Thread: Map APIs

I need to find an API or webservice which will allow me to query and pull a map (geographical map), and I am open to recommendations (open-source/free is a must).

My initial instinct was the Google Maps API, and I am still investing if I can use it. My needs are a bit odd, since I am not looking for a single address or anything. Specifically, I have a list of coordinates and I need to be able to pull a single map which contains all of the coordinates on it. If it can add markers as points of interest, that is a plus, but not required, since I can probably figure out an algorithm for painting POIs in the correct locations over top of the map at runtime.

So if anyone knows of any APIs or webservices which can meet my needs, I would appreciate the suggestions.

This site has free maps: OpenStreetMap

There is the Google Static maps API that lets you download the tiles as an image. Free usage is limited by the number of requests per day (25,000 requests/day)

I've used OpenStreetMap before. It is my backup plan if nothing better exists.
I'm looking into the google static maps API now. I don't expect to ever get close to the 25,000 requests/day. It has labels, but the labels only allow single character names (which is stupid in my opinion). Plus when you create the map with labels, you don't know the zoom or center point, so calculating the location of the POIs on the map image is impossible. So I guess I'll have to try to figure out the equations google uses to calculate zoom and what not and try to do it without google's label functionality and implement my own.