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Comment by mdp2021 | Hacker News Reader

mdp2021·

Interesting to know that OSM lists businesses, but GMaps contains more information, which can sometimes be crucial. (E.g. opening days and hours.)

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OpenStreetMap does hold opening hours of businesses. Here are the details (including opening hours) of my local cafe https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/485163917 I go round entering OSM data using the StreetComplete app. It's slightly awkward if a shop doesn't display their opening hours, because then you have to go in, and I feel I need to buy something and then ask their opening hours.

I do that too (in Germany), and I just… ask them if I may enter their opening hours into OSM. I've never been refused. Sometimes an employee takes an interest and then I take the chance to explain a bit. It's a win-win for both sides, after all—the map users and the shop owners.

Why ask the owner in the first place. Its public information anyway. Google does not ask either.

Because I'm nice that way.

Sure.

But for mapping lots of POIs this is a PITA and doesnt scale. What if the owner declines? This is non-copyrightable info anyway.

Shall one ask house owners if one can map their address or their house' outline?

Hopefully a few of them will realize it is easy and so start updating their own information as it changes. Everyone wins - their customers get up to date information and so come when they are open.

In a practical way (instead of just, why not be polite?), the information for permanently displaying to the public may be different than the information relevant to you at a single moment.

If you just ask it without context, "today we'll close at 16:00" is a perfectly reasonable response.

This is funny. You are giving the business free labor, yet you feel you owe the business.

Those details are even occasionally correct

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