The Maps API Handcuffs — and everyone is a victim

We have all come to assume that ****** Maps API is the de facto standard when it comes to maps. Practically every company in some shape or form uses the Maps API. I can pretty much guarantee you that except for a handful, all of these companies are unknowingly bound by the Maps API handcuffs and will eventually fall prey to their detrimental policies.

Sounds too disgruntled? Let’s get into the details.

Most know that the geocodes you fetch from the ****** Maps Geocoding API can only be shown on their maps — so if your app is native for Android and iOS, and you wanted to use the Apple Maps SDK on iOS, you cannot show the geocodes that you got from ****** despite you already having paid for them. Now you need either use the substandard ****** Maps SDK in your iOS apps, or pay for another Geocoding service. Didn’t know about this? Welcome to the world of handcuffs. Knew about this? This isn’t the problem I want to focus on :-)

Most don’t know that the Autocomplete you use from ****** Maps also comes with quite a few restrictions, which to a large degree are much more severe. The address field, half of whose characters were typed by your users, is a protected field in the API response. What does that mean? It means that the policies technically do not allow you to store your customers’ addresses in your systems.

You read that right. You cannot store your customer’s address in your systems. All you can do is store the Place IDs, and every time you need to get the addresses, you have to pay $17 for a 1000 addresses.

Let’s put this to math. You have 10,000 customers. You want to know how many of these are in the Bay Area. Boom. You’re just out $170. Mistyped the query? Boom. Another $170. Not really. You are allowed to cache the data for a period of 30 days. But yeah, it’s going to cost you $170 next month nonetheless.

Let’s put this to ops. Did you just print that address label and give it to FedEx? You’ve violated the policy. Did you just call a third party service to validate the address? You’ve violated the policy. Did you just email the customer to verify the shipping address? You’ve violated the policy. Basically you’re violating their strong worded policy day in and day out.

******’s not necessarily enforcing all of these today, but they have way more control over your data and your relationship with the customer than you would ever want. You’re just not a big enough fish in the pond for them yet. How’s that for being a prey?

Without naming the companies involved, there is precedence where ****** has either enforced this, or companies have taken fairly radical steps being aware that ****** may enforce this anytime.

There are ways to get out of the handcuffs. In fact it’s almost critical that every company proactively do so. I’ve made it a personal goal to break down this dilemma that many of you will face over the next decade. Interested? Reach out, and let’s grab a coffee.