Case Study: CARFAX achieves enhanced location-based services and reduced Google Maps Platform costs with Hexagon's Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial Division

CARFAX Uses Google Maps Platform to Enhance Location-based Business Strategies

CARFAX, the standard for vehicle history reports in the U.S. and Canada, lists millions of used cars and relies on location services to help buyers find nearby vehicles and service shops. When Google shifted Maps to a pay‑as‑you‑go model in 2018, CARFAX needed more value‑added services and flexible pricing for its use of Google Maps Platform (Dynamic Maps, Geocoding, Directions, Places Autocomplete, Geo‑location, Static Maps), so Google referred them to Hexagon's Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial Division to develop a location strategy and manage implementation.

Hexagon's Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial Division assigned Google‑certified account managers and engineers to optimize CARFAX’s API implementations—tuning configurations (for example enhancing Places Autocomplete to include reviews and photos), building dashboards and alerts, and restricting Places API fields to necessary data. Those changes reduced API calls and costs, improved site speed and reliability, helped recoup charges from an unexpected usage spike, and gave CARFAX greater control and confidence over billing and performance.

CARFAX

Todd Schonhardt

Development Manager