Migrating a Zapier or Make automation to a new geocoding host
No-code automations built on a geocoding step need a different migration approach than custom code does. Here is how to handle that switch.
Moving off a Bing Maps elevation integration
Bing Maps offers elevation data through its Elevations API, returning ground elevation values for one or more coordinate points, typically in meters, as part of the same broader Bing Maps Dev Center account used for geocoding and other location services. Like most elevation dependencies, it tends to be called from a narrow slice of an application: a route profile chart, a terrain overlay, or a flight planning tool, rather than something woven throughout a codebase.
That narrowness is genuinely helpful for a migration. Elevation calls are usually isolated behind a small service or utility module, and the response itself carries little beyond a coordinate and a number, which limits the amount of parsing logic that needs review compared with a geocoding migration.
My Geocode's elevation lookup is a fully working, standalone endpoint, documented at /docs/elevation-lookup/, independent of any geocoding compatibility host. A request for a coordinate returns ground elevation directly, and because this is one of the lookups where real results can be described and tested concretely, verifying the migration against a handful of known elevation reference points is a practical and quick way to build confidence.
Things worth checking specifically when moving off Bing's elevation service:
- Whether your application requests elevation in batches (multiple coordinates per call) and, if so, testing the new endpoint at your typical batch size before assuming identical throughput
- Whether unit conventions matter anywhere downstream, since elevation values in meters are standard but any code converting to feet for display should be verified against the new endpoint's raw output
- Whether elevation calls happen synchronously as part of a user-facing request or asynchronously as part of background processing, since that affects how much latency tolerance you actually need to test for
Authentication for the new endpoint accepts a key as X-API-Key, Authorization: Bearer, HTTP Basic auth, or a query parameter. Pricing follows the same flat structure as every other endpoint: 2,500 free requests a day with no key, 2,500 more free per key per day counted per network, then prepaid credit at €0.0001 per request or an Unlimited key at €50 a month.
If elevation was originally bundled into a broader Bing Maps account mostly for convenience rather than necessity, moving it out first, ahead of a geocoding migration, reduces the surface area of what still depends on the original account and gives you a low-risk trial run of the migration process before tackling anything larger.