Yahoo vs. Google: Maps API comparison

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m3mn0n
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Yahoo vs. Google: Maps API comparison

Post by m3mn0n »

I've personally been using the Google Maps API since its first version and I've had no real issues with it. I loved the new features that came with version 2 of the API, and when Yahoo came out with their own API, I completely ignored it because I was so fond of and satisfied with the Google API.

But today I implemented SSL on a site I use with the Google API and it suprised me to find out that they do not support secure connections. So no matter what your users will see a "this page contains unsecure information" type of message. And as far as I understand, the only way around this is to develop a proxy and call the Google data that way. But then you do nothing but boost your site's bandwidth consumption and look suspicious to Google since all the data is being requested from 1 IP.

So, with my dismay with the situation, I finally turned to the Yahoo Maps API site to do some research about this secure site situation I'm in. Right now I've not been able to find any information about the issue, and they do not offer a forum, only a mailing list so I can't see what people have said about the issue. So because of the lack of mention on their site about it, it leads me to believe that its unsupported.. but regardless, I'm going to test it out in the coming days and see what happens.

But as for the rest of their API, wow.. I'm quite impressed at the job the Yahoo Maps team has done with their API.... it boosts MUCH more features than the Google API and it's quite a big younger.

I've noticed a few things it offers that I've noticed Google does not:
-Direct Adobe Flash + Flex Support.. so you can build their maps directly into your flash/flex app
-Ability to get just a PNG of the request, instead of an Ajax map (great for caching the image locally to reduce off-site requests)
-Integrated traffic information support (if this floats your boat)
-A much more extensive XML support with their "GeoRSS," but this could also be seen as a disadvantage because Google's API allows for total flexibility when it comes to XML data so you're not added unnecessary overhead
-This isn't a cool thing for developers, but personally I think the Yahoo UI/controls for the map are much more visually appealing

Then there is a few things I've noticed Google has the advantage in:
-It's seemingly able to be requested an unlimited amount of times, compared to "50,000 requests per IP" from Yahoo. Google even says contact them if you're using it a lot so they can put you on a higher powered server. A big plus for larger sites.
-AFAIK, Google is the only one to offer the ability to feed it a series of points so you can solid line between two points, this is as of v2. Before, and like with Yahoo currently (I think) you painfully need to draw a whole series of lines to connect two points. This sucks because you can clearly see where the lines start/end, and this is a cool feature from Google because it adds continuity to the line so it appears as one, offering a more visually appealing result.

One thing that I've also not been able to find information on is Yahoo's support/policy regarding converting addresses to lat/long. Google offers this and recently they've applied a limit of 50,000 per day. This isn't really a set back because if you're doing 50,000 queries per day, it's not expensive to use a 3rd party service for address -> lat/long conversion and just feed Google the lat/long. If anyone knows about Yahoo's support about this let me know.

So with all this said, I'm wondering what are your experiences with either of these APIs or both if you've used them both.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

I looked into the two a while back and if I remember correctly most map API support geo-coding now (MapQuest, Google, Yahoo, etc). But one area where Google lacked (may have changed) was routing or auto-directions, etc..

Because I kinda wanted that functionality as users might want driving instructions from point A to point B...my hopes for Google were kinda quashed!!!

Meh...not a huge deal but might be an interesting feature depending on your user base...if it even applies still...I dunno...
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m3mn0n
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Post by m3mn0n »

Yeah, that's one thing they both lack, I believe.... the ability to just name two points and see the most direct driving path between them.

I guess it's one of those things they want exclusive to the main product so the "satellite" maps sites can't offer everything they can. That's also why I believe they do throttling on usage, because it's damn obvious the two biggest sites on the internet can handle the bandwidth. heh
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m3mn0n
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Post by m3mn0n »

heh

I guess not many here have played around with these APIs.
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aaronhall
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Post by aaronhall »

I've been using Google's API on a contract project. We were worried about the geocoding limit, but it turns out that Google allows you to make geocoding requests via HTTP, so we're able to cache the requests. I haven't played around with Yahoo's yet, but I'm very happy with Google's so far. It's a snap to set up, and very easy to interact with.
alvinphp
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Post by alvinphp »

I was hooked on google maps for the longest time (pretty much the day it came out), until Yahoo Maps completely revamped their system. Now I am hooked on Yahoo Maps not for the map system, but the ability to easily search for shops and restaurants on the map and get ratings. Yahoo Maps is like City Search and Google Maps combined.
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