I’ve read through the Terms and the FAQ, the descriptions of the services any many questions regarding the licence restriction, but I’m still not sure in some questions. We are currently try to find out if our concept fits with the Google Maps API Terms of Service. Our company plans to develop an online (for-profit) service which allows customers to rent a bus for a specific route (e.g. for an excursion for a school class) and book it online (we don’t want to offer any service which is in connection with mass transport systems). We plan to use the free version of Google Map API services to offer the possibility of route planning for the users (the route planning will be publicly available for everyone without any charge). But some of the restrictions in the ToS are not totally clear for us. 1. Are we allowed to use your Content (search results) for further calculation (e.g. calculating transportation/renting fees based on the distance data? 2. Are we allowed to modify the search results? Namely to change the duration (time) data get from Google in order to fit the data to buses (which are slower than normal cars and some rest periods have to be inserted, so travel time is longer – we have an algorithm how to do this, and we don’t need an approximate data in the end). According to the Terms 10.1.1. (d) we are allowed to modify search results if we indicate it for the users (of course we will indicate it clearly for the users), but 10.1.3. (a) seems to forbid these kind of changes.
3. We would also like to use the Distance Matrix API. Can we use a client-sided API if only the destinations are given (typed) by the client, and the origins are send from a database stored on a server (to calculate distance and time for the buses to get to the starting point of the trip from their garage)? 4. Do we have to show these results also on the map? (I mean to show the origin and destination points?) Or is it enough if we use it in a service which otherwise use and display Google Maps (with the Javascript API) – without showing the exact data got in the Distance Matrix API? Or is it acceptable if we show these results on the map behind a link? (E.g. a link like: “Show these results on the map” – so the user can decide whether to see it or not). 5. Are we allowed to use your content (search results and the map itself) in an offer sent by our system to a client/bus company (e.g. show the route visually and the distance and time data in the offer when booking a bus for a trip), or it is a “derivative work”? We don’t want to store the data get from Google but the client’s may store them (in their e-mail box, for instance). 6. Are we allowed to store permanently (e.g. by the end of a day) any of your content (e.g. distances) for statistic purposes? (e.g. to make a statistic about the average distances on a day?) If you are not the one to whom I should turn, then please tell me who should I contact. Thank you very much for your kind efforts! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group. To post to this group, send email to google-maps-js-api-v3@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-maps-js-api-v3+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.
