Moving from Google Maps Platform

The same model of projects, restricted keys and quotas, with maps, addresses and routes made for West Africa. What maps to what, and how to move one API at a time.

On this page

Why move
Concepts
APIs
A map on a web page
Web services
Plan the move
Help moving

If your app already uses Google Maps Platform, most of what you know carries over: N-Ways uses the same model of projects, restricted keys, per-API quotas and error reasons. This guide maps each piece to its N-Ways counterpart and shows what changes in your code. You can move one API at a time.

Note:

N-Ways isn’t affiliated with Google. Google Maps Platform is named here only to help you move; its products are described in our own words. Check Google’s own documentation for how they work.

Why move

Addresses people use here: NIPOST postcodes to the building, GhanaPost GPS codes, landmarks and nicknames.
How people travel here: okada, keke and danfo routes that respect ban areas, boats, trains, border crossings, and fares in naira, cedis, F CFA, Liberian dollars, Guinean francs, leones and Cape Verdean escudos.
A lower bill: a free allowance for every API each month, and prices a fraction of the global platforms’, invoiced in local money.
Open map technology: maps are MapLibre and vector tiles, so you can restyle them and show N-Ways data on any map, with the credit.

Concepts

Google Maps Platform	N-Ways	What’s different
Cloud project with billing	Project	One project per app or customer; no separate billing account. Prepaid credit or an invoice.
Enabling each API	The project’s plan	No step to enable: a project may call the APIs in its plan, and each key can be narrowed further.
API key	API key (`nw_…`)	Sent as `key=` or the `X-NWays-Api-Key` header.
Application restrictions	Application restrictions	The same four kinds: websites (with wildcards), Android package and SHA-1, iOS bundle ID, IP addresses. One kind per key.
API restrictions	API restrictions	Tick the APIs a key may call.
Quotas and caps	Rate limits and daily caps	Per key and API, and optionally for the whole project. Quotas and limits
Field masks	`fields=`	Choose the fields you need; for Places and Routes it also sets the price tier.
Monthly free usage	Free calls for each API	Counted per API, not a shared credit.
Session tokens for autocomplete	Session tokens	Same idea: one token per search, ended by the pick.

APIs

If you use	Use on N-Ways	Status
Maps JavaScript API	Maps SDK for the web (`@nways/maps`, on MapLibre GL JS)	Available
Maps SDK for Android / iOS	N-Ways Maps for Android and for iOS (on MapLibre Native)	Available
Map Tiles API	Tiles API (vector tiles, PMTiles)	Available
Maps Static API	Static maps	See its page
Geocoding API	Geocoding and reverse geocoding	Available
Places API: nearby, text search, details	Places	Available
Places Autocomplete	Autocomplete	See its page
Address Validation API	Address validation	See its page
Routes API: compute routes	Routes	Available
Routes API: route matrix	Route matrix	See its page
Route Optimization API	Route optimisation	See its page
Fleet and last-mile delivery solutions	Fleet tracking and webhooks	See its page
Traffic layer	Traffic (GeoJSON) and the traffic feed	Available
Street View, Elevation, Roads, Air Quality, Solar, Pollen	No equivalent	Keep them where they are

N-Ways has APIs with no Google counterpart too: fare estimates for taxis, okadas, kekes, buses and boats, NIPOST and GhanaPost postcode lookups, and routes that keep to okada and keke bans.

A map on a web page

N-Ways maps are MapLibre GL JS maps. The main differences from the Google JavaScript map:

Coordinates are [longitude, latitude] in MapLibre (GeoJSON order), not { lat, lng }. This is the change that catches everyone: swap them.
Zoom levels match closely; MapLibre allows fractional zoom.
Markers: new maplibregl.Marker().setLngLat([lng, lat]).addTo(map). Info windows are maplibregl.Popup.
Shapes (polylines, polygons, circles) are GeoJSON sources with line or fill layers, drawn on the GPU, so thousands of them stay smooth.
Events: map.on('click', (e) => e.lngLat); the map is ready on map.on('load').

index.html

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://nways.ng/sdk/v1/maplibre-gl.css" />
<div id="map" style="height: 480px"></div>
<script type="module">
  import { createMap, maplibregl } from 'https://nways.ng/sdk/v1/nways-maps.standalone.js'

  // Lagos, Allen Avenue. Note the order: longitude first.
  const map = createMap({ container: 'map', key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', center: [3.3515, 6.6018], zoom: 15 })
  new maplibregl.Marker({ color: '#0b7a3e' })
    .setLngLat([3.3515, 6.6018])
    .setPopup(new maplibregl.Popup().setText('Pickup'))
    .addTo(map)
</script>

Web services

Errors are HTTP errors: a refused key answers 401 or 403 with a reason (API_KEY_HTTP_REFERRER_BLOCKED, API_KEY_SERVICE_BLOCKED…), never 200 with a status word. Many reasons have the same names as Google’s. Errors
Points in requests are { "lat": …, "lng": … } or lat,lng in a query; lines in answers are GeoJSON [lng, lat] pairs, not encoded polylines, so they go straight onto a map.
Distances and times are plain numbers: distanceM in metres, durationS in seconds.
Languages: lang=en or lang=fr.
IDs are strings you may store for good (osm:n501540907, ghanapost:GA-183-8164); they aren’t Google place IDs, so look places up again once by name or position.

Plan the move

Get a project and keys, one per website, app and server, restricted the same way as your Google keys. Get started
Start with the server side: geocoding and routes are easiest to switch and compare, behind your own backend.
Run both for a week: send a share of requests to N-Ways and compare answers, ETAs and what your riders say.
Switch the maps in your web and mobile apps, keeping the credit visible. Attribution
Re-key stored data: replace Google place IDs with N-Ways IDs as customers come back, or in one batch by position.
Set caps on each key so a bug can’t run up a bill, then turn off the Google keys you no longer use.

Help moving

Tell us which APIs you use and your monthly volumes at hello@nways.ng: we’ll help you plan the move and estimate your bill.