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  1. Stackups
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  4. Mapping Apis
  5. Google Maps vs Mapbox

Google Maps vs Mapbox

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Mapbox
Mapbox
Stacks803
Followers939
Votes113
GitHub Stars1.9K
Forks384
Google Maps
Google Maps
Stacks42.5K
Followers29.8K
Votes568

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.

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Advice on Mapbox, Google Maps

Adam
Adam

CPO at Split App

Feb 24, 2022

Needs adviceonGoogle MapsGoogle MapsOpenStreetMapOpenStreetMap

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!

497k views497k
Comments
StackShare
StackShare

Apr 4, 2019

Needs advice

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."

183k views183k
Comments
Duane
Duane

Feb 5, 2021

Needs advice
  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?

41.1k views41.1k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Mapbox
Mapbox
Google Maps
Google Maps

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

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.

Develop mobile and web applications with Mapbox.js, our open-source JavaScript library.;Build native applications on iOS with the Mapbox iOS SDK or on iOS and OS X with MBXMapKit.;Build native applications for Android. Use Mapbox, OpenStreetMap, and other tile sources in your app, as well as overlays like GeoJSON data and interactive tooltips.;SSL maps
Maps Image APIs;Places API;Web Services;Google Earth API;Maps API Licensing;Google Maps API for Work
Statistics
GitHub Stars
1.9K
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
384
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
803
Stacks
42.5K
Followers
939
Followers
29.8K
Votes
113
Votes
568
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 28
    Best mapping service outside of Google Maps
  • 22
    OpenStreetMap
  • 15
    Beautifully vectorable
  • 11
    Fluid user experience
  • 8
    Extensible
Pros
  • 253
    Free
  • 136
    Address input through maps api
  • 82
    Sharable Directions
  • 47
    Google Earth
  • 46
    Unique
Cons
  • 5
    Google Attributions and logo
  • 2
    Only map allowed alongside google place autocomplete

What are some alternatives to Mapbox, Google Maps?

Leaflet

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.

OpenStreetMap

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.

OpenLayers

OpenLayers

An opensource javascript library to load, display and render maps from multiple sources on web pages.

ArcGIS

ArcGIS

It is a geographic information system for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and much more.

CSV2GEO

CSV2GEO

It provides live conversion of batch addresses into geographic coordinates (address to lat long) or turn coordinates into well formatted address. It creates and publishes interactive maps.

MapTiler

MapTiler

It is a software for map tile rendering. It has been designed for producing seamless maps and aerial photo layers covering whole countries. The rendering is fast and efficient, and it can fully utilize multiple CPUs to 100%.

MAPS.ME

MAPS.ME

MAPS.ME is an open source cross-platform offline maps application, built on top of crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data. It was publicly released for iOS and Android.

LocationIQ

LocationIQ

Free and Fast Geocoding Service

Stadia Maps

Stadia Maps

We enable devs to contextualize their data on a map and build complicated apps involving routing, time zones, and more with our APIs. We hate billing surprises as much as you, and if you send us an email, you'll get a real human reply.

CARTO

CARTO

The CARTO platform empowers everyone, from business analysts to data scientists, to turn location data into business outcomes. We accelerate innovation, power new use cases and disrupt business models through Location Intelligence.

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