Google Maps isn't included as part of OL3 because Google doesn't allow using their tiles outside their API. There is a detailed explanation about it here: https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/ol3-dev/ZV8LB-F5904/x1sspizm3xMJ
This is what the library is for, it listens for events on the OL3 map and tries to replicate them on the Google Maps API, so that it respects their terms of use. For clarification, I did not create this bridge, I only work on it. I assume the library isn't packed with OL3 because most people won't need to include a Google Maps layer, and because there are still a lot of features missing. As for Google Maps, they allow using their API for free to a certain point. You can see their pricing here: https://developers.google.com/maps/pricing-and-plans/ On Monday, 11 July 2016 13:30:08 UTC-4, (unknown) wrote: > > Hi Samuel, > > Thank you for creating this bridge - this is very useful to use and > probably to community likewise. > > Do you know why Google Maps bridge is not packed part of OL3? Is Google > making their maps closed source or proprietary? Do you need to purchase a > license or key for usage? Any further thoughts on these would be > appreciated as well. > > On Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 8:36:49 AM UTC-5, Samuel Lapointe wrote: >> >> Hello all! I'm applying on this year's edition of Google Summer of Code, >> so I thought I could introduce myself here. >> >> For those who've never heard of it, Google Summer of Code (GSoC in short) >> is a program where students are financed by Google to participate in >> various open source projects during the summer. I participated last year >> and it was a great experience, so I'm applying to be a part of it again >> this year. >> >> The project I want to work on is the OpenLayers - Google Maps integration >> library. Its main objective is to let the user add a Google Maps basemap to >> an OpenLayers map, while keeping the OL features synchronised with the >> basemap. You can find the project on Github by following this this link >> <https://github.com/mapgears/ol3-google-maps>, and a blog post detailing >> the objectives of the library here >> <http://www.mapgears.com/en/blog/archive/2015-10-23-ol3-google-maps>. >> >> I am already in contact with the leader of the project, but I hope I can >> get input from the OpenLayers community as well on the possible objectives >> for this summer. >> >> Have a nice day! >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "OL3 Dev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/ol3-dev. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ol3-dev/1bba2bd0-9055-4318-beec-8c1802db69f5%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
