How to get data from google directions API?

2013: Which places API to use?

• Most of the questions related to places API are 2/3 year old (when lt was hot) so asking again... Short question: How should I get location data to build Yelp/Foursquare alike app. Details: There are many different "places" API providers like Google, Facebook, Factual, Foursquare, Yelp...These APIs can provide places near given location and information about those places. These APIs are great if I just want to display results provided by them. What if I want to add my own properties to places (lets say rating or pics which is specific to my service) and allow user to order results by my service's rating. Seems like using APIs is expensive in this case because first I have to get results from third party API (lets say Google) and then manipulate results based on attributes stored by my service(ratings) and then return to client app. So question is, if you are building FourSquare or Yelp today then how will you get location data. Thank you!

• Answer:

  The number of Place data providers has consolidated in the last three years.  You're now looking pretty much only at Google, Factual, and Foursquare, (Yelp too for a more specific kind of business). Many answers remain the same, but I hope I can add a few more here: Your specific questions relate largely to the terms and conditions for each provider restricting what you can and cannot do with the results.  The usual ones are: Ancillary Data: can I overwrite your information with my own? Re-ordering Results: can I sort and filter on my own criteria? Caching: can I store data locally, and for how long? Map Display: can I choose my own cool MapBox map or am I stuck with your branding? I can speak specifically for Factual (my shop) and provide an observational-overview on the others: Generally you will find Google the most restrictive: no entity caching and no third-party maps allowed.  There's no restrictions on any of these activities at Factual, and we're using a 30 day cache guideline.   Foursquare is close to Factual on the 'cool and froody' end of the spectrum.  Yelp falls closer in the middle, but I think will learn towards the restrictive.  Google and Yelp license third-party data, and are subject to the upstream restrictions of their suppliers (a reality of their position); Factual and Foursquare can be as easygoing as we choose. To your final point on the (computational) expense of reordering, sorting and filtering: yes, this will add time to any response.  This will be obviated by a getting a download of the data and implementing it locally: Factual makes downloads available, Google and Yelp do not, and Foursuare has no official position that I am aware of. Hope that helps.