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Which JavaScript map API do you folks think is the most powerful?

Google? Bing?

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5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Think about which map is more suitable for you, have all the places you need. In US and Europe Google, Bing, Yahoo have pretty similar maps. However if you need other countries (in Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, Africa), the only answer is OpenStreetMap.

About API. The most powerful and flexible is OpenLayers, it allows you to connect to different map services. However it is a bit slow and complicated. In opposite Google API is fast and small, however it is bound to Google Maps.

If you are looking for some API contacting OpenStreetMap data, try Cloudmade.

Still choose the map first, and then select the most natural API for it.

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I talk about my reasons for using the Google Maps API in this answer.

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Top mapping tool must be ViaMichelin.

A independant poll carried out by the IMA said

  1. ViaMichelin
  2. Mappy
  3. Microsoft
  4. Yahoo
  5. Map 24
  6. Google

Poll was based on brand, quality, customisation, coverage, support, SLA, price, usability, speed, and 17 other criterias.

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I thought that this was an interesting article on why Redfin decided to switch from Virtual Earth (Bing) to Google Maps.

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I think the most powerful map API is Mapstraction - an abstraction layer that supports all the major mapping APIs, allowing you to switch providers without having to refactor your code.

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but dont you think mapstraction is bit pre mature compared with openlayers? –  cometta Jul 24 '09 at 7:47
And because it is an abstraction layer, Mapstraction hides the features that distinguishes the different mapping APIs. It makes it easy to switch between the APIs but you lose the "latest and greatest" features. –  winwaed Oct 7 '13 at 21:53
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