Mapbox tiles: exceeded free usage

[Jim]

Important: if you are using any of the Mapbox tiles, please switch to something else ASAP.  We have exceeded our free usage limit and I've already incurred charges for the current billing period and we're only 1/3 through it.  Mapbox entries have been commented out of our configuration files for now.

[Markkos1992]

Is it weird for me to ask what you are referring to?   

[oscar]

Mapbox map tiles are among the options usually available in our Highway Browser and Waypoint Editor, at least. It looks like Jim has removed those options, at least for now.

[Jim]

I think they need to be gone for good.  It looks like there's no option to say "serve as many free tiles as you can and then cut off the account if we exceed".  Instead, it just rolls over to billing.  We've incurred $5 in expenses just today and this is after I removed the option.  This has to be people who have previously loaded and selected these tiles.  It looks like I need to delete the account or ask for a volunteer to put their credit card on it.

[froggie]

A pity.  Mapbox was the only entity that combined OSM data with a satellite image.  Worked pretty well for list development.

[Jim]

I was able to "reset" the Mapbox token to stop current access.  Thinking about it some, we might be able to make Mapbox available in the WPT editor only and have a very good chance of staying under the free usage limits.  I am sure it's HB and Mapview that really rack up the tile loads.  In any case, it's offline until at least June 7 when the current billing period ends and the next month's free usage kicks in.

[oscar]

A pity.  Mapbox was the only entity that combined OSM data with a satellite image.  Worked pretty well for list development.

ESRI World Imagery at least has the satellite imagery. I wonder if Mapbox's satellite imagery is what drove our usage over the limits -- and I hope there won't be a similar issue with ESRI.

[Jim]

So far, we look to be good on the ESRI tiles.  At least it shows we have 50/50 "credits" remaining for the current month, ending June 7.

If we were using enough Mapbox to hit their limit, I worry that we're probably hitting OSM's servers too much also.  I might need to look into having our own tile server again.  It was overkill a year ago but might be needed now.

[rickmastfan67]

Could internet 'spiders' (like Google) be causing the spike in map usage?

[yakra]

Mapbox tiles have been a favorite of mine; I'd been using them more lately as OSM tiles have been a bit slower to load.
Apologies for contributing to the overage; I was unaware there was a ceiling to free usage.

[Jim]

I've just "upgraded" my HERE maps account to a "Freemium" plan, since the old plans have gone away.  It looks like we're using less than 10% of free for that one, and it has a hybrid view with satellite tiles, but I don't know how up-to-date they are.  Unlike Mapbox, it looks like this one will just shut us off if we ever exceed the free limits rather than racking up a bill.

[yakra]

I was able to "reset" the Mapbox token to stop current access. Thinking about it some, we might be able to make Mapbox available in the WPT editor only and have a very good chance of staying under the free usage limits.  I am sure it's HB and Mapview that really rack up the tile loads.  In any case, it's offline until at least June 7 when the current billing period ends and the next month's free usage kicks in.

Looks like this was done only on noreaster, without any changes in the Web repository itself?
I just set up a tm mirror site at home, and it has the Mapbox options available. They're not available on the main travelmapping.net site.
Not a complaint at all, just an observation. I like keeping the option around in case it may make a comeback; hopefully it can be easily enabled/disabled.
Gotta better understand the nuts & bolts of how all this works.
If I do end up getting my own Mapbox token, hopefully I won't generate enough traffic from my own little sandbox to incur any overages.