Great Open Source Map Tools For Web Developers 34
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner surveys the rich ecosystem of free maps, free data, and free libraries that give developers excellent alternatives to Google Maps. 'The options are expanding quickly as companies are building their own databases for holding geographical data, their own rendering tools for building maps, and their own software for embedding the maps in websites. ... Working with these tools can be a bit more complex than working with a big provider like Google. Some of these companies make JavaScript tools for displaying the maps, and others just deliver the raw tiles that the browsers use to assemble the maps. Working with the code means making decisions about how you want to assemble the pieces — now within your control. You can stick with one simple library or combine someone else's library with tiles you produce yourself.'"
With a map: good is good enough (Score:5, Insightful)
The good news is that once the competition has a complete map too, their tool can be just as useful as Google maps. Then it's just a matter of who makes the nicest UI and who can generate a map on your screen the quickest.
It's quite unlike Google itself, where their search engine seems to generate more and better results than other search engines (I admit, I might be biased).
So, I can foresee some competition for Google Maps soon. And that is good news.
Re:Why? (Score:0, Insightful)
Unless you have a negligible amount of traffic, you need to pay.
... whereas, of course, storing thousands of map tiles on your own system, serving them to thousands of site visitors, and making sure they remain updated is completely cost-free. Of course.