Google Maps API vs. QGIS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Maps API
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Google Maps APIs allow developers to integrate Google Maps into a website or retrieve information from Google Maps.N/A
QGIS
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
QGIS (formerly Quantum GIS) is a free and open source geographic information system.N/A
Pricing
Google Maps APIQGIS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
QGIS
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Maps APIQGIS
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Google Maps APIQGIS
Small Businesses
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google Maps APIQGIS
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(7 ratings)
9.7
(12 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google Maps APIQGIS
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
It is most suited for someone who has a physical office, particularly a retail store which helps them to promote the business locally. I would suggest businessmen should use this tool for promoting their business in a more effective way. It is of least important if you are promoting your business digitally and don't have a physical location.
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Open Source
Well suited:
  • To build beautiful and dynamic maps quickly.
  • To conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses.
  • To work cross-platform, as both the Windows version and the Linux version are identical in appearance and available resources.
Less appropriate:
  • To use and import files from proprietary software such as ArcGIS and AutoCAD.
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Pros
Google
  • Very simple UI, easy to use.
  • You can send your live location to a person who wants to meet you.
  • You can mark and pin the locations you are travelling regularly.
  • You can get the code of iframe for any location and embed it into your organization's website also.
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Open Source
  • Styling: the styling engine is fantastic with raster styling features that I recognize from apps like Photoshop.
  • Print layouts: I can set up custom print layouts, and even do automated multi-page atlas style reports that I use for cycling through detailed areas when providing my clients with pdf reports.
  • Extendable: the plugins are fantastic, and almost anything I need that isn't provided natively with QGIS is available as a plugin.
  • Community: the QGIS community is passionate about GIS, and are always ready to help. There are great training resources available online.
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Cons
Google
  • Offline location required for some certain locations
  • Needs to reduce updates as it is comes from most of the updates.
  • Maps needs to be accurate in small areas in order to find destination.
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Open Source
  • Making maps in QGIS is a bit clunky. I also find it to be extremely unintuitive. For basic GIS, it is great, but I would much rather make maps (for publication purposes) in ArcGIS.
  • Editing and adding feature layers is not very intuitive. Changing colors of added point or line features is a rather convoluted process.
  • ArcGIS has a huge selection of online courses, and if you have the appropriate license, you can access most for free. I found these to be very helpful when dealing with map projections and other issues. However, QGIS does not have a large library of courses specifically made for that program.
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Usability
Google
No answers on this topic
Open Source
I wasn't a GIS user at all when I started using QGIS, nor did I have any background working with data in anything other than Excel, and as a result, I struggled quite a lot in the beginning (it's not quite Google Maps). But having said that, I haven't come across anything that I couldn't do with a little help from the online community. I've done complex spatial analyses on large datasets of metropolitan cities, designed custom multi-page pdf reports that automatically cycle through different areas of an area, etc.
And the GIS staff that I've appointed, after their initial resistance, took to the tool like a fish to water, and I haven't heard them complain after starting to use the tool for a week or two.
But if you're new to GIS, be patient and invest some time to learn how to use the tool. It is absolutely worth it.
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Support Rating
Google
It does everything I need it to do and hasn't let me down yet. It has been a lifesaver for my roofing accounts. Most of my clients for the roofing belong to an Amish community with no computers and so forth. So being able to search the maps and look at the rooftops is imperative for those campaigns.
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Open Source
Even though there is a no dedicated support team for QGIS (or at least we are not aware of it), there is a huge online community and a large number of forums catering to every question you may have regarding any particular functionality of QGIS. So, you have a lot of help available but you will have to sift through it on the web.
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Alternatives Considered
Google
Google MAP API is one of the prominent ones as compared to others. In the selection process also we are [complete] with the API provider by Google MAP as it is quite stable.No doubt it is one of the best methods to implement or integrate as compared to any others which is available in the competition.
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Open Source
QGIS is open source and freely available for Windows and Mac iOS Geographic Information System Software. QGIS is highly customizable as per project requirements and different application usage. QGIS has ample tools and plugins that are useful for the analysis of raster and vector data. It also supports GRASS, GDAL, and SAGA tools.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • Definitely it gives optimum ROI to my organization which is positive sign.
  • My company overall business showed a positive growth rate.
  • I now get more no of people visiting my office .
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Open Source
  • QGIS gives us more impactful data on children and maternal health issues, which in turn has helped us establish more programs, relationships, and funding opportunities because of the excellent data presentations we can give.
  • QGIS has allowed our staff to improve their data analysis skills, improving our workforce across the board, with or without the direct use of geographic data.
  • QGIS has required a lot of staff time to learn, but the ROI on time spent vs the reports we produced afterward has been well worth it.
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ScreenShots