions  i must pay $4 for each slot of 1000 extra transactions.What is

> not clear to me is:- if i use the javascript V3 version, the 25.000 are
> calculated for the IP ( so the client ), the domain ( so the web site ) or

> what?- Well, the costs are for commercial web site... but what is considered

>  "commercial" from Google? A page with banners (es Adsense ) is considered
> as commercial? - 4$ for 1000 transactions?? well if a transaction is
> generated for each maps load, this is quite near to pageviews. So, if i put
> an adsense banner MAYBE i can reach a 0,80$ RPM... so i pay 4 to gain less
> than 1? I think this a great problem for the major part of web sites.

> Maybe ( i hope ) i don't understand well what is written.Can anyone help me
> to clarify these doubts?ThanksDavide

[Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)]

On Monday, 10 October 2011 06:42:41 UTC-7, abanjo wrote:

What is not clear to me is:

- if i use the javascript V3 version, the 25.000 are calculated for the IP ( so the client ), the domain ( so the web site ) or what?

For the domain. 

- Well, the costs are for commercial web site... but what is considered  "commercial" from Google? A page with banners (es Adsense ) is considered as commercial? 

Yes. In general, unless your organisation is a non-profit your site qualifies.

Many thanks,

Thor.
 

[Heikki Hannikainen]

If that pricing will really be put to effect on my site, it will cost me significantly more than what I gain from adsense. And there are other costs involved, too (CDN, hosting). I could probably make it a non-commercial one by removing adsense ads, but then I'd have to pay the costs out of my own pocket. And Google wouldn't get their cut from adsense, either. This would be unfortunate.

- Hessu

[geoco...@gmail.com]

On Oct 12, 6:39 am, Heikki Hannikainen <heikki.hannikai...@gmail.com>
wrote:

If google starts charging me for maps api usage I am going to find a
different source of maps (and probably stop supporting the various
APIs...).

-- Larry



>
> - Hessu

[abanjo]

Hi Thor,

thanks for the answer.

Some other doubts:

1) So the transactions are for domain, but at which level?

If i have:

foo.mysite.com

bar.mysite.com

the 25.000 transactions are for each of them? or this quota is only for "mysite.com"?

2) There is a way to reduce the transactions ( es: cache )? I intend to use the V3 Javascript version, so is difficult for me to immagine a way to cache, for example, the map loads. Do you have any suggestion?

3) Last consideration... 

Google strong suggests to put adsense in the map to monetize... but has sayed before is difficult to have a profit in this condition:

es:

- 1 map load = 1 page view ( standard case )

- 1$ as RPM for the adsense ( if i'm very very lucky! )

10.000 page views / map loads -> i gain 10$

25.000 page views / map loads -> i gain 25$

37.500 page views / map loads -> i gain 25$  but i pay 25$ = 0$

50.000 page views / map loads -> i gain 50$ but i pay 100$ = -50$

conclusion: This is not a sostenible business model. I must hope that other part of the web site gain enough to cover the costs of the map.

Which is the Google position on that?

Thanks

Davide

[abanjo]

Hi Thor,

there is a place where i can monitor the transactions on my site?

How i can know exactly the number i reached in the day?

Thanks

Davide

[Joseph Elfelt]

Excellent question.

[John Coryat]

It's pretty easy to do if you use Analytics. 

-John Coryat

[RobMaps]

I agree with comments from abanjo and others that the transaction costs will badly affect sites which are semi-commercial or ad-supported and generate a lot of map transactions. My site generates more than 25,000 transactions per day but would not be economic to run with the transaction charges as announced.

My suggestion would be that maps which display a Google ad unit should be exluded from the transaction limit total which I think would be fairer and benefit both site owners and Google.

[John Coryat]

We should be given a choice of shutting the site down when the 25k limit is reached or paying to keep it online. As stated by a previous poster, the cost of keeping the site up after the threshold is far greater than the ad revenue generated by the site. Shutting it down would be a negative to the users but the cost is so prohibitive that it's the only option as far as I can tell.

Forcing us to pay without any other options is going to be painful. Writing a self monitoring system will require shutting off the maps before the threshold is reached to ensure a safety limit. 

It does seem a bit short sighted for Google to force map publishers with successful sites that run AdSense to shut down or be charged an excess of what AdSense can earn. Exempting AdSense users from the limit would seem to be a good business practice. Another option might be to charge these map publishers the same rate that AdSense generates when the threshold is exceeded making the sites revenue neutral for that overage and allowing them to stay online instead of forcing a shutdown.

-John Coryat

[davie strachan]

Hi
The 25K limit is for the page with the map.
As long as this page is not page that generates the 25K hits you
should not incur costs.
I have seen sites(mostly property) with multiple maps on a page which
is probably why Google are starting charging.
ie If you are worried about going over the 25K limit don't have the
map on the main page and only show a map if the user requires one

Regards davie

[geoco...@gmail.com]

On Oct 30, 11:19 am, davie strachan <daviestrac...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
> The 25K limit is for the page with the map.
> As long as this page is not page that generates the 25K hits you
> should not incur costs.
> I have seen sites(mostly property) with multiple maps on a page which
> is probably why Google are starting charging.
> ie If you are worried about going over the 25K limit don't have the
> map on the main page and only show a map if the user requires one

Most of my pages with maps on them only have a single map on them and
have been active for years. I don't think I am likely to hit the 25K
limit, but 2500 for styled maps might start to get close. Luckily I
never really started to use the styled maps feature...

-- Larry

[John Coryat]

If you have multiple maps on a single domain, then the cumulative total map loads per day for that domain is what the quota is computed on. This was clarified by Thor in an earlier post in this thread.

-John Coryat

[davie strachan]

Hi
Exactly
If your site has hits which may excede the quota limit the access to
the map to only when the user requires one

Regards davie

[geoco...@gmail.com]

On Oct 30, 3:08 pm, davie strachan <daviestrac...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
> Exactly
> If your site has hits which may excede the quota limit the access to
> the map to only when the user requires one

That is fine for new sites. You are proposing a redesign of all the
existing sites that were created before this restriction was
mentioned.

How many map pages have you created? When did you start using the
google maps APIs?

-- Larry

[Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)]

On Monday, 31 October 2011 01:48:26 UTC+11, John Coryat wrote:

We should be given a choice of shutting the site down when the 25k limit is reached or paying to keep it online.

You will have that choice. You can set a Maximum Billable Limit, which is the maximum amount you are willing to pay per day. If you exceed that limit on any given day, then the site will stop serving Maps for the rest of the day. You can set that limit to be $0 if you wish.

 

As stated by a previous poster, the cost of keeping the site up after the threshold is far greater than the ad revenue generated by the site. Shutting it down would be a negative to the users but the cost is so prohibitive that it's the only option as far as I can tell.

Forcing us to pay without any other options is going to be painful. Writing a self monitoring system will require shutting off the maps before the threshold is reached to ensure a safety limit. 

It does seem a bit short sighted for Google to force map publishers with successful sites that run AdSense to shut down or be charged an excess of what AdSense can earn. Exempting AdSense users from the limit would seem to be a good business practice. Another option might be to charge these map publishers the same rate that AdSense generates when the threshold is exceeded making the sites revenue neutral for that overage and allowing them to stay online instead of forcing a shutdown.

We looked into this, but even if we took 100% of Ad Unit revenue from sites, we would not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of serving those sites, given the average RPM of the Ad Unit. Plus it's a goal of the pricing not just to cover the costs of the affected sites, but also the costs of serving the sites that are not paying usage (ie. it's the revenue from the 0.35% of sites that are paying that secures the future of the service for the 99.65% of sites that are not). So if we were to offer a choice between showing the Ad Unit and paying, we would need to both increase the RPM of the Ad Unit somehow (eg. show more ads), and also force the Ad Unit on every site unless they opted to pay. I'm pretty confident such a policy would have generated several orders of magnitude more anger amongst the developer community than just asking the top 0.35% of sites (by map volume) to pay at the rates published. Not to mention the fact that the Ad Unit is not suitable for small maps, or any non-JS map (eg. Static, Flash, Street View Image, etc.).

Many thanks,

Thor.

 

-John Coryat

[abanjo]

Hi Thor,
So according to what you said only the 0,35% of the sites is over the
25.000 limits.
This is a big surprise for me considering that 1 map load = 1
transaction!
So we have 2 options:

1) the 99,65% of the sites don't consider the maps as an important
feature for their core business.
2) the 99,65% of the sites have found a way to offer a great map
service without go over this limit. I'm very curios to know how!

My site is based on maps. I'm offering a tool to calculate an
itinerary with public transportations for my city. So i can't take off
the maps. I don't believe that i'm over the limit, but sure i'm quite
near it. Before this news i hoped that my site will grow in the
future, now i hoping that it remain stable! (is not this absurd?)
I'm happy to know to have a site that is near the 1% of the "top
player" of Google maps, but i can assure you that i don't gain from
that enough to pay for the 99% of the developers.
I think that this quota is too low, and don't take in consideration
the sites that are focused on maps. I think that the heavy users of
the maps are the most important for Google. They are developers that
spend a lot of time on your API, give you a feedback, have helped to
grow this product... and now are the ones that must pay! For
example... i'm very interested in styled map, fusion tables ecc... but
now... why spend my time to integrate them if i know that these are
absolutely anti-economic?

Do not get me wrong, i'am grateful to Google for the support in this
years with its great services... so as long as i can i will try to
continue to use your maps. If i will find a way to gain enough to pay
my costs, i will be happy to give my contribution to the community.

Thanks
Davide





On 31 Ott, 09:08, "Thor Mitchell (Google Employee)" <t...@google.com>
wrote:

[Rossko]

> 1) the 99,65% of the sites don't consider the maps as an important
> feature for their core business.

We might rephrase that as "99,65% of the sites don't consider the
_Free_ maps as an important feature for their core business _or_ are
not expecting 25,000 users per day"
Many businesses with maps as an _integral_ part of their business and
getting >25,000 hits a day are probably Premier customers already? If
not, why not - i.e. why should Google subsidise their business, how
can that business be founded on a 3rd party's free offer that may be
withdrawn or changed, has no SLA etc?

Those Premier customers are already subsidising us pipsqueak users to
be sure, fair or not.

None of which addresses that curious Adsense anomaly, "I must not not
promote revenue earning (for Google) ads too widely for fear of paying
for the privilige"

[davie strachan]

>2) the 99,65% of the sites have found a way to offer a great map
>service without go over this limit. I'm very curios to know how!

Only show map when requested
How many of the 25K hits ever require the map??
Regards Davie

On Oct 31, 10:41 am, Rossko <ros...@culzean.clara.co.uk> wrote:
> > 1) the 99,65% of the sites don't consider the maps as an important

> > feature for their c2) the 99,65% of the sites have found a way to offer a great map
service without go over this limit. I'm very curios to know how! ore

[RobMaps]

How is the usage limit implemented where maps are embedded onto a user's website with an iframe ?

Is the usage charge applied to the domain of the main container page or the domain of the iframe's source ?

I currently use Amazon S3 to host ad-supported maps for other people, using a mapped subdomain name. If I remove this subdomain mapping the map page URL would be within the s3.amazon.com subdomain. In this case would Amazon be billed for the usage ?

[John Coryat]

We should be given a choice of shutting the site down when the 25k limit is reached or paying to keep it online.

You will have that choice. You can set a Maximum Billable Limit, which is the maximum amount you are willing to pay per day. If you exceed that limit on any given day, then the site will stop serving Maps for the rest of the day. You can set that limit to be $0 if you wish.

 

This is satisfactory for me. Having a choice gives me the option to shut it down or pay up.

-John Coryat 

[Joseph Elfelt]

The Qs RobMaps posed regarding iframes are important for me also.
Many of my users display pages from their own domain which contain my
map API app running in an iframe.

[giscoda]

Hi Thor,

will there be an option to get streetview and geocoder without the
google map?

I could easily switch the main map of my application to an open source
solution but I would like to continiue using googles geocoding and
streetview.

Thanx
-s.

[geoco...@gmail.com]

On Oct 31, 10:17 am, giscoda <kiefer.stef...@guj.de> wrote:
> Hi Thor,
>
> will there be an option to get streetview and geocoder without the
> google map?
>
> I could easily switch the main map of my application to an open source
> solution but I would like to continiue using googles geocoding and
> streetview.

You aren't allowed to use the geocoder unless the resulting data will
be displayed on a google maps API map.
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#geocoder_exists

I'm pretty sure there is no requirement to have a map to use
streetview.

-- Larry

[davie strachan]

http://www.netmagazine.com/news/devs-respond-google-maps-api-limits-111510

Regards Davie

On Oct 31, 5:39 pm, "geocode...@gmail.com" <geocode...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Oct 31, 10:17 am, giscoda <kiefer.stef...@guj.de> wrote:
>
> > Hi Thor,
>
> > will there be an option to get streetview and geocoder without the
> > google map?
>
> > I could easily switch the main map of my application to an open source
> > solution but I would like to continiue using googles geocoding and
> > streetview.
>
> You aren't allowed to use the geocoder unless the resulting data will

> be displayed on a google maps API map.http://code.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#geocoder_exists

[Joseph Elfelt]

Google's requirements for non-profits:
http://www.google.com/nonprofits/eligibility.html

[Jose Antonio Rodríguez]

This news is very unfortunate. Who will pay my work on Google Map Maker?

[ensabahnur]

Hi Thor,

Does the usage limit and subsequent costs apply to desktop applications such as my app that reads NMEA data from GPS COM port and display the current location using Google Maps?

Best Regards,

Ensabahnur

[Heikki Hannikainen]

On Monday, October 31, 2011 9:08:28 AM UTC+2, Thor Mitchell (Google Employee) wrote:

We looked into this, but even if we took 100% of Ad Unit revenue from sites, we would not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of serving those sites, given the average RPM of the Ad Unit. Plus it's a goal of the pricing not just to cover the costs of the affected sites, but also the costs of serving the sites that are not paying usage (ie. it's the revenue from the 0.35% of sites that are paying that secures the future of the service for the 99.65% of sites that are not).

I'm well within the 0.35%. Since the new pricing exceeds my ad revenue, I'll probably have to give up and come up with something else than Google Maps. I wonder how many others in the 0.35% will find themselves in the same situation, making the percentage of paying sites smaller, and the above equation less likely to work?

 - Hessu

[Joseph Elfelt]

OK, Google has told us we will be able to set a switch and kill our
app for the rest of the day once the 25,000 limit is reached.

But is Google going to provide some way for our javascript to know
that our domain has reached the limit so our app can display an
informative message (Check back tomorrow...) instead of a blank map?

[John Coryat]

But is Google going to provide some way for  our javascript to know
that our domain has reached the limit so our app can display an
informative message (Check back tomorrow...) instead of a blank map?

Google won't have to do that. It should be a fairly easy test to perform to figure this out. Until Google actually implements this, the details will remain to be seen but I'd imagine a try/catch loop checking the map variable or any map functions for being defined should work.

-John Coryat 

[gleff]

Can I just clarify something. If I have a single map loaded, but
every 10 seconds I clear all markers/overlays, and re-add new markers/
overlays at different locations. Is that considered one transaction
or multiple?

Also what about if someone pans the map to a different location,
changes the map type, etc. Is that the same transaction, or again,
multiple ones?

I run a flight tracking site and generally the user is presented with
the single map and lots of markers of the planes. Every 10 seconds I
clear those markers and add new ones with the new locations/planes.
The user is also able to pan the map and change the type.

I'm trying to work out how I'll be affected because technically I only
have about 100 visitors a day but the fact it's clearing and adding
markers all the time worries me that i'll go over the limit.

Geoff

[Jeremy Geerdes]

If you check out http://code.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#tos_mapload you will find what constitutes a transaction listed fairly clearly.

Jeremy R. Geerdes

Generally Cool Guy

Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:

jrge...@gmail.com

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights Wesleyan Church!

--
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[gleff]

Actually, it's not crystal clear but clearer nonetheless.

Can you clarify though.

"A single map load occurs when:

a.the Maps JavaScript API (V2 or V3) is loaded by a web page or
application;"

I assume this means when the entire API is loaded eg. at
initialization only (when the page first loads) by calling the
http://maps.google.com/maps?etc...?


"The degree to which a user interacts with a map once it has been
loaded has no impact on the usage limits. "

So to clarify the last part, panning obviously makes no difference
etc, but when adding markers/overlays.. does that mean it also has no
impact?

In essence am I correct in assuming that once the map loads, that's
essentially it. All other pans/changing map types (excluding street
view), and adding/removing overlays all have no impact. Eg. One visit
(complete map load) = One transaction?

Geoff

On Nov 3, 11:52 am, Jeremy Geerdes <jrgeer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you check outhttp://code.google.com/apis/maps/faq.html#tos_maploadyou will find what constitutes a transaction listed fairly clearly.

>
> Jeremy R. Geerdes
> Generally Cool Guy
> Des Moines, IA
>
> For more information or a project quote:

> jrgeer...@gmail.com

>
> If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights Wesleyan Church!
>
> On Nov 2, 2011, at 7:44 PM, gleff wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Can I just clarify something.   If I have a single map loaded, but
> > every 10 seconds I clear all markers/overlays, and re-add new markers/
> > overlays at different locations.  Is that considered one transaction
> > or multiple?
>
> > Also what about if someone pans the map to a different location,
> > changes the map type, etc.  Is that the same transaction, or again,
> > multiple ones?
>
> > I run a flight tracking site and generally the user is presented with
> > the single map and lots of markers of the planes.  Every 10 seconds I
> > clear those markers and add new ones with the new locations/planes.
> > The user is also able to pan the map and change the type.
>
> > I'm trying to work out how I'll be affected because technically I only
> > have about 100 visitors a day but the fact it's clearing and adding
> > markers all the time worries me that i'll go over the limit.
>
> > Geoff
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to google-map...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-maps-js-a...@googlegroups.com.

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[JD Gauchat]

Hi guys. The following limit is just for static images?

"panorama image from the Street View Image API"

I need to clarify this. The limit for static streetview images is 1000 per user and 25000 per domain. But the streetview service has no limits, right?

Thanks

JD

[JD Gauchat]

I realized that to load a streetview I have to load the API and there is when the charge is made, as it happens with the maps.

Now, a question for Thor or managers of this project. Why are you trying to make a few developers pay the service for the rest?

Let's do some numbers. I use Amazon Web Services. To access 1000 times a file, and to upload 1000 files to the server I have to pay only $0,011 cents. In bandwidth, considering an average of 20k per file, will be $0,025. for storage it's almost the same, just $0,02 per 1000 files of 20k. So, I have to pay a total of $0,056 cents to store and read 1000 files. 

With this business plan, making a small group pay for the whole service turn those few cents into $4 dollars. Which is incredibly expensive and impossible to afford.

In other words (and sorry for this), the business plan sucks. 

I pay a total of $70 per month to Amazon and I manage millions of files per month (currently I'm having more than a million access per day). I also have three VPSs that I get for around $100 a month. I will be glad to pay $20 or $30 a month for the Google Maps service. It will be a great deal and affordable for almost anyone that is trying to do business with their website.

Instead of making a small group pay a lot of money for the whole service you can make everybody to pay a reasonable amount ($19.99 ?) and keep a free service for bloggers and very small websites that we all will be happily paying for.

This business model is putting a cap, limiting projects and making impossible to scale. I have being working for a month on a project that now I realized that when I get over the limit I will have to suspend, because the prices make the scalability just impossible.

I hope you will reconsider this and come up with a better plan according to real-life projects. 

Thanks

JD

[JD Gauchat]

I just sent an email to ask about the premier account and I got a message that is talking about thousands of dollars for just a million access. At the end of the email says: "Please respond to this email if you have any additional questions", and guess what is the email? yes, you got it... It's no-r...@google.com hahahah

I think Google survives because some of their products are amazing. But the business plan, the costumer support, the communication with potential clients, are just awful!!!!

Well, just to say that if they charge $4 for only 1000 access, or thousands for a premier account, more than the 80% of the projects will be dead soon. And I'm talking about projects that can become profitable companies that can bring a lot of money to Google.  With these numbers my project is dead before to see the light of the internet :-( 

What is difficult to understand is that they are charging so much money because their business plan pretends that a little group of developers have to pay the service for everyone. As I said before, that business model sucks! Come on people, you are better than this! 

Hope you can come up with something realistic... or hire a group of marketing guys, you need them :-)

JD

[Rossko]

> Hope you can come up with something realistic...

Clearly Google think they already have, and it is already in place.

One way to encourage re-think is to provide a concrete alternative.
We don't have access to the numbers (users, hits, etc.) to see how a
suggestion pans out, but if a suggestion is made it should be easy
enough for Google to do sums.
It might be most effective to present such a suggestion with an
estimate of the results, compared to the status quo.

Most likely the wrong Google folk are reading this forum, but if the
message is more persuasive than "poor me" and more like "benefits to
Google", I'm sure it would get passed upwards.

[JD Gauchat]

Hi Rossko. Thanks for the advice. Here is what I know:

I was working on a project that requires Google Maps. Due to its
characteristics, I estimated the following:

- I would have 5 loads per user in average (possible more considering
that I can't save static images on my server, not even thumbnails).
- Since the limit is 25000 loads, my project is limited to 5000 visits
per day.
- Concentrating the business on advertisement I can make between $10
and $15 per day (based on previous experience and websites that are
already running since several years ago)

Once reaching this level of traffic, the next step for any business is
investing. The money earned has to be invested in advertisement to
make the business grow and turn the 5000 visits into millions a day.
But here is the problem. As soon as I get the numbers over the limit I
will start loosing money (or if I'm lucky I'll get even). I'll have to
stop investing in advertisement and my business, for one reason or
another, will be dead in 5000 visits (no money for me, no money for
Google). And with that level of income, it's impossible to pay for a
premium account (and according to the values I saw a premium account
is too expensive as well, comparing with any cloud service).

Conclusions:

With the current business plan there is a gap. You can't start a
project that might turn into a big business because you have to be a
big business since the beginning to be able to afford the services you
need. It's IMPOSSIBLE to scale. Once you reach a point in which you
have to start paying your business is frozen because you can't pay for
the service without loosing money. And if you don't pay, Google don't
make ANY money.

Google knows the numbers. They have a cloud service and they know the
low cost of the bandwidth and storage. A static image, for example, is
no more than 50k, thus 1000 images will be 50 megabytes. The cost of
bandwidth for 1 gig is $0.13 (maximum), so for 1000 images we are
talking about $0.0065 (it's not even a cent). You can't turn this into
$4 without killing thousands of projects that could become big
business and bring millions of dollars to Google.

I think I don't need to explain more, Google has ALL the numbers they
need to understand this.

Thanks for reading
JD

[Jarrod]

Hi,

I agree about the terms not being crystal clear. There seems to be
slightly conflicting information about what is a "map load".

The terms of use suggest

"the Maps JavaScript API (V2 or V3) is loaded by a web page or
application"

To me it means a 'map load' will count if I use this call (for
example) to load the API.

===================
google.load('maps', '3', {other_params: 'sensor=false',callback:
initMap });
===================

or by referencing the map API from a script tag on the page.

Meaning that once the API is loaded I can create many maps on the one
page (e.g. either having multiple maps present, or maps that are
created and destroyed in ajax panels) i.e. "new google.maps.Map()"
shouldn't count as a 'map load' but rather the loading of the API
itself.

But what is confusing is that a styled map has different usage limits,
but uses the same api. Which to me suggests that the "map load" has to
be counted from some other point. Here is a subset of the code for a
styled map from the google api style help page
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/styling.html#creating_a_styledMapType

===============
var map = new
google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map_canvas'),mapOptions);
//Associate the styled map with the MapTypeId and set it to display.
map.mapTypes.set('pink_parks', pinkMapType);
===============

Everything in this code is pretty standard right up until the
"map.mapTypes.set()" method. If I have 2 styled maps on a map does
that count as 2 "map loads". So I (we) need a definitive answer to the
question "from what point does Google actually measure that a "map
load" has happened?"

- google.load('maps', '3')
- new google.maps.Map()
- map.mapTypes.set()
- something else? e.g. setCenter and zoom?

On a second note, I have been looking at the embedded solution which
will work fine for basic maps, but it seems to still be using the v2
map api? What's that all about?


Thanks,
Jarrod

On Nov 3, 1:16 am, gleff <webmas...@gleff.com> wrote:
> Actually, it's not crystal clear but clearer nonetheless.
>
> Can you clarify though.
>
> "A single map load occurs when:
>
> a.the Maps JavaScript API (V2 or V3) is loaded by a web page or
> application;"
>
> I assume this means when the entire API is loaded eg. at

> initialization only (when the page first loads) by calling thehttp://maps.google.com/maps?etc...?