Developers Around The World Are Using Google Maps to Solve Local Problems

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(CNN) - A year after floods destroyed Thailand, developer and entrepreneur Vachara Aemavat conceived an idea to help people find high ground. Based on the elevation data from Google Maps, developed a tool that people can locate the Asian nation home and see their elevation relative to sea level. They can share that information in social networks for assistance or offer shelter to others.

The Aemavat story is one of six that Google introduced as part of the new campaign More Than a Map (More than a map). campaign promotes products for application programming interface mapping that allows external developers use the vast database of Google maps and get tools for your own products and sites. The campaign comes at a time when users complain about the absence of Google Maps on the new Apple's mobile operating system.

Aemavat is one of the founders of the company Computerlogy , based in Bangkok, which was the second stop for a skilled employee of Google, who visited the company during an eight-day trip around the world. Carlos Cuesta, product marketing manager for application programming interface (API) for Google Maps, converted a return trip to Australia (where is located one of the team of Google Maps) in a race around the world to visiting international developers who use the service.

Cuesta spent about a day in each country and slept during the flight . He visited Bangkok, Thailand, Nairobi, Kenya, Hamburg, Germany, and Sao Paulo, Brazil carrying a backpack with recording equipment. Every day he met with the developer of a different company, reviewed the different work spaces (rooms, offices, computers connected to generators) and gathered information on using APIs that give maps.

"It is important that we know how our creations affect the rest of the world," said Cuesta. "Making sure we are doing international products."

What most impressed Cuesta developers with whom he met was that they are using the maps to solve local problems. Upande Limited uses maps and Google Earth software to publish a variety of facts about the country, local politicians have not paid their taxes, the migration patterns of wild animals, weather conditions and water quality. The company sells these maps to governments, UN agencies and various companies.

For a project on water quality, the developers are working on an Android application that counts the number of bacterial colonies using a photograph of the water. The results are integrated into a database and classified, also shared with the government so you can take appropriate action.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, visited a company called Cuesta Epungo , on whose site map the growing real estate developments and chaotic city. The founders began working in the department of one of them, where they created interactive maps that allow users to choose through a set of parameters specific to the type of real estate and looking to take a look at the neighborhood through Google Street View .

The More Than a Map project, which resulted in an interesting alternative to Apple's maps, was conceived in July as a way to promote the Google Maps API. At that time, the service was trying to prevent developers seek cheaper alternatives.

There is a free version of the Google Maps API. However, in certain cases, for example if a company plans to charge for the final product, you must use Google Maps API for Business, whose basic version costs $ 10,000. The final cost may be expensive for many companies to start, especially if your traffic is plentiful.

A couple of famous clients left Google Maps in March, following an increase in the prices of APIs. The location service Foursquare , switched to MapBox, OpenStreetMap administered when they realized that their costs would increase by hundreds of thousands of dollars if they continued with the Google Maps API . StreetEasy also said goodbye to Google and built their own maps using a combination of other services and tools.

Competition is more abundant than ever, not only from Apple or other free services. There are also maps API created by Microsoft, Bing, Nokia, Amazon and MapQuest.