Today Google announced that they are enforcing free usage limits on the Google Maps API. Beyond the free limit of 25,000 views per day, sites will start having to pay $4 per 1,000 views. They will automatically charge your credit card based on these usage fees and it’s not clear if you can set a “cut-off” limit or if it will have the similar suprises as overseas cell charges.

I find this is a bit of a surprising action from Google. In 2005 they changed the mapping and geospatial web by providing a powerful, easy to use great API (eventually), and primarily free of charge slippy map platform. The term “GoogleMap” became synonymous with being able to pan and zoom through the entire world without any reloading of the page or poor user experience. Since then, there have been millions of sites that have used GoogleMaps to provide simple map views and location services. Assumedly this information has been of huge value to Google in understanding interest, spatial-context, and generally eyeballs to Google tools and content.

Google has also worked to monetize maps, often subtly through sponsored map markers, and other times more directly through in-map ads. Each of these decisions brought discussion and disent but it was difficult to argue with the fact that the tool was still free to use. Google has clearly put real value in content and engineering into Google Maps. The quality of geocoding, data availability and power of the API has always been extremely capable and arguably the best of breed.

Now, with a very direct pay requirement being imposed this will dramatically change the adoption of GoogleMaps. Developers will have to consider very carefully how they will afford the potential – and optimistically likely – fees that the service will require as it becomes successful.

Fortunately, there are still a few really good alternative options for developers of sites if they can’t afford the usage fees. MapQuest has really embraced the future of open by supporting and integrating OpenStreetMap into their sites. Microsoft Bing maps are very capable and there are many more – not least of which is a developer “rolling their own”.

This interesting change by Google also validates abstraction libraries such as Mapstraction. Mapstraction provides a common API where a developer can easily switch between map provider libraries without having to rewrite their code – something that would likely cost much more in the short term than paying for usage fees. On GeoCommons we use ModestMaps to be able to switch to any map data provider service.

I’m very interested to see the general developer reaction to this change.

It is incredibly exciting to announce that today we found out that our grassroots project, which started as an idea and meeting at an open government unconference, is getting some incredible support to grow and sustain over the next few years. I’ve shared our experiences, and the support that has been growing from academic institutions, companies, foundations, and within our own community.

Today we announced that CrisisCommons is receiving $1.2 million in grant funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, through the Woodrow Wilson Center, to spend the next two years providing support between the volunteer technology community and crisis response and development organizations.

Over the last year of supporting numerous local CrisisCamps in developing mobile, data, analysis, mapping and other tools supporting the response to the Haiti earthquake, Pakistan floods, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, and other regional crisis events we’ve learned a lot of lessons. In particular, there is consistently a “crisis crowd” that seeks to provide aid and assistance through expertise, information sharing, and technology development. However, organizations have difficulty in conveying their needs, or adopting solutions that fit appropriate security, quality, and usability metrics.

Through this support, CrisisCommons will be building out technology infrastructure support, in coordination with the Oregon State Open Source Lab, that will host projects and CrisisCamps. Research fellows will be made available to develop analysis and recommendations in event response and development that will help shape the future of volunteer technology community response and adoption in crisis events. And members of response organizations will be convened with the many open-source projects to collaborate, share experiences, needs, and develop better partnerships that will hopefully positively impact how crisis response occurs.

The community has been amazing, and the response to each and every event and camp unique and compelling – it’s just the beginning. We couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome from a completely emergent and very organic phenomenon. Thank you!

Read more about the grant on the CrisisCommons blog.

In 2000 I cancelled my phone landline because I was carrying a cellular phone that antiquated my physically fixed, low-tech, voicemail-less and (at the time) expensive land-line. Amongst my friends they considered an interesting, but quirky idea to only have a cellphone. Today one in four households in the US are strictly wireless.

So back to media. Why should I pay a 200% cost to view media on a fixed schedule – even though I have a cable DVR for an additional $15/month that still adheres to an antiquated idea of recording only when a program is shown. I have the ability to access on demand, mobile, high-quality media when and where I choose to watch it, free of time constraints.

In addressing this potential, the concept of carrying forward the “rental” model, in both price and usage restrictions, is laughable. If I can’t sell or lend the media, why not just stream it to me on demand and ensure that your licensing costs are met on volume.

Of course, my options on what I can subscribe to are limited. Through NetFlix I can watch movies and some television series – Hulu has another set of programs and Hulu Plus will make older archives more available through more devices. But as we approach the Fall season and popular US based sports start – ESPN allows me to watch some sporting events online – but will they start charging? Will home cooking shows, or other nice networks start their own online subscriptions – each for $10 per month?

We could quickly end up paying much more in á la carte programming if we pay per subscription – something that “cable packages” tried to address by bundling together stations at a discount price. However they suffered from the choice to toss in the lesser watched channels to encourage the edge customers or beef up station count numbers for advertising.

So while we’re entering a time of on-demand, individualized stations we have the liklihood of higher overall costs. I already pay much more in internet access across all of my devices than I ever did for cable alone. But the improved access and enjoyment of that media will allow me to choose and indicate the value of accessing that media – when and how I choose to.

Tom and Schuyler are wrapping up their first deploy with the World Bank to Haiti. They’ve been doing amazing work in connecting the various participants on the ground in sharing data and providing them with lightweight tools and data from the broader web, CrisisMappers, and CrisisCommons community.

Schuyler has been writing up his experiences but due to connectivity and the large amount of work, they’ve been utilizing Twitter: @schulyer and @buckley_tom, continuing to keep the world up to date on their progress, safety, and insights. They have even managed to get out video discussing the use of OpenStreetMap by UN OCHA and other reconstruction efforts.

The USB Drives and USB Sticks that we sent down have seemed to be incredibly useful. The ability to utilize dynamic information and map interfaces in an offline, or semi-disconnected environment is empowering, while also allowing people to still print their maps with the data. We’re now working on deploying these same tools to Afghanistan and other areas that there has been a large amount of data gathered but not broadly distributed.

Tom and Schuyler head back to the U.S. tomorrow, but the job is far from done. Mikel’s Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (H.O.T.) is looking to deploy at the end of March to provide continue logistics support and begin training Haitians on building and utilizing the maps – much like the MapKibera project. Haiti has perhaps an excellent opportunity to leap-frog the use of open data and technology by empowering the government and people with tools they can use in reconstruction.

The platforms continue to evolve, incorporating lessons learned from user needs, to new data sources, and working in varied environments. We’ll continue to provide data and maps through GeoCommons that are usable by everyone, and distribute tools to anyone who needs them.

On Saturday, CrisisCamp Haiti was a revolutionary step that was indubitably a success. Within 3 days of an idea a small group of people helped coordinate and run a series of CrisisCamp Haiti code-a-thons across 5+ cities, over 400 participants, and at least 20 continuous hours of work. At least 6 projects were started, and many more existing projects added people to their community, taught new skills, and built out new features.

In general, the last week has involved a whirlwind of grassroots organization and development of numerous projects. This change of realtime engagement and response by volunteers and non-traditional organizations through internet has no doubt raised the hackles, or at least the concern, of traditional responders, agencies, and government. There are often voiced considerations of causing confusion, providing technology that will have no use, and lack of organization and hierarchy.

Even within these grassroots participants there are calls for centralization, and building chains of responsibility that are somewhat antithesis to the very mechanism by which the project started and how it acts. Many of these projects formulated from simple ideas, growth through passion, an aligned community, and freedom to explore ideas and vet these within the organization. Over time the best ideas crystalize and become part of the long term project and others spin out to new projects.

It’s about the Mindshare and Multiplied Resources

In the beginning of a Crisis response there is an intense desire for people to engage and provide some type of resource: money, time, guidance, knowledge, contacts. At the same time, there is the alternate side of organizations seeking these vast, and limited, resources. Aid agencies put out SMS shortcodes for donations, PayPal links, matching funds. First responders need time, physical labor, and fortitude. Technology projects seek knowledge, translation, testing, documentation, data, integration.

Perhaps uniquely, technology has the possibility of multiplying any individuals efforts. By providing code, or data, and aggregating that data out, my contribution can feed into numerous other projects – whereas time or money is nominally a single use resource. It can buy water, or work for an hour moving rubble, and that’s all that resource can do for that time.

So a perceived problem is in bifurcation and redundancy of efforts and confusion. This can largely be mitigated by open collaboration, and easily sharing data through interchanges. Projects like the People Finder is slowly converging on this type of solution through the use of PFIF exchange and common aggregation points with API’s.

We’re working on improving the CrisisCommons.org site and wiki in order to track active projects, aggregate similar efforts and point volunteers to project homes to join their individual communities.