Apple and Foursquare abandon Google Maps for Open Street Map
This year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona continues to leave news almost a month after it was held. On this occasion, the fact comes from Foursquare, the application that allows users to register their position , make check-in, in different places to share it with the rest of your friendsThis was made possible thanks to the use of maps from Google, where they were located the stores, restaurants and other placesWell then, those responsible for this platform announced at the congress that stopped using the functions of Google to adopt those offered by Open Street Map
This is a movement focused on creating and updating maps of the whole world on a voluntary basis, basing its operation on the wiki philosophy That is, with contributions from the users themselves, who are already 400.000 In addition, there are hardly any restrictions, offering total freedom to companies that want to use these resources for their purposes. Something that Foursquare must have seen with good eyes.
To this we must add the change of philosophy of Google Maps , which since April charge the use of this service to companies that exceed certain limits In addition, the web pages of hotels, restaurants and venues that want to show users how to get there , they must pay just over 3 euros for every 1000 additional queries that users make to their website. A very well built strategy by Google who, from the beginning of its map service, It grew and was implemented until it was considered practically a standard
Now companies are beginning to look the other way, towards free and possibilities of Open Street Maps However, as iscomments in the newspaper El PaĆs, it is not a panacea for changes in Google In fact , although this movement of free maps works correctly, it is possible to find updates and a very detailed street mapin urban areas, but lack of information in rural areas or most depopulatedIn addition, it does not offer vision through satellite images or the possibility of walking through the streets as it does Google Street View
Foursquare made its announcement at MWC 2012 and also through their blog, where they praise the possibilities of customization and all the functions it offers the movement Open Street Maps through other small companies that are based on their maps Without However, Apple, whose applications have been using the resources of Google Maps since the beginning, has started to change its points of action practically silent This is demonstrated by the introduction of the maps of Open Street Map in its new version of iPhoto, which allows you to classify photos according to the places where they were taken These places are now displayed on a map of Open Street Map
Also, it seems that Apple is preparing its own mapping platformto avoid depending on outside companies, even more so after the purchase of Placebase in 2009 and Poly9 in 2010, both dedicated to digital cartography We will have to see if the rest of the applications follow in the footsteps of Foursquare and Apple, betting on the freedom and voluntary collaboration, and if Googlemaintains leadership in the world of maps, despite its new direction.