The trouble with API keys that never expire
A key issued years ago, never rotated, and still valid today is not a convenience. It is a liability nobody has actually looked at in years.
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Our takes
Opinion on the location data business: pricing, lock-in, privacy, and what the big providers get wrong.
Where we think location data is heading and why we run this service the way we do: flat pricing instead of per-product billing, drop-in compatibility instead of lock-in, and privacy by default.
Why free support tiers should still get real answers
A support queue that only gives thoughtful answers to paying customers is telling free users their questions are not worth solving properly.
What "real-time" location data actually requires
Real time gets used as a synonym for fast. What it should mean is that the answer reflects the current state of the world, not last quarter's snapshot.
Why elevation data gets treated as an afterthought
Elevation data rarely gets its own line on a pricing page, and that absence tells you something real about how seriously it actually gets built.
The case against charging extra for basic authentication methods
A header, a bearer token, and a query parameter all authenticate a request the same way. Charging more for one of them is charging for a preference, not a feature.
Why we would rather answer with an error than a wrong guess
A wrong answer that looks confident is worse than an honest failure. An error tells you to check something. A confident wrong guess tells you nothing is wrong.
What a coupon code says about a company's pricing confidence
A permanent 20 percent off coupon floating around the internet is not a discount. It is evidence that the listed price was never the real price.
Why migration should take an afternoon, not a quarter
If switching a location API takes a quarter, the previous integration was designed to make leaving expensive, whether or not that was the stated intention.
The trouble with dashboards that hide your real usage
A usage dashboard that only updates once a day is not really a real time picture at all. It is just yesterday's number wearing today's date on it.
Why open data beats licensed data for most use cases
Licensed data comes with a contract that can change under you. Open data comes with a community that has no reason to renegotiate your access later.
Only Our takes, as it is published.
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