Google Maps vs RAML: What are the differences?
Developers describe Google Maps as "Build highly customisable maps with your own content and imagery". 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. On the other hand, RAML is detailed as "RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML) makes it easy to manage the whole API lifecycle from design to sharing". RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML) makes it easy to manage the whole API lifecycle from design to sharing. It's concise - you only write what you need to define - and reusable. It is machine readable API design that is actually human friendly.
Google Maps belongs to "Mapping APIs" category of the tech stack, while RAML can be primarily classified under "API Tools".
Some of the features offered by Google Maps are:
- Maps Image APIs
- Places API
- Web Services
On the other hand, RAML provides the following key features:
- Create and pull in namespaced, reusable libraries, containing data types
- Annotations let you add vendor specific functionality without compromising your spec
- Traits and resource Types let you take advantage of code reuse and design patterns
"Free" is the primary reason why developers consider Google Maps over the competitors, whereas "API Specification" was stated as the key factor in picking RAML.
According to the StackShare community, Google Maps has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1976 company stacks & 1093 developers stacks; compared to RAML, which is listed in 9 company stacks and 6 developer stacks.