2015-05-01 13:36 GMT+02:00 Rob Nickerson <rob.j.nicker...@gmail.com>:
> >I think eventually chains will see the >light, and publish their > locations in an >open format compatible manner. At >that point a quick > cross check with >OSM would clear up most of the >issues. > > > > Agree. Has anyone actually asked the retail chains? > > That's a good question Rob. 'Seeing the light' possibly means maintaining your own platform/apps as a business. I did ask McDonald's back in 2012, I got the following reply: "We put focus on optimizing this McDonald's app and want to keep the management of the associated database as efficiently as possible. Keeping databases for others makes that ambition tricky. With the McDonald's app we also communicate information about McDonald's products, actions, nutrition values, different locations and opening times of the restaurants and the McDrives. Also, restaurant renovations and therefore temporary adjusted opening hours are regularly incorporated into an update. For the above reasons, we will not consent to the inclusion of McDonald's restaurants in Openstreetmap." Of course I was disappointed, because I still believe OSM can be the best platform. On the other hand, McDonald's has a point. Breaking the answer down: 1) It's not efficient trying to maintain more than one database 2) that single database serves more purposes than just geocoding 3) Other databases do not have the same quality. So, how does that compare to one of the better POI databases, Google Maps? Having a quick look at GM shows that McDonald's despite copyright allows GM to copy opening hours into the GM database. But maybe they have an arrangement to copy (changing) opening hours on the fly in order to prevent dissatified customers standing in front of a closed door. Since McDonald's does have an incentive to maintain their own database (customer focus), quality of McDonald's data in OSM will always be lower. For me it means that I do map the McDonald's POI's based on ground thruth along with the url to the McDonald's website, but not the opening hours. Reaason for that is that I often see them from the road, but don't visit them daily to have a look at the opening hours. I'm looking forward to other experiences, I sure hope that I'm not the only mapper who has had contact with McDonald's Cheers, Johan > I haven't because I don't want to suggest that we will do anything with > the data until I know we have the right tools in place to match entries in > their database and in OSM. I'm sure it's an easy task but I don't know how > to do that. I'd also like to see community support in place so that we can > merge in some of their attributes (phone number, opening hours, etc). This > could be a bigger challenge! > > Regards, > Rob > > _______________________________________________ > talk mailing list > talk@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk > >
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