A couple of people noted that charging users for using a site based on the Google Maps API would be breaking the terms of service. Although the charge was always for uploading/storing the store data I felt they had a fair point and I certainly don't want to do anything in bad faith. Blipstar was an experiment really although lots of people have registered so it's obviously not way off the mark.
So I decided to make blipstar free but giving people the chance to donate. As long as the bandwidth/hosting costs are met this should be okay. Although my dreams of doing this kind of thing full time will be put on hold - till the next idea of course! I really don't want to revert to advertising as that sucks...I don't even give them a second look. I guess lots of people must do though.
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1 comment:
hi there,
Google maps lets you use google maps for commercial purposes as well (go read their terms of service).
A few months ago, there was a discussion on what kind of usage clauses were supported for commercial services, especially when yahoo released an API for their new maps service.
So, don't foreclose your options and continue working on your dreams!!
BR,
~A
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