Roger Fingas
Social networking service Foursquare is now an official supplier of business listings for Apple Maps, joining Yelp in giving users ratings and reviews for local businesses.
The Acknowledgements Page for Maps was quietly updated to reflect this on Oct. 22, according to Apple Maps Marketing.
Originally popular as a check-in service, Foursquare now revolves around discovering and rating local businesses and attractions. The company is in fact a direct competitor to Yelp, which also supplies listings for Maps.
Talk about a deal between Apple and Foursquare dates back to late 2012. It's not clear why an arrangement would take nearly three years to complete, though Foursquare's overhaul in 2014 — pushing check-in functions into a separate app, Swarm — likely added to the complexity.
Even with the improvements to Maps in iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, Apple is known to be working on collecting still more data for the service. Vehicles are touring cities worldwide to gather street-level reconnaissance, presumably with something akin to Google Street View in mind.
In the long run though the company may use some of its data to help build a self-driving car.
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3 Comments
It's great that Apple is adding more sources for its Maps data. Still not sure how they choose what data they will/won't pull from those services. I've noticed a lot of business listed on Yelp with reviews that still don't show up in Apple Maps. I know larger business can request their business be added. Just not sure how a smaller cafe/coffe shop or similar small business would be added.
It's great that Apple is adding more sources for its Maps data. Still not sure how they choose what data they will/won't pull from those services.
I've noticed a lot of business listed on Yelp with reviews that still don't show up in Apple Maps. I know larger business can request their business be added. Just not sure how a smaller cafe/coffe shop or similar small business would be added.
This is how smaller business can be added to Apple Maps... https://mapsconnect.apple.com/
I found it interesting as a business with over 35 locations in the midwest our marketing department has to constantly follow up and stay active with all of these services to ensure that we show up and also that the information is accurate. It always surprised me that some of these giants cannot find a way to get accurate business information on the map (even if it is just the basic name and address).