Google Maps vs Mapbox

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Google Maps

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Mapbox

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Google Maps vs Mapbox: What are the differences?

With a global stronghold on navigation, Google Maps enjoys a technical and overall popularity. Developed by Google, there is state of the art satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360-degree panoramic views and so much more. Mapbox, on the other hand, is also a provider of custom online maps for websites and apps. Some of the successes of Mapbox include Foursquare, Lonely Planet, Facebook, the Financial Times, the weather channel and so many more. Mapbox is an open source platform for custom designed maps. The APIs and SDKs being the building blocks to integrate location into any mobile or web app. Mapbox is lesser expensive and is highly customizable.

Advice on Google Maps and Mapbox
Adam Abdelmoula
CPO at Split Mobile Software · | 5 upvotes · 468K views

We need some advice about the map services provider. We are a mobility app that just launched 5 months ago in Tunisia offering P2P carpooling. We are currently using Google Maps API for maps (Places API, Geocoding API, Directions API & Distance Matrix API). Thus, we received expensive bills from Google Cloud following the number of requests we are using. We are looking forward to reduce the number of requests in general because we can't afford these large bills at this stage, knowing that they are going to increase proportionally to the active users of the app. We tried to optimize multiple times but it isn't enough. We are searching for optimization advice or ideas on how we use the APIs, or other map providers (like OpenStreetMap or similar) that offers free or cheaper options than Google Maps, without lacking quality of information (we are in Tunisia and we have to choose options that have enough data about Tunisia). Thanks!

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Replies (1)
Gagan Jakhotiya
Engineering Manager at BigBasket · | 2 upvotes · 1.6K views

Besides OSM and Valhalla, you can also look into a combination of Google ORTools and OSRM. I personally haven't used Valhalla but OSM and ORTools is a powerful combination that can solve for use cases beyond routing, distance, and duration.

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  1. I would like to input a spreadsheet with names and associated addresses into a map program to; pinpoint all of the locations on a map. How can I do that? On which map? Are there field size limitations? All help would be appreciated.

  2. There is a subdivision that is about one(1) mile by 3/4 mile in size. Is there a map program that would create the most efficient way to drive all of the streets in the subdivision without a lot of doubling back?

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Replies (1)

You could use a low-code platform to read the spreadsheet and use them as input for the pin pointing. The most expert provider would HERE or TomTom for the best routing algoritmes. Input parameters would be dependent on the chosen provider.

I see your stack is mostly Google and I am not familiar with that. But we have implemented this through the M365 Teams/SharePoint, Excell, MS PowerPlatform, our WMS and Azure.

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From a StackShare Community member: "We're a team of two starting to write a mobile app. The app will heavily rely on maps and this is where my partner and I are not seeing eye-to-eye. I would like to go with an open source solution like OpenStreetMap that is used by Apple & Foursquare. He would like to go with Google Maps since more apps use it and has better support (according to him). Mapbox is also an option but I don’t know much about it."

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Replies (6)
Recommends
on
MapboxMapbox

I use Mapbox because We need 3D maps and navigation, it has a great plugin for React and React Native which we use. Also the Mapbox Geocoder is great.

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Blair Gemmer
Software Engineer at VYNYL · | 2 upvotes · 160.2K views
Recommends
on
Google MapsGoogle Maps

Google Maps is best because it is practically free (they give you $300 in free credits per month and it's really hard to go over the free tier unless you really mean business) and it's the best!

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Recommends
on
OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap

I use OpenStreetMap because that has a strong community. It takes some time to catch up with Google Maps, but OpenStreetMap will become great solution.

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Shuuji TAKAHASHI
Recommends
on
Google MapsGoogle Maps

I use Google Maps because it has a lot of great features such as Google's rich APIs, geolocation functions, navigation search feature, street map view, auto-generated 3D city map.

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Recommends
on
OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap

Its open source and we use it.

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Fabio Fraga Machado
Recommends
on
OpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap

I use OpenStreetMap because i have the control of the environment, using Docker containers or bare-metal servers.

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Pros of Google Maps
Pros of Mapbox
  • 253
    Free
  • 136
    Address input through maps api
  • 81
    Sharable Directions
  • 47
    Google Earth
  • 46
    Unique
  • 3
    Custom maps designing
  • 28
    Best mapping service outside of Google Maps
  • 22
    OpenStreetMap
  • 15
    Beautifully vectorable
  • 11
    Fluid user experience
  • 8
    Extensible
  • 7
    React/ RNative integration
  • 5
    3D Layers
  • 4
    Low Level API
  • 4
    Affordable
  • 3
    Great customer support
  • 3
    Custom themes
  • 2
    High data volume rendering

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Cons of Google Maps
Cons of Mapbox
  • 4
    Google Attributions and logo
  • 1
    Only map allowed alongside google place autocomplete
    Be the first to leave a con

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    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is Google Maps?

    Create rich applications and stunning visualisations of your data, leveraging the comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usability of Google Maps and a modern web platform that scales as you grow.

    What is Mapbox?

    We make it possible to pin travel spots on Pinterest, find restaurants on Foursquare, and visualize data on GitHub.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use Google Maps?
    What companies use Mapbox?
    See which teams inside your own company are using Google Maps or Mapbox.
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    What tools integrate with Google Maps?
    What tools integrate with Mapbox?

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    What are some alternatives to Google Maps and Mapbox?
    OpenStreetMap
    OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.
    TomTom
    It is the leading independent location technology specialist, shaping mobility with highly accurate maps, navigation, real-time traffic info and services.
    Leaflet
    Leaflet is an open source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. It is developed by Vladimir Agafonkin of MapBox with a team of dedicated contributors. Weighing just about 30 KB of gzipped JS code, it has all the features most developers ever need for online maps.
    OpenLayers
    An opensource javascript library to load, display and render maps from multiple sources on web pages.
    Here Maps
    The Open Location Platform company, enables people, businesses and cities to harness the power of location
    See all alternatives