This document mentions attribution requirements, doesn't touch on the questions I'm most interested in with respect to geocoding APIs:
- Can I store the latitude/longitude points I get back from the API in my own database forever, and use them for things like point-in-polygon or point-closest-to queries?
- Can I "resyndicate" those latitude/longitude points in my own APIs?
I've encountered quite a few popular geocoding APIs (including Google's) that disallow both of these if you take the time to read the small print. This massively limits how useful they are: you can build a "show me information about this location right now" feature but if you have a database of thousands of addresses you can't meaningfully annotate data in a way that's valuable in the medium-to-long-term.
The API thing matters because it's not great having location data in your database that you can't expose in an API to other partners!
- Can I store the latitude/longitude points I get back from the API in my own database forever, and use them for things like point-in-polygon or point-closest-to queries?
- Can I "resyndicate" those latitude/longitude points in my own APIs?
I've encountered quite a few popular geocoding APIs (including Google's) that disallow both of these if you take the time to read the small print. This massively limits how useful they are: you can build a "show me information about this location right now" feature but if you have a database of thousands of addresses you can't meaningfully annotate data in a way that's valuable in the medium-to-long-term.
The API thing matters because it's not great having location data in your database that you can't expose in an API to other partners!
I really like OpenCage for exactly this reason: https://opencagedata.com/why-use-open-data
"Store geocoding results as long as you like. Keep results even after you stop being a customer."