I need to find the maximum elevation along a given path (defined by start and end latitude/longitude), but in searching the internet the only option I seem to find is the Google elevation api. Unfortunately, that's not an option because the google terms of service explicitly state that:
The Google Maps Elevation API may only be used in conjunction with displaying results on a Google map. It is prohibited to use Google Maps Elevation API data without displaying a Google map.
Since my usage does not involve a google map (I'm using Open streetmap data combined with FAA sectional charts), using the Google Maps Elevation API would directly violate this. Additionally, I want to say that Google prohibits commercial usage, which this is (although we may be able to pay an exorbitant fee to get around that restriction).
In any case, given that the Google Maps Elevation API isn't an option, what other options do I have, either in a web-based API similar to Google, or in some sort of a local database download that I can query?
The USGS offers downloads of elevation data in various formats at https://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/atlasftp.html I was able to download a GeoTIFF of the area of interest, load it into a PostgreSQL database, and use the PostGIS extension to perform queries against the data to retrieve the desired information. No licensing issues or number of data point restrictions, plus it's all local.
An application-programming interface (API) is a set of programming instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software application. Could someone explain to me in case of Google maps or Youtube which is the API and which is the software application? Are both visible to us and how? I know there are tons of articles out there, however I cannot clarify the above. APIs are like the waiters that transfer data among different machines. Okay, which exactly is the Google maps API and how do we call/use it? And which is the Google maps software application which is accessed by the API? When we write for example http://maps.google.co.uk/ do we call the API? My query may seem silly but I cannot find a good answer for that.
An application-programming interface (API) is a set of programming
instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software
application.
Firstly, an API is not just for web-based software. Even your computer's OS provides APIs for hardware and software installed in the box.
For your question, an API is a method (code instructions) to connect your application to the features of another system. Allowing your application to use thay system's features as provided via the API.
Could someone explain to me in case of Google maps or Youtube which is
the API and which is the software application?
In the case of Youtube... Let's say you are making some Android video player app that you also want to be able to playback Youtube videos within that app. The software application is your own Android player code and to access the Youtube data you would use Youtube's Android API.
An example of using the API is this module : YouTubePlayer which as you can see provide API commands like loadVideo(String videoId, int timeMillis). Where videoId is the Youtube ID and timeMillis is the desired start time within the video).
When we write for example http://maps.google.co.uk/ how do we call the
API?
That's not how you would call the API. You must first visit the documentation of the API to see how it's expected to call features within your own app.
Google Maps : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/
Let's assume now you're coding a Javascript app, you can see the commands here as a startng point. There is also an example page showing code & result.
Simple terms:
API = the waiter
Application Software = the chef
You order from the waiter. The waiter brings it to the chef. The chef prepares the food. The waiter then brings you your food. Then you figure out what to do with the food; eat it, take it home, throw it on the floor, let your dog eat it, give it the homeless, etc...
A website, app, etc... would send an API request (your order with the waiter) to Google Maps (the chef). If your API request is valid, Google Maps will send back an response (your cooked food with the waiter). Then the website or app takes the returned data and displays it in their custom way to you.
In the case of Google Maps, apps like Yelp and others use Google Maps' API to request specific data; routes, addresses, etc… and then they display it on their app.
To make an API request/call you have access to use the API, format it correctly, and figure out what to do when Google sends a response back : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/
API is a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.
An API is like building block for your application. Multiple API's can exchange data without knowing the other's implementation. In a good design pattern , we should design API's for different independent tasks and then merge them.
Google Maps API
This is the google maps API which a developer can use to develop his own piece of software.
Whenever we use any software and it's different features, we might be using their API's without generally knowing of them.
A software application is always visible to us, but an API is visible only if the developer wants to expose it for community use.
EDIT
Using Google maps API
This link has the documentation and examples on how to use the google maps API using javascript.
Hope it helps!
When you use software, web applications included, you are in most cases using a wrapped API. Software developers took the time to take a raw back end API which executes commands on the system, and made these endpoints easy to use for a specific user in an intended universe of discourse, or domain. End users do not have direct access to everything the API has to offer all at once, so it is not "available" in the same sense that it is available to the developers, but it is available in another sense because they are using the API to execute commands on the system by virtue of the Application that was Programmed with that Interface existing and working.
The Google Maps API is used to integrate the power of Google Maps into almost any application. It provides facilities for customization and much more. When you use the Google Maps webapp, it is, to my knowledge, built using many components of the Google Maps API, as are the Google Maps apps for any other platform, such as Android. Does this mean you as a user are using the API? Only through the application; the application talks to the API for you.
“An application programming interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API expresses a software component in terms of its operations, inputs, outputs, and underlying types. An API defines functionalities that are independent of their respective implementations, which allows definitions and implementations to vary without compromising each other. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks.
APIs often come in the form of a library that includes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. In other cases, notably SOAP and REST services, an API is simply a specification of remote calls exposed to the API consumers.
An API specification can take many forms, including an International Standard, such as POSIX, vendor documentation, such as the Microsoft Windows API, or the libraries of a programming language, e.g., the Standard Template Library in C++ or the Java APIs.
An API differs from an application binary interface (ABI) in that an API is source code-based while an ABI is a binary interface. For instance POSIX is an API, while the Linux Standard Base provides an ABI”.
To speak plainly, an API is the messenger that runs and delivers your request to the provider you’re requesting it from, and then delivers the response back to you.
To give you a familiar example, think of an API as a waiter in a restaurant.
Imagine you’re sitting at the table with a menu of choices to order from, and the kitchen is the provider who will fulfill your order.
What’s missing is the critical link to communicate your order to the kitchen and deliver your food back to your table.
That’s where the waiter (or API) comes in. ”AHEM”
The waiter takes your order, delivers it to the kitchen, and then delivers the food (or response) back to you. (Hopefully without letting your order crash if designed correctly)
Now that we’ve whetted your appetite, let’s apply this to a real API example. In keeping with our theme, let’s book a flight to a culinary capital – Paris.
You’re probably familiar with the process of searching for airline flights online. Just like at a restaurant, you have a menu of options to choose from ( a dropdown menu in this case). You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, and other variables (like meal or seating, baggage or pet requests)
In order to book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access the airline’s database to see if any seats are available on those dates, and what the cost might be based on certain variables.
But, what if you are not using the airline’s website, which has direct access to the information? What if you are using online travel service that aggregates information from many different airlines? Just like a human interacts with the airline’s website to get that information, an application interacts with the airline’s API.
The API is the interface that, like your helpful waiter, runs and and delivers the data from that online travel service to the airline’s systems over the Internet.
It also then takes the airline’s response to your request and delivers right back to the online travel service .
And through each step of the process it facilitates that interaction between the travel service and the airline’s systems - from seat selection to payment and booking.
So now you can see that it’s APIs that make it possible for us all to use travel sites. They interface with with airlines’ APIs to gather information in order to present options back to us
The same goes for all interactions between applications, data and devices - they all have API’s that allow computers to operate them, and that's what ultimately creates connectivity.
API’s provide a standard way of accessing any application, data or device whether it is shopping from your phone, or accessing cloud applications at work.
So, whenever you think of an API, just think of it as your waiter running back and forth between applications, databases and devices to deliver data and create the connectivity that puts the world at our fingertips. And whenever you think of creating an API,
--MuleSoft
I have used google map API but unfortunately I have discovered that they have an usage limits so I want to know that are there anyway o get an google map API without any usage limits, and if it is not how can I get any license?
Google maps api usage and limits
Do I need an API key?
Answer: in the early days of google maps you did not require an API key (it is still possible to not have one due to backwards compatibility) however, today, it is recommended that you generate an API key for google maps V3. Also, have in mind that some features are not available without the API key.
If you want to inform your self more about the API key, here is the official page that will tell you how to get started with it and how to include it to your project,
url: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/tutorial
What are the usage limits?
Answer: If your site gets 25 000 map loads or more every single day, for more than 90 days in a row, the google team will get in touch with you (they are well aware of your google maps usage). If however you don't think your google maps will generate such an amount of traffic then do the following:
Modify your application so that your usage is less than 25 000 map loads per day.
Enroll for automated billing of excess map loads in the Google Developers Console.
Purchase a Google Maps API for Work license.
Here is the official page for the limits,
url: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/usage#quota
To sum it all up:
If you can predict huge traffic on your website (and using the google maps API within your website), then once again, read carefully the docs and see what further steps need to be taken, otherwise you can experiment with google maps as much as you want.
I've set up API service account access and that seems to be authenticating and connecting OK using the provided sample code (https://developers.google.com/maps-engine/documentation/oauth/serviceaccount).
I've shared my map with the provided service account email address in the Google Maps Engine UI.
Accessing the API method https://www.googleapis.com/mapsengine/v1/projects I expected to see my map in a returned list of projects visible to the service account. Instead, only an empty projects array is returned.
Ultimately my goal is to access place name and geodata stored within a layer on the map I have created in Maps Engine Lite. Is there a step I have missed or something I have misunderstood about granting API access to a Maps Engine Lite map?
Did you progress with your question?. I got one project in the list but because I singed in for a free Google Maps Engine account. That allows you to créate just one project.
But I was looking for accessing "my places" maps.
It turns out certain features, such as the ones I was looking to use, are only available on the (paid for) Maps Engine, and not "Maps Engine Lite". The API is different.
When you mention that they are just available on the Maps Engine Pro (paid for) version, do you mean that the user who owns the maps has to upgrade or yourself, as a developer that want's to access user's maps, have?.
I wouldn't mind to pay (a reasonable price) for it in order to get my app working again. But I don't think most of my app's users would.
Could you check if it worked that way?
I need to provide search functionality as the cornerstone of my app (basically I think I can make a better interface than whats is offered by Google, bing, yahoo - bold claim I know). Therefore I will not build an entire search engine from scratch, I will rather use an API provider by a major search engine and simply modify the interface that present the results to my visitors. I am a Google fanboi and I initially tried to use Google Search AJAX API. However, I was very disappointed since I can barely change anything at all.
Specifically;
I need an API that will let me pull programmatically the results from a major search engine and let me output them with the style and goodies that I want.
I am not looking to alter the order in which the search results are presented to the user by inserting crap in between the good results (this is against my philosophy). But I would like to wrap massive php/javascript around each search results so that I can completely control how each result is graphically rendered.
I heard of the BING API 2.0, would that be more flexible than Google AJAX API? Could anyone provide output if any of the current search providers are offering API for this purpose right now?
After careful investigation it appears to me that the Bing 2.0 API is the most flexible and robust search API currently on the market.
The Bing API does require you to put their ads next to the results. You can place your own ads with the Yahoo API. The Yahoo API uses the same search technology (same results) and can be used starting from $0,40 per 1000 queries. The lowest, bulk price of the Google API is $4,00 per 1000 queries. Google's relevance is easily ten times higher for the somewhat more advanced queries.
And also Bing version 2 search API is free!
Whereas, Yahoo BOSS V2 has pricing and so Google does custom search API.