[OSM-talk] Business listings

[Paul Houle]

Phil Endecott wrote:
>
> I'm not sure how far you can extrapolate from that, but I think it's 
> still fair to say that Yellow Pages covers most businesses.  Certainly 
> the copies that arrive on my doorstep each year (and go straight into 
> the recycling bin) are not getting any thinner.
>
>   
    Personally,  I'm not concerned with a database that contains ~all~ 
businesses,  rather just the kind of businesses that a person would be 
interested in if they're travelling.

    I won't use my Garmin to find a plumber,  a dentist or a web 
designer.  I would use it to find a restaurant,  gas station or hotel.

    Producing and maintaining a list of businesses (identity management) 
is a different problem from determining how good a business is,  and 
what experiences people have had with it.  I know that geonames contains 
a database of hotels.

    Personally I'm most interested in the restaurants.  Travelling in 
the rural US,  I tire pretty quick of pizza,  subs and chinese food.  
The ideal system finds me something that isn't one of those,  but if it 
can't do that,  at least helps me get a good sub instead of a bad sub.