Google eases Map API restrictions
![zd-defaultauthor-dan-farber.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/7a46472de14e7cdb67d372a5c496156ef36d0759/2014/12/04/24ebf345-7b65-11e4-9a74-d4ae52e95e57/zd-defaultauthor-dan-farber.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Google released its Maps API version 2, which include faster Javascript download, overlay maps, easier debugging, more map types and no page view limit (over 500K/day give Google some notice so they can prepare to handle the traffic) and a 90-day notice before ad related changes. The more friendly service terms (Google had a restriction of 50,000/day) on transactions seem to respond in part to Placebase's Pinpoint LE, a commercial alternative to Google Maps that offer its API on per transaction basis (tiered pricing starts at $1,600 for 150,000 transactions/month), but also includes non-branded or customer-branded maps, licensing for any application, service-level agreements and support services. As Jonathan Schwartz likes to say, it's hard to compete with free.