Google Static Maps API

Today Google announced a Static Maps API that allows anyone to create a Google Map.

Google have of course had a Google Maps API for a couple of years - but the new API means anyone can create a static map with no programming involved. The wizard just asks you to enter an address, pick the size of map you require and you are then given the address of a static image that you can post to your site.

This is a great idea with just one serious drawback - the generated image is restricted to 1000 unique request a day. Which means you can only use it on a site with very little traffic. Rereading the TOS I think I may have misunderstood the 1000 requests limit. I think that if you place an image on your site that only counts as one request, no matter how many times your page is viewed.