Google Maps has been changing to a paid for model and now many website owners are looking for alternative plugins that do the same job. The pricing model for Google Maps requires an active billing account, which gets a credit per month of $200 ( at the time of writing ), which in theory gives you 28,500 dynamic maps, but beware the charge is per API call not per map transaction and that can easily be used up with substantial over runs and unexpected charges. Many are looking for OpenStreetMap solutions, OpenStreetMaps doesn’t have a directions module. MapQuest is one service that provides a directions / routiong module on top of an OpenStreetMap solution. The MapQuest service is free for up to 15,000 map transactions per month, which is sufficient for many websites, visit the MapQuest developer website for pricing plans. ( this plugin has no commercial association with Mapquest). A couple of advantages MapQuest has over Google, you don’t have to lodge a credit card so you won’t accidentally get a massive bill for overage, map transactions are generally less numerous than API calls, so whilst 15,000 may seem less than 28,0000 you should find the realities different, and finally, if you do need decide to pay for mapquest, it works out at closer to $3 per thousand compared to Google’s $7 per thousand. This is a map display and routing plugin that uses MapQuest. A fantastic way of showing your business location and for your users to get travel directions to you. See a demo site here Features Include Show or hide route direction ability Set initial zoom level Decide on full map controls or minimal Set the map height Developer friendly template layouts for shortcode / widget allowing overriding Go PRO The pro version has many additional
