On May 2nd 2018, Google announced that they are going to make the biggest update in the 13 years of Google Map History. With this update, they are going to merge all the 18 standard API into three standard products - Maps, Routes, and Places.

You will get a standalone single API with which you can access all of these three features, and you don’t need to change any codes to make this work. Besides, you must have to open a billing account in Google Cloud.

Google also introduced a new pricing system - One Pricing Plan. With this pricing system, you’ll pay only for the services you use each month with no annual, up-front commitments, termination fees or usage limits. You will also receive the first $200 of monthly usage for free which is pretty enough for the developers, and once you are ready to scale, you can easily scale up your google map usage without any issue. The free and quality support is cherry on the cake, so if you ever stuck with any issue, google support team will always be there to help you.

How this Google Map Update is going to affect Web Developers

Well, there is not a significant change you guys are going to face other than the fact that now google map is nomore free of cost. Once you go beyond the free limit, i.e., 200$ - your map will be disabled showing a low-quality image with the text “for development purposes only” unless you pay according to the pricing. And if you are wondering what's the pricing of this new Google Map Platform is then here you go.

Everyone who is going to have Google Map on their website, application or any of the program now need a particular standalone API to access google map. If you are a template developer or website developer, and your client wants to have the google map on their website, then you need their API to integrate google map into their sites or template. Simple Enough!!!

So what you can do now? - Any Other Options Available?

Well, you can’t do anything. Sounds Harsh but this is the reality. If you really want to stick to the Google map and don’t want to look for other options, then you must have to register at Google cloud and get an API key. Once you finished the free $200 credits, make sure to pay regularly to continue your services.

Although there is one other option, i.e. To Look for Google Map Alternatives

Yes, you heard it right. You can also look for Google Map Alternatives. Yeah, I agree that Google Map undoubtedly is the most popular map providers but still, there are few companies which can compete with the Google standards. But they never get a good exposure until now because of Google Map market share. But now when people are looking for Alternatives for Google Map, it is the perfect time to explore some of these Map Providers. Here are some of them…

Bing Map

When you talked about the free alternative to google maps, the first thing which came to everyone’s mind is Bing Maps. Bing Maps has been there since the late 2005 and is one of the best Google Map alternatives. Bing Map uses HERE for Street data pulling and offers an exclusive bird’s eye view, satellite imaging, and direction which is exactly what the people want in a map provider services.

Bing also displays the traffic information which you can see by clicking on a traffic light icon in the system. Since the map is supported and owned by Bing Search Engine, it also helps in showing up your business location in bing search result just like the Google Map.

• Price: Free
• Compatibility: Web, iOS, Android

How to integrate Bing Map in your Joomla Website?

You can easily integrate Bing Map using the Perfect Bing Maps Integration extension on your Joomla Site.

Try it Now

Want to know more, Click here.