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Google lowered the usage fee for its map API, allowing developers to build more mapping apps.

Since Google launched the Google Maps API seven years ago, offering developers to ols to build mapping apps.

Last year the company introduced limits on the number of free maps that developers could show daily through the Google Maps API. Today the company is lowering API usage fees and simplifying limits for both Styled and regular maps. While the Maps API remains free for the vast majority of sites, some developers were worried about the potential costs. In response, Google has lowered the online price from US $4 per 1,000 map loads to 50 cents per 1,000 map loads. Google is also eliminating the previous distinction between Styled Maps and regular unstyled maps. The same usage limits and pricing now apply to applications using Styled Maps and the default Google Maps style.

Google plans to begin monitoring Maps API usage, and, based on current usage, fees will apply to the top 0.35% of sites regularly exceeding the published limits of 25,000 map loads every day for 90 consecutive days.

The company added that non-profit organisations aren?t affected by the Maps API usage limits.