Google maps dropped from Wikipedia's mobile apps

No thanks to its plan to charge high-volume users for access to its Maps APIs, Google has lost another client for its Google Maps product, a tech site reported Friday. TechCrunch reported Friday (Manila time) that Google Maps had been dropped from Wikipedia's Mobile Apps in favor of OpenStreetMap. "In the world of online mapping, it feels like things aren’t quite going in Google’s direction these days: Apple switched away from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap when it launched iPhoto for iOS. Foursquare, too, announced a similar switch just a few weeks ago and today, Wikipedia switched to OpenStreetMap in the latest versions of its iOS and Android apps," it said. It added this could be the backfiring of Google's plan to charge for access to its Maps APIs. With the most recent defection, it said there may probably be "quite a few more of these moves in the near future." Also, TechCrunch noted that while OpenStreetMap’s data was not quite ready for prime time before, it has greatly improved the quality of its maps recently. "The service also now has the backing of a number of large companies interested in the online mapping space, including Apple and Microsoft," it added. On the other hand, TechCrunch said Wikipedia might qualify for a non-profit grant from Google and be able to use the service for free or for a relatively small fee. "For Wikipedia, however, this switch is actually more about using an 'open and free source of Map Data' than about money. Wikipedia’s Yuvi Panda also argues that not using Google’s proprietary APIs in the code 'helps it run on the millions of cheap Android handsets that are purely open source and do not have the proprietary Google applications,'" TechCruch added. For now, Wikipedia apps are using MapQuest’s tile servers to render the OpenStreetMap data, but Wikipedia’s parent organization Wikimedia plans to switch to its own tile servers soon. Meanwhile, TechCrunch said Wikipedia apps also introduce a number of new features for both platforms. It said iOS users can now get search suggestions, save pages to Read It Later and perform full-text searches - features already available in the Android app. Android users get a smaller update, which includes quick search bar integration and an improved tablet interface. — LBG, GMA News