[OSM-talk] Business listings

[John Smith]

--- On Mon, 27/7/09, Paul Houle <paul at ontology2.com> wrote:

>     OSM could replace,  perhaps even
> surpass,  the street maps in a 
> product like City Navigator,  but I'm thinking about
> the business 
> listings.  It seems to me that a free product could be
> provided on a 
> basis similar to the Yellow Pages:  it seems to me
> that it's worth it 
> for businesses to be listed,  so a project like that
> could pay it's 
> bills by offering premium listings.

Don't ya just love a good chicken and egg problem. Yellow pages works because it has both critical mass and usually a physical product is sent out.

At this point in time OSM needs businesses to embrace it more than it can offer back to businesses, so charging them would be like a slap in the face.