Maps and Geography Open APIs
| Provider | Description | Commercial Use | Limits | Terms | Fees |
| ArcWeb Services - Commercial Services | Maps, geocoding, routing, spatial queries, and more! | Yes | Yes | Pricing | |
| ArcWeb Services - Public Services | Maps, geocoding, routing, spatial queries, and more! | No | Free for personal, noncommercial, and nongovernmental development projects. | Yes | Free |
| Dun & Bradstreet Geo Point | Get rooftop geographic information (latitude and longitude) for US, UK, Germany and Canada. | Yes | Yes | Pricing | |
| Geocoder | Get latitude/longitude of any US address | 20k lookups for $50 | Free svc is throttled | Yes | |
| Geocoder.ca | Get latitude/longitude of Canadian addresses | Yes | Free for non-for-profits | Yes | |
| Geonames.org | International geocoding web service for place names and postal codes | Yes | Free | ||
| Maps from Google! | Yes | ||||
| HostIP | Gives you geography info based on IP Address | ||||
| ip2location | Geolocate IP address to Country, city, region | ||||
| IPligence Geo IP Location | For an IP address, get address ranges, address owner, lat/long, time zone, and a map. | Yes | Free Trial! | Yes | Pricing |
| iShareMaps On Demand | Geocode UK addresses to postcode & city level. Free to geocode on iShareMaps website. Can be easily integrated with Google Maps, Virtual Earth or Yahoo Maps. | £35/Month | None | Single Geocode Free Batch Geocode Free Website integration & desktop pricing | |
| localsearchmaps.com geocoder | Geocodes world addresses/geographies using a javascript API that is compatible with MSN Virtual Earth, Google Maps, or your own Javascript method/API. Now also provides an open xml or json output format. Can take input in 1 field or broken up by multiple fields (i.e. street, city, state, etc). Also takes in phone or IP Address as input and attempts to geocode. Supports Geocoding of most of the world. | Yes | free and open but abusing the service could mean throttling or shut down. No registration required, either. | reciprocal link requested but not required. | |
| MapQuest OpenAPI | The MapQuest OpenAPI is a free service that allows you to use JavaScript to easily integrate routing, geocoding and mapping into your website. With this feature-rich API you can create dynamic routing and mapping applications for personal or community use. | No | 50,000 combined maps and geocodes and 5,000 routes per day | Yes | Free |
| MapQuest Basic Mapping | Add basic mapping capabilities to your website or application. Simply enter an address to display a map for the specific location. | Yes | Free Trial! | Yes | Yes |
| MapQuest Driving Directions | Add driving directions to your website. Sophisticated routing algorithms provide turn-by-turn driving directions from any starting location to multiple destinations. | Yes | Free Trial! | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Map Point | Maps from Microsoft! | No | 1000 transactions/day | Yes | |
| Microsoft Virtual Earth | More Maps from Microsoft! What is the difference between Virtual Earth and Mappoint? | ||||
| NASA | Satellite pictures of the whole World | Yes | Yes | ||
| Nearby.org.uk Geocoder | Postcode and Zip Geocoder (& Reverse), includes coordinate conversion. | throttled depending on useage and server load | Yes | ||
| Ontok Geocoder | Get latitude/longitude of any US address | Yes | Unthrottled, limit 10; Monthly subscription | Free and $9.95/month (1M/month) | |
| OpenStreetMaps | Free geographic street map information | Yes | |||
| StrikeIron Canada Geocode Service | Receive lat/long from a Canadian address | Yes | 25 uses free | Pricing | |
| StrikeIron US Geocode Service | Receive lat/long, FIPS, census info from a U.S. address | Yes | 25 uses free | Pricing | |
| Telcontar | A hidden Gem! Full Featured LBS Web Service * OpenLS? compliant * Free-form geocoding in 5 languages and 9 nations * Reverse Geocoding * Driving Directions w/ turn-by-turn images (in 1 req) * POI lookup * Navteq or Tele Atlas coverage for N.A and Eur | Free for dev/non-comercial Subscription for comercial | |||
| Yahoo Maps | Yahoo! Maps -- simple (no coding necessary, just XML), Flash, and AJAX. Geocoding. | Yes | Yes | ||
| Yahoo Traffic | Traffic Information from Yahoo! | ||||
| ZeeMaps | International geocoding web service | ||||
| ZipCoder | Lat/long and more from zip codes | Free |
Examples of sites using APIs
| Example | Description | APIs Used |
| travnest.com/route | Get route and cost of driving | MapQuest? |
| bumpr.com | Track point storage | Google Maps |
| foundcity.net | Urban Bookmarking Tool for your cellphone | Google Maps |
| Friends of Urban Forest | See where trees are being planted in San Francisco | Yahoo Maps |
| Glendor.com | Jobs search demo for the Bay Area | Google Maps |
| wms.jpl.nasa.gov/browse.cgi | Interactive browser of NASA pictures | NASA |
| ExploreOurPla.net | Fullscreen Planet Viewer | Google Maps, Geonames.org |
| socialight.com | Create and read 'StickyShadow' messages from your mobile phone | Yahoo Maps, Google Maps |
| Pets Best Insurance | Mashup to find vets for your pets via a map interface | Google Maps |
| Webfoot Maps | US Census bureau data overlaid on Google Maps | Google Maps |
Definitions:
Provider - Who is providing the API?
Description - What does the API let you do?
Commercial Use - Can you use this API for commercial use without asking?
Limits - Are there any limitations to amount of usage?
Terms - Link to Terms of Service