pkh80

and that will be paid for, how?

Its been said that Maps is likely Google's most expensive product to maintain. Just think about the scope of driving every road in the world as often as possible.

It will only be replaced by OSM if OSM gets to be better than Maps on its own.

I think what you want is something like Microsoft Access on the web, only less crappy. I think its been tried many times and never done quite right.

The problem is if you totally max out freogeoip it doesn't scale (or let you pay) for more requests.

Parsing isn't the hard part, its the source data, which if you do the math on what Google has done (drive around the world taking 360 video and LIDAR of streets) is literally billions of dollars worth of work.

TIGER is a pretty bad starting point, geocoding based on block faces is really inaccurate if you want to zoom in to the street level. And its U.S. only.

OSM Nominatim should be a better place to start.

I'd love to see open sourced Street View data collection / processing as part of the OSM project. Then there is a chance to compete with Google.

TIGER (dataset that this is based on) has some giant holes in it, and is based on block faces not building footprints like Google Maps. Its also U.S. only... why not base on OSM, which should include TIGER as well as all the other contributions.

Cherry picking one example does not make you more accurate than Google Maps. TIGER has some giant holes in it, and is based on block faces not building footprints like Google Maps. In most cases Google Maps will be much more accurate and comprehensive.

SEEKING FREELANCERS - Portland, OR - Remote Ok

BatchGeo is seeking front end developers with heavy experience in developing interactive user experiences. We have full-time and contract positions available, remote working OK.

Our company is small, profitable, and growing quickly.

More info here:

http://blog.batchgeo.com/web-developer-jobs-at-batchgeo/

jobs@batchgeo.com

Portland, OR Developer. FULL-TIME, REMOTE

BatchGeo is hiring front end developers with heavy experience in developing interactive user experiences. We have full-time and contract positions available, remote working OK.

Our company is small, profitable, and growing quickly.

More info here:

http://blog.batchgeo.com/web-developer-jobs-at-batchgeo/

jobs@batchgeo.com

Remote, Portland, OR

BatchGeo.com - we are a small, but fast growing (profitable) company building mapping tools for the masses. We are looking for full-stack developers that can wear many hats but excel at JavaScript and PHP.

Let us know if you are interested: jobs@batchgeo.com

BatchGeo (http://batchgeo.com) - We aim to be the worlds fastest mapping tool. We are small, profitable, and growing quickly!

We are looking for web developers. Preferably full stack developers who have a keen eye for design. Strong JavaScript, and at least one server side language a must.

We’re located near Portland, Oregon, a terrific place to live and work, but you don’t need to be here, we think working remote is great too.

Show us your apps, sites, code, UI, designs, github account, etc. If you like to hack, we’d love to hear from you.

jobs@batchgeo.com

What about using Amazon's built-in database services (RDS, DynamoDB) instead?

Hmmm, security model is vaporware and VCs are deciding that we (developers) will really love this library before anyone is even using it.

I like Coda for the built in SSH support.. all my dev work is done on a dedicated dev server, I don't code anything locally.

So everyday text editors don't really work for me. I have tried remote mounting SSH and using text editors that way but its never been as smooth as Coda with the integrated file browsing.

Having a dedicated dev server is a real treat if you want to code from multiple machines and need a real robust server environment.

Its a great idea but the product seems only half done... I signed up and could only share links but I couldn't (as a product vendor) tell referly how much I'd pay for signups or register with the site in anyway.

It only seems to allow you to share links at this time, not register your product.

Yes I used them... The contract is transferrable. I have fully paid off the panels already so I suspect that it will add a lot of value to our house if we decided to sell.

Its a lease to own, after 15 years you own it outright. For the 15 years the system is fully maintained and warranted under the contract.

This price would have sounded great a few years ago, but you can get whole house solar installs for ~$4k, enough to replace your power. We got a 4.6 kw system installed on our house for less than $4k out of pocket. Check out SolarCity or any solar company that offers a lease to own program.

It'd be great if this is just the start of a trend where Google supports open source mapping tech that would make projects like OSM more viable (for reasons why its not currently viable see my other posts.)

Its a bit like Google being the biggest supporter of Firefox, even though they are also a competitor (Chrome.) Though Google supporting OSM is more like Microsoft supporting OpenOffice, since Google has such a large monopoly in maps right now.

Definitely! Why can't I buy $100 worth of stock in a startup along with 1000's of other people?

Some SEC rules or something?

EDIT: Then imagine how motivated those 1000's of others would be to promote a startup they owned a stake in.

I liked how the business model of LORD was to get you to pay so you could do it with Violet.

This comment will probably get buried and no-one cares, but...

OSM, although a great force for good in the mapping world, is not in its current state a viable competitor to Google Maps and other paid datasets.

You need to start driving around, using LIDAR, and create a massive parcel / address database to really do it right.

You need photos, from the street and from the air. For OSM to really fly we need to see open source hardware combining photography, GPS, LIDAR, that folks can strap to their cars or fly from RC planes or balloons or kites.

Geocoding needs to actually work, worldwide. That's incredibly hard. Its so much more than the visual maps.

Just pointing this all out, since everyone seems to gloss over the fact that Google Maps has a massive monopoly in this area right now.

April fools jokes starting early this year?

Does anyone else find the whole process of engaging the tech "media" a giant distraction from developing their core product and trying to engage real customers? Chances are if you have product that sounds "cool" to these companies you are going for a market that you are unlikely to win.

You are are far more likely to be successful targeting a business that is outside the consumer "cool zone". The consumer markets are so heavily saturated there's little chance for new products to really be noticed, and individual consumers aren't as profitable as targeting businesses unless you are lucky enough to be the next Facebook (you aren't.)

Unless your product customer is likely to be a hacker/geek/tech biz type that would read Mashable/Techcrunch/RWW/etc.. Don't waste your time trying to get coverage there, instead find reliable channels to talk directly to your customer and route them to your service.

Find heavy's in that vertical and appeal to them, especially ones that have a lot of influence (online or IRL.) Find blogs that match your vertical and get them to cover you, they will probably be happy to do it, and they probably will send you more link juice because they don't post 100+ articles a day.

Unless your PR is sending you real SEO heavy links, and/or putting a giant dent in the collective consciousness of your potential customer base, its worthless.

I'm sure there is a chance I am missing some bits here, but I setup a 3.0.18 / Ubuntu 11.10 / Apache 2.2 server and to compare against 2.6.39 Apache 2.2 server and in all tests they are basically identical.