Amazon Location Service vs ArcGIS Location Platform

Amazon Location Service

Places, Routes and Maps calls work over plain HTTPS with an API key limited to named actions, and every one of the 17 operations is read-only with typed inputs. Access starts with an AWS account a person opens, the key travels in the URL query string, and stored results cost eight times the single-use rate.

ArcGIS Location Platform

Per-unit prices are public for every service, with a monthly free tier of 20,000 geocodes and 20,000 routes, keys limited to chosen privileges and a 99.9 per cent SLA. No rate limits or OpenAPI description were found, results may not be stored unless the dearer stored geocode is bought, and the agreement bars benchmarking without written permission.

Amazon Location Service

1. Call the v2 endpoints (places.geo.<region>.amazonaws.com/v2/geocode, routes.geo, maps.geo). They need no resource creation, unlike the v1 place index and route calculator calls
2. Set IntendedUse to Storage before saving or caching any Places result. The default SingleUse results may not be stored under section 82.4 of the AWS Service Terms
3. Read PricingBucket in each response. Requesting Contact, Access, TimeZone or Phonemes in AdditionalFeatures moves a Places call from $0.50 to $1.50 per 1,000
4. Keep the API key out of logs and shared URLs, since it travels as ?key=. Use SigV4 with an IAM role for server-side work, and for the Jobs API, which refuses API keys
5. Back off on HTTP 429 ThrottlingException. The burst allowance is 80 per cent of the per-second rate within any part of a second

ArcGIS Location Platform

1. Send the token in an X-Esri-Authorization: Bearer or Authorization header. The docs' examples put it in a token parameter, which Esri's own best-practice page calls less secure.
2. Set forStorage=true on findAddressCandidates or reverseGeocode only when results will be kept. It needs pay-as-you-go and the Geocode (stored) privilege, and costs eight times the unstored rate.
3. Cap geocoding output with maxLocations (default and maximum 50) and outFields, because billing counts results returned and the default returns every field.
4. Page place searches with pageSize (maximum 20) and offset. A nearby or extent search costs $8 per 1,000 requests after 500 free a month.
5. Check the JSON body for an error object with code, message and details. Code 499 means the token is missing and 403 means it lacks the privilege.