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> local business details That situation is actually kind of outrageous. Municipalities and governmental bodies feed data into Google rather than publicly-acce
by einpoklum 4y ago
> local business details
That situation is actually kind of outrageous. Municipalities and governmental bodies feed data into Google rather than publicly-accessible platforms (like OSM). And so do the private businesses, with no regulatory mechanism forcing either them to submit the same data to local / public databases (like yellow pages, national map site / registries, or OSM) or forcing Google to provide dumps of its data for the public to use.
I hate having to access Google to find information which is simply not available in map for, or at all, elsewhere.
- troyvit 4y agoYeah I agree. As near as I can tell municipalities treat Alphabet like their own data utility. They consider it an extension of their government. I have two kids in public school and those schools' reliance on these closed platforms is almost 100% complete for everything from newsletters to surveys to class sign-up and bill payment. It is the largest thing that keeps me from de-googling my life. I'm not necessarily saying municipalities should build this stuff out themselves, only that it freaks me out when small governments rely on giant corporations to support their infrastructure.