How will Google Maps API updates affect your business?

Google Maps services used to be divided into 19 not very transparent APIs. Google has now combined them into 3 user-friendly products: Maps, Routes and Places. The service will not be operated from a separate console but from Google Cloud Console, so you will need to transfer your Google Maps. You can do it by yourself using Google's tutorial, or you can ask one of the certified Google Cloud Partners to simply make the transition for you. You don't have to worry about any kind of outage or other dangers as they are experts in their field. 

One of the most important changes appears in the pricing policy of Google Maps. Until now, users had to pay for Google Maps in advance, and it was hard to estimate the costs as the information about the pricing was hidden. You had to buy a certain amount of credits and these were used to cover the costs of particular services. Google has now changed the pricing model to Pay As You Go, similar to GCP. This way, pricing has become completely transparent, and enables users to better plan their budget. You can view the full price-list here.  

There's a big change in licensing too. Previously, users would purchase licences that were priced differently according to the type of usage of Google Maps. There used to be a different price for an external use (e.g. a simple store locator) or internal use (the type of use not accessible to everyone for free - for example, an intranet). Now every billing account gets a 200 USD monthly credit, and will be charged only after using it all. This way, you don't have to worry about licences anymore. Along with these changes, new QPS limits and new terms of use come into effect for particular services. Google has also started offering professional 24/5 support for free.

Google Maps has also started to focus more on three new scopes of operation: ridesharing, asset tracking and gaming. Companies that offer ride-sharing can now embed Google Maps Navigation directly into their apps and as a result improve the quality of their service. The Asset Tracking Service is designed to help businesses to become more effective by real-time tracking of fleets, assets and devices.  From September, gaming companies will have a chance to help Google Maps create games in realistic environments.

To sum up, the main benefits of the new Google Maps are:

- Transparent division of services to Maps, Routes and Places

- One transparent price list for all users

- Easy scaling - Pay As You Go pricing

- Management and reporting directly from Cloud Console

- Free professional Google Support 24/7

Are you planning to switch to a new version? Don't hesitate to contact us. We are a certified Google Cloud Premiere Partner and we'll be happy to help you with the whole process.