If you look good, you will notice something new in Foursquare . The maps, which were previously provided by Google Maps now have a different appearance. This is because, as of February 29,the network chose MapBox Streets as their supplier of maps.

MapBox Streets is a service that lets you build maps based on OpenStreetMap , an open source initiative that works similar to Wikipedia. In it, the GIS is designed, published and updated by users. In the official announcement , Foursquare says that, being based on open data, your new provider "continuously improve". Moreover, says the social network, MapBoxStreets offers "tons of design flexibility" to "alter things like fonts and colors" and "make the maps match our aesthetic." Other popular services-based solutions that use at least partially in OpenStreetMap areFlickr and Waze .

The change will have consequences for users. First it eliminates the option of using satellite maps. According to the blog About Foursquare , this function "was a necessity to put superusers 'pins' on the map appropriately." Foursquare probably develop a solution in the future, but the blog says that "the development will take time and probably not be as easy to use as the previous system."

Moreover, since OpenStreetMap is a website powered by users, there are regions of the world which still no maps, and others which are not of good quality or incomplete. Foursquare could not function well for users of these places, but he could do it when running under Google Maps. This might disappoint and even cause the departure of some social network users.


So is the map of Bogota with the new interface Foursquare.

We did a little test in ENTER.CO. At first glance, the navigation on the map from the website is light and fast, even when running on Google Maps. In a small pan around the map we saw that Bogota is very complete and very well done. Within days we will make a fuller assessment of the new Foursquare maps and hope that you, our users, help us. Does it make your experience with Foursquare after this announcement?¿Before serving them and now no longer serves you? We want to tell us.
It changed the business.

No Google Maps, Foursquare would not exist. If at the time of its launch social network had not been available (free) service on the Internet most complete maps of the world, most likely could not get to have 15 million users, according to figures from the site-not to compete head to-head against giants against Facebook and Google itself.

But the world changed. First, Google started charging developers whose applications generate more than 25,000 maps. That increased operating costs of Foursquare and other services. The social network admitted in his blog that "it was the reason I first started looking at other solutions." Moreover, the free options have expanded rapidly. OpenStreetMap, for example, has grown significantly both users and infrastructure. So, as grandmothers say, this time 'hunger joined with the desire to eat'.