--- title: Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore | daily.dev description: NUKEMAP, a nuclear weapons effects simulator, migrated from Google Maps API to Mapbox and Leaflet after Google's 2018 pricing changes increased monthly costs... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore | daily.dev og:description: NUKEMAP, a nuclear weapons effects simulator, migrated from Google Maps API to Mapbox and Leaflet after Google's 2018 pricing changes increased monthly costs... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/iRfFzYmAx.png og:image:alt: Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 11 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary NUKEMAP, a nuclear weapons effects simulator, migrated from Google Maps API to Mapbox and Leaflet after Google's 2018 pricing changes increased monthly costs from $200 to $1,800. Google's new pricing model proved prohibitively expensive for educational projects with moderate traffic (15,000-200,000 daily hits), while their support structure failed to accommodate individual academic developers. Mapbox offered comparable functionality at lower cost with responsive human support. The migration required developing a custom Leaflet plugin for great circle drawing. The experience highlights how Google's shift away from supporting small developers and educational use cases forces projects to seek open-source alternatives. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I ditched Google Maps for an open source alternative that actually delivers](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ditched-google-maps-for-an-open-source-alternative-that-actually-delivers-5les5jdi5) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why I Ditched Complex Map Apps for Simplicity](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-ditched-complex-map-apps-for-simplicity-ngex4yjcz) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Google Maps is about to get a big dose of AI](https://daily.dev/posts/google-maps-is-about-to-get-a-big-dose-of-ai-pfgmyxyxn) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [MapView: Static maps for Rails. No JS. No frontend. Just Ruby.](https://daily.dev/posts/mapview-static-maps-for-rails-no-js-no-frontend-just-ruby--dsaur8cer) · RUBYLAND · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax"},"datePublished":"2026-01-14T15:48:54.301Z","dateModified":"2026-01-14T15:49:33.950Z","description":"NUKEMAP, a nuclear weapons effects simulator, migrated from Google Maps API to Mapbox and Leaflet after Google's 2018 pricing changes increased monthly costs...","image":"https://i0.wp.com/blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Old-NUKEMAP.jpg?fit=1854%2C744&ssl=1","thumbnailUrl":"https://i0.wp.com/blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Old-NUKEMAP.jpg?fit=1854%2C744&ssl=1","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-nukemap-isn-t-on-google-maps-anymore-irffzymax","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"webdev,javascript","timeRequired":"PT11M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why NUKEMAP isn’t on Google Maps anymore"}]} ```