Google: the map snatcher. Internet giant takes school maps away from parents


  

 

*** Update December 2018. We are very grateful to Mapbox for supporting School Guide with a new mapping system and allowing us to return the pupil heatmaps to the site ***

 

We are so sorry to announce that due to huge hikes in the cost of using Google maps we have had to remove our 'loved by parents' catchment heatmaps while we figure out how to continue offering our full service.

School Guide's leading school information was built for parents in 2014 and has always been FREE TO USE. 

But due to changes set down over 5,000 miles away at the Google HQ in California, UK parents can no longer find out the catchment area of their school or see the location of a chosen school on a map on School Guide. 

Costs have gone up astronomically and, while we have worked very hard in recent weeks to speak to Google and find a solution to continuing to offer our unique heatmaps, built using exclusive goverment data, we cannot cover the huge costs that Google have now added for users of their maps and location services. 

The changes come in the week when many newspapers have reported parents are more perplexed than ever by shrinking catchment areas, and the smallest catchment area in the UK is less than 100 metres. 

Our heatmaps, used by, on average, around 10,000 parents every day, address a key question for hard working parents: where do I need to live to get my child into this school?

We can only apologise that we cannot continue offering these helpful maps for engaged parents looking for the best school for their child. 

We'll update you as soon as we can and thank you for your support of our #bringbackthemaps campaign. 


Victoria Bond 
Founder & Mum
School Guide