API Updates from MapQuest, Esri and Chitika
Esri offers a statement on the future of its APIs, in response to recent announcements from Adobe regarding Flash for Mobile and runors about Silverlight.
We’re committed to providing the best technology for GIS developers and giving choices from the most widely used developer platforms in the market. By offering many options, we enable developers to address different customer needs and expectations. Our commitment is not based on a specific technology, but based on supporting the GIS developer regardless of the platform chosen. Each of these areas: JavaScript/HTML 5, Flex, Silverlight, and native application code, gain significant improvements in the upcoming ArcGIS 10.1 release.
- ArcGIS Server Blog via @cageyames
MapQuest offers some unlimited and less limited APIs no doubt in (rather late) response to Google's plan to charge for high transaction users. Thefully unlimited access option is the free Community Edition licence built on OpenStreetMap. Read the blog post and the licenses to be sure you understand the restrictions.
- MapQuest Dev Blog via @cageyames
I expected a stronger response from the mapping API providers to Google's announcement about fees for heavy users, but perhaps most realized the population impacted is not all that large. Still, Search Engine Land offered an alternative via a post from a the company behind Chitika Maps (never heard of it).The hook? The company "pays you" to use its API via ads on the maps.
