Mountain View, California — Exploring new avenues to monetize services and diversify away from its traditional search revenue, global search engine giant Google has announced on its blog that beginning January 2012, users of Google Maps API embedded on their websites will be charged for heavy usage of the service, if they cross a specified number of maps loads, the company revealed.
According to various tech industry reports Google’s intention is to levy a charge for the API service, which is currently free. Beginning from January 2012, the first 25,000 uses of the API for businesses will still be free, but once the specified “hit” limit exceeds in a day, then each 1,000 additional visitors will cost $4.
However, individual users would not be affected by this new fee, or what you could call a map “tax”. Websites, especially travel firms, use Google Maps to link customers to a view of the destinations they inquire about.
Indeed, Google maintains that high limit of 25,000 free hits will only affect a negligible amount of users, for instance 0.35%. However, the various businesses that will be affected will be food and beverages, and tourism and travel industries. Expedia, TripAdvisors, and Yelp for starters would most feel the pinch of this new fee, but also transportations and conference organizers could be affected and slapped with a rude awakening.
Google mentioned that it was mindful that developers needed time to asses their usage, determine if they were affected and then take action as appropriate.
“We understand that the initiation of these limits may be concerning,” said Thor Mitchell, product manager of the Maps API at Google.
“However, with the continued multiplication in adoption of the Maps API, we need to secure its long-term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest-volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable.”
Mitchell also explained the reasons of charging only for high-volume use as a way to subsidize the API for most users. “By introducing these limits, we are ensuring that Google can continue to offer the Maps API free of charge to the vast majority of developers for many years to come.”
Moreover, nonprofits and applications considered in the public interest (as determined by Google) are not subject to these usage limits. For instance, a disaster relief map is not subject to the usage limits even if it has been developed and/or is hosted by a commercial entity. More details on the charges and methods of what constitutes a ‘map load’ and what happens when limits are exceeded can be found at their FAQ page.
So far, neither AOL’s Mapquest or YahooMaps have made any intention to begin charging its heavy users. Maybe, a good opportunity for them to collect some of the Google Maps’ soon-to-be discontents.
Google was not available for comment.