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I'm trying to figure out what to use for my web application. I"m currently using Google maps api, however I have started looking at Bing maps api more. This application among other things, gives directions to where you have to go. The reason I'm thinking about going to Bing is that Google has gotten some addresses wrong (probably about 10%) and Bing has gotten 0 wrong so far. Does anyone know if one is more accurate than the other (other than me just performing my non scientific test on both). Also, I want to do other things in the future, like cluster pins. I know google maps can do that, but I'm not sure Bing can. So which one is more robust with more features? Finally, it looks like the aerial pictography of bing is much better than Google... Any thoughts on the two / any personal experience of using both?

Bill
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  • Funny enough, my experience was the other way round: bing was the most unreliable, google was better and yahoo was most accurate when working on my app where I needed geocoding. ;-) – Max Nov 11 '10 at 20:16
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    Another thing you'll want to consider are the licensing terms. Each Maps API has slightly different restrictions. – josh3736 Nov 11 '10 at 20:17
  • Hmm weird...I would much prefer to use google's api, but the directions in the application need to be near perfect, and the better aerial view is also a nice addition. I've glanced over both the terms. Either one seems to work for me as my site is currently free... However it might be a problem if I charge for access to the site – Bill Nov 11 '10 at 20:18

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As I pointed out in my comment, my experiences were different. I worked on a web app where a user enters a zip and the application shows interesting locations within a distance of X kilometers.

Although the results from google were not that good, I really liked their maps API and I already had a reliable PHP library for displaying a map with markers for google maps. What I did: use YAHOOs webservice for geocoding (turning a zip in a latitude/longitude position) and use google maps in order to display a map with markers.

What I want to say is: use the parts that fit you best.

Max
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  • That's a good idea... I never thought about using different parts of API's Do you have a link to the yahoo webservice you used? – Bill Nov 11 '10 at 20:27
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    @Phil I used http://developer.yahoo.com/maps/rest/V1/geocode.html it seems it is now deprecated, but there is a new YAHOO PlaceFinder at: http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/placefinder/ - you´ll have to create an yahoo dev account, then create an appliation where you get an API key which you use in order to communicate with the webservice. Good luck, I´ll hope your results will be as good as mine were. :-) – Max Nov 11 '10 at 21:44
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just a small addition to Max's answer since he suggested using the YAHOO webservice for geocoding and displaying those coordinates in a Google map. Let me quote the Terms of Use of the YAHOO Maps API (http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/maps/mapsapi/mapsapi-2141.html):

"1.f.(ix) [YOU SHALL NOT] use the stand-alone geocoder for any use other than displaying Yahoo! Maps or displaying points on Yahoo! Maps"

I had to read through those numerous Terms of Service of Google / Bing Maps / Yahoo recently and they all have this in common: you are only allowed to use any geocoding service etc. if you display the retreived data in their own map!

So far, just a little legal hint ;)

Michael Rose
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