I'm sure FourSquare could probably write a long explaination of why they decided to migrate, but simply put, the tl;dr version could be summarised as:
"We can't sustain a $8 CPM hit." (I'm assuming $8 since they use custom styling). Most sites can't even sustain a $4 hit. If I could guarentee $4 per 1000 visitors to my site (income through advertisements) I would be a lot richer than I am today.
Seems that Google has been proven completely wrong with their pricing. They're targeting the bigger companies, which don't see shy at all to reach out for alternatives which offer equal quality and accuracy. Once these companies switch, Gmaps will also lose its "trusty" image. As long as the competition will keep up with providing easy integration, and API functionality, it will no longer be the #1 choice for the bigger companies. And they're not going to get their income from smaller, unless they drastically change their price-model.
OpenLayers is so great though for these kind of sites, that just need that extra dimension of detail on maps.
I had asked this question of Google and received a response from a Google Maps Product Manager a few months back. I wonder if they still feel the same way.
Thanks for posting this. Maybe I'm just grumpy from trying and mostly failing to get some GIS data for the small business I work for, but when I read between the lines of this statement I read either "we have to pay a lot to license this data, and those costs are based on usage rather than a flat fee," or failing that at least "it's expensive to own and operate a fleet of Street View cars to collect this data, and besides that you're not going to find this quality of data cheaper anywhere else [for now, at least]."
I seem to recall that I'd see TeleAtlas and/or NAVTEQ copyrights on maps.google.com for the US. Now I mostly see "(C) Google." (But also "Sanborn," whom I haven't heard of, when I zoom in; http://www.sanborn.com/.)
I welcome OSM shaking this market up. I believe that the losses OSM may inflict upon the existing map data providers will be made up for several times over by all the interesting applications that will arise from its availability.
Making the GMaps Api is the best thing that could have happened for Open Street Map and probably Google Maps in a while. The OSM Map Data is good enough for most. In turn since more sites are going away from GMaps it gets more popular and the data gets better. Google will probably integrate OSMs Data back into Gmaps. Thus sooner or later Google won't need to pay licenseing fees to the card guys. Because their own data (from Google Streetview) + OSMs data will be enough.
what on earth has happened with engadgets url structure?
tried (albeit briefly) to re-write it to get to the desktop version, failed a couple of times before i spotted the desktop link at the bottom, which looks to append ?m=false, and now the first piece of content in the body element is the word "false", presumably debugging stuff, hope that's sanitised properly!
I really want to like OpenStreetMap, and I think it has a ton of potential, but right now I think it's just too difficult to contribute to it. The only choices for map editing are JOSM and Potlatch and neither of those are very user friendly.
Just now, I tried correcting a missing street near me, spent about a half hour playing around with the tools, and gave up. As OpenStreetMap gains popularity, I hope some of these companies using the data will devote some programmer resources to improving things so that "regular people" can contribute too.
I came here to say that I hope they improve the default map theme, but then I realized I'm off to the Maps app anytime I want to actually play with the map or get directions anyway.
Sorry if this question was already asked elsewhere, but how much roughly will FourSquare save with OpenStreetMap? Obviously cost is a critical factor driving this decision, and it would be great to know how much the delta is exactly. Thanks!
[+] [-] feronull|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philo23|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisacky|14 years ago|reply
"We can't sustain a $8 CPM hit." (I'm assuming $8 since they use custom styling). Most sites can't even sustain a $4 hit. If I could guarentee $4 per 1000 visitors to my site (income through advertisements) I would be a lot richer than I am today.
[+] [-] easy_rider|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 51Cards|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tarr11|14 years ago|reply
http://www.quora.com/What-is-Googles-strategy-in-charging-fo...
[+] [-] draebek|14 years ago|reply
I seem to recall that I'd see TeleAtlas and/or NAVTEQ copyrights on maps.google.com for the US. Now I mostly see "(C) Google." (But also "Sanborn," whom I haven't heard of, when I zoom in; http://www.sanborn.com/.)
I welcome OSM shaking this market up. I believe that the losses OSM may inflict upon the existing map data providers will be made up for several times over by all the interesting applications that will arise from its availability.
[+] [-] Thomaschaaf|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsnell|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 5h|14 years ago|reply
tried (albeit briefly) to re-write it to get to the desktop version, failed a couple of times before i spotted the desktop link at the bottom, which looks to append ?m=false, and now the first piece of content in the body element is the word "false", presumably debugging stuff, hope that's sanitised properly!
[+] [-] StavrosK|14 years ago|reply
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/01/foursquare-replaces-googl...
Interestingly, Chrome doesn't execute that because it finds the source of the script in the request. Good XSS avoidance idea.
[+] [-] hiromichan|14 years ago|reply
I am really curios and heager to find out what would happen if more companies will start sharing their efforts with OpenStreetMap.
I would love to see the project getting some efforts and recognition from a larger community :) .. Who know what can start out of this..
[+] [-] bhousel|14 years ago|reply
Just now, I tried correcting a missing street near me, spent about a half hour playing around with the tools, and gave up. As OpenStreetMap gains popularity, I hope some of these companies using the data will devote some programmer resources to improving things so that "regular people" can contribute too.
[+] [-] ricardobeat|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] panabee|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ximeng|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harryh|14 years ago|reply
When will the internet learn?