When it comes to maps, Google is considered the undisputed market leader. But its pricing plans are driving a lot of businesses towards an Open Source Mapping option called “OpenStreetMap” (OSM for short).

A mobile app business with a large customer base and using Google geocoding javascript calls can quickly run into tens of thousands of dollars in billing from Google.

That is the reason companies like Foursquare and Pokemon Go are switching to OSM.

Advantages of using OpenStreetMap(OSM)

• OpenStreetMap is neutral and transparent. It is a “wiki-like” map that anyone in the world can edit.
• OpenStreetMap is more customizable with options to select regions like countries or continents and also allows grouping of regions.
• The OSM community ensures high satellite Imagery with a high update frequency that ensures that the maps are more current in some remote areas of the world..
• In many less developed areas, the OSM community has managed to gain even higher data granularity than any other map source.

Neova’s Development team helped a leading Mobile Company switch to OSM saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in the usage of maps alone.