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I'm working on an app that involves the Google Maps API and I'm worrying about the 2500 daily geocode limit. It's not clearly defined to me on what counts as a geocode though. For example:

  • I can get my current location from my GPS, but when I display those latitude and longitude coordinates on a MapView does that count as one?
  • Getting an address out of coordinate counts for sure
  • I'm assuming getting directions from point A to B counts as a geocode?

I want to display a bunch of hardcoded coordinates on my MapView, but if there are 30 of them then would that count for 30 geocodes? Also, if I updated my users GPS location on a MapView every 5 seconds, would each update also count as a geocode? I want to make it so that users can get directions from their current GPS location to one of the points, which I'm assuming would take up a geocode as well. If I hardcode the point in, would getting directions from one set of coordinates to another set use a geocode?

I could see my app reaching the geocode limit with 10 users... which does not seem right. Can somebody give me a clear explanation on what does/doesn't count? And any tricks to reducing the number of geocodes I make would also be useful, thanks.

telkins
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  • Have a look at this blog(http://randommarkers.blogspot.in/2010/03/client-side-geocoding-rocks.html). It has complete information. I assume it will help for others like helped to me. – Noundla Sandeep Jan 08 '14 at 06:19

3 Answers3

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According to this: http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2010/03/introducing-new-google-geocoding-web.html you are allowed 2500 requests per day per IP address, so if the requests are from different users on different devices, then you should be OK if they don't all make 2500 requests a day.

Pikaling
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  • I've seen mentioned on other forums that that is referring to your application and is not per user. It wouldn't make sense to have a 100k premium plan since it would be virtually impossible for one user to come close to that limit. – telkins Jul 29 '11 at 20:54
  • Have a look at this: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/articles/geocodestrat.html it suggests using client-side geocoding through the browser, which has a per session limit rather than a per day limit, and has some strategy suggestions for sticking to quota – Pikaling Jul 29 '11 at 21:01
  • Ah ok I found this in there as well: "On a cautionary note, some mobile networks share IP addresses among many phones. That can cause problems for your client side app. If a lot of people on their smart phones are looking at your map. If you anticipate heavy mobile use, you might consider having a server-side back-up as a fail-over. Try to geocode in the browser and if that doesn't work, send the address to your server for http geocoding." Thanks for the help. – telkins Jul 29 '11 at 21:09
  • So has anyone verified that the 2,500 limit is per device when calling from a native android app? If anyone has a definite answer I have asked this question here: – Patrick Jackson Nov 21 '11 at 21:33
  • So has anyone verified if the 2500 limit is per ip address when calling from a native android app? If anyone can definitely answer this i have asked the question here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8218764/android-geocoder-quota-limits/8218843#8218843 – Patrick Jackson Nov 21 '11 at 21:34
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If your 30 points aren't moving, then you only have to get them once and save them.

If you get longitude and latitude from GPS and don't convert that to an address just use it as a psoition on the mapview, it isn't using a geocode at all.

Steve C
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  • Ok thanks this is more what I was looking for. So if I manually find and save the coordinates for the places I want to mark on my MapView then really the only thing that would use geocoding is getting directions from A to B? – telkins Jul 29 '11 at 20:56
  • If you have long/lat coordinates you don't need any geocode calls. I assume you will be displaying paths on your map like [link](http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/staticmaps/#Paths) which just needs long/lat. You only need the geocode if you convert to/from a street address. – Steve C Jul 29 '11 at 22:24
  • The docs [link](http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/v2/reference.html#GDirections) say that you can make calls to GDirections using a format like "Station5@43.82589,-79.1004" so no address required. – Steve C Jul 29 '11 at 22:32
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http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/geocoding/

Any http request using the google API as defined in the link above

Moog
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  • I've read that page before and it doesn't exactly say when you would need to make a request or all the types of requests, which is what I'm confused on. – telkins Jul 29 '11 at 20:47