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I'm looking for an alternative to Google-maps with all the richness of their API but more open. Does such a thing exist?
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OpenStreetMap is free without any hidden charges, but Google Map has certain charges with Google mapping services. Google Map is a close system, and every information is property of Google. OpenStreetMap is an open data source, and its information is available to every organisation and user.
Go to OpenStreetMap.org. Search for the location you want as the centre of the map, or use the arrow to Show My Location. Select the desired layers, such as Standard, Cycle Map, Transport etc. Zoom and pan as necessary, using the + and - icons and your mouse.
While both Google Maps and Waze provide similar services, Google Maps is much more comprehensive. As covered, Waze is a more driver-focused app, whereas Google Maps provides navigation for anyone, whether they're commuting using public transportation, walking, riding a bike, or driving.
OpenStreetMap is, of course, the obvious answer. There are various APIs for managing the data in the database, and there are various APIs for getting maps onto your webpages, such as OpenLayers, Mapstraction, or Staticmaps.
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Google have recently introduced a limit of 25,000 map sessions per day, which forced us to consider the alternatives for some of our sites.
We've written a blog post about it with some examples here.
In a nutshell, we have chosen to use a combination of CloudMade's Leaflet for the Javascript Map API, and then Open MapQuest (based on OpenStreetMap data) for the tiles.
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