[notatoad]

but they also run a first-party maps app. the price of the streetview cars, satellite data, development, and qa isn't all just for the API.

i'm not really criticizing, they can charge whatever they want if they don't want people to use their maps api. and i suspect they don't really want people to use their maps API - the pricing seems targeted to milk the orgs who can't be bothered to implement a cheaper option.