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I have read Google's Terms and Conditions here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/support#comunity-support, but I am still a little unclear on how long we can store latitude and longitude in our own database.

I thought I found the answer here: Terms and Conditions Google Maps: Can I store lat/lng and address components?, but reading some of the recent comments raised doubts once again.

Specifically, if the sole intent is to use the latitude and longitude retrieved from the API with a Google map, can I store those attributes in my own database indefinitely or only for 30 days?

How do I make contact with someone at Google directly so I have a definitive answer to this question and don't need to go contact a lawyer to interpret the terms and conditions.

Thank you, Terry

Terry Yoder
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about terms of use (legal issues), not coding. – geocodezip Mar 24 '16 at 13:06
  • You can't contact anyone at Google directly, they take great care to prevent people from being able to do so (unless you're a paying customer). – vaindil Mar 24 '16 at 13:06
  • geocodezip: I was following the suggestion from this page to submit questions here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/support#comunity-support – Terry Yoder Mar 24 '16 at 13:22
  • That doesn't make it on topic for SO. See [google-maps-api-3](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/google-maps-api-3), "Ask non-programming and licensing questions in the Maps API Google Group" – geocodezip Mar 24 '16 at 13:35
  • Actually, I can make this a coding question... If I have a set of addresses that I want to display on a Google map with pins, I don't want to have to loop through them to retrieve the lat and lon every time I want to display them on a map. That seems very inefficient and slow. So naturally, caching lat and lon is the answer. The other SO question that I referenced seemed to indicate that Google would have no problem with devs storing lat and lon in their own database because it is 'public' information. It is a coding question in that it is about performance. – Terry Yoder Mar 24 '16 at 13:38
  • OK, I'll ask it there....Thanks geocodezip – Terry Yoder Mar 24 '16 at 13:39

1 Answers1

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The Terms of Service, section 10.5, clause d, states this:

No caching or storage. You will not pre-fetch, cache, index, or store any Content to be used outside the Service, except that you may store limited amounts of Content solely for the purpose of improving the performance of your Maps API Implementation due to network latency (and not for the purpose of preventing Google from accurately tracking usage), and only if such storage:

  • is temporary (and in no event more than 30 calendar days);
  • is secure;
  • does not manipulate or aggregate any part of the Content or Service;
  • and does not modify attribution in any way.

This appears to me to specify that the caching must be temporary--you can't actively decide that you're going to cache the data for a max of 30 days. By your own words you want to cache it to prevent API hits, but that is explicitly prohibited by this clause.

If you were caching for a short duration for a specific purpose, such as knowing that a given user will be using the data again in a relatively short period of time, caching would be allowed. Caching just for the sake of caching is not allowed.

You are allowed to cache indefinitely if it's related to a user preference. For example, storing lat/long information is okay if you're saving a user's home coordinates, but only the actual preference data and not any results generated by the API that are related to the personal data.

I am not a lawyer, but this section appears rather clear to me.

vaindil
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  • Vaindil, thank you for your response and I have poured over that section of their terms many times and read many other similar posts here on SO. Like you, I am not a lawyer and that seems to be the common theme among the questions and answers on this subject (none of us are lawyers). I was hoping to get clarity from Google and avoid talking to a lawyer. – Terry Yoder Mar 24 '16 at 13:26
  • @TerryYoder You won't get clarification from Google. [They do not provide support](https://developers.google.com/maps/faq#using-google-maps-apis) unless you're a paying customer; you can search and you'll find all kinds of frustration from people who also wanted answers from Google. There are various communities elsewhere that have lawyers who answer simple questions, such as [/r/legaladvice on reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice), but you're ultimately requesting legal advice from strangers on the internet. (I don't endorse that site, just pointing out that it exists.) – vaindil Mar 24 '16 at 13:32