Is it legal to use google map in ArcGIS Flex?

[shakesvongreen]

I wanna use google map as base map in my ArcGIS map, but I don't down whether it's legal to do it or not. if it's legal, that means that I can use any way to access google map is legal, doesn't it? if it's illegal, that means that every way to access google map is always illegal.
That's my question, look forward to your reply.

[shakesvongreen]

I am so so sad, no body answer me,:confused:

[DerekLaw]

Hi Shakesvon,

The answer to your question is "no". You cannot access Google Maps imagery outside of an interface (read: APIs) provided by Google. Please see this great blog post from Rex Hansen (of the ArcGIS API for Silverlight Dev team) for more details on the topic:

Using Google Maps with ArcGIS Silverlight

Hope this helps,

[BjornSvensson]

Just to clarify:
No, you cannot access it anyway you want.  Specifically, you are not allowed to access the tiles directly.

But ... as pointed out in Rex's blog that Derek links to, it is OK to use Google Maps as long as you connect to Google Maps with their interface/API.  Thus it can be legal to use Google Maps together with the ArcGIS API for Flex. 

While Google doesn't have a Silverlight API, they do have an ActionScript API.  So for Flex applications, you are not limited to the "Google Static Maps API" (with the size limite), but can instead use their "Google Maps API for Flash" for maps of any size.

Disclaimer: this is my interpretation and I have no legal expertise.  See http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html for the google legalese.

[shakesvongreen]

Just to clarify:
No, you cannot access it anyway you want.  Specifically, you are not allowed to access the tiles directly.

But ... as pointed out in Rex's blog that Derek links to, it is OK to use Google Maps as long as you connect to Google Maps with their interface/API.  Thus it can be legal to use Google Maps together with the ArcGIS API for Flex. 

While Google doesn't have a Silverlight API, they do have an ActionScript API.  So for Flex applications, you are not limited to the "Google Static Maps API" (with the size limite), but can instead use their "Google Maps API for Flash" for maps of any size.

Disclaimer: this is my interpretation and I have no legal expertise.  See http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html for the google legalese.

If I wanna fuse google map and google street view withe ArcGIS Flex solution, there is no official solution from ESRI. So I hope esri can provide officail support to google map. If ESRI provide official support, I think gis developers like me will be very happy!