types option of Place Search API

[Robbie Kim]

Hello.

Some supported place types like "establishment" can't be searched at the moment.

airport, establishment, bus_station, taxi_stand, etc. (in the world)

atm, shopping_mall, etc. (in Korea)

These are important categories for my app. Please let me know the reason.

Robbie

[mobitour]

I have also noticed that some of the categories don't work (train_station, airport, shopping_center in Paris for instance).

Is there a list of categories that are known to work ? So far I have only been able to make the food-related and lodging categories work reliably.

[Sarah Woenne]

Hi,

It is a known bug that 'establishment' types aren't returned if you search for the 'establishment' category - you can star the issue if you want to be informed of updates (http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=3313).

We're also aware there are a number of categorization issues, where Places that should be categorized as e.g. train_station, bus_station, shopping_center etc are instead only categorized as 'establishment'.

Can you both give me a bit more detail on the problems you're experiencing, so we can identify the bug?  Specifically, is it that:

1. Places that should have a more specific category only have the 'establishment' category; or

2. Places are correctly categorized as something more specific than 'establishment', but a search for that category doesn't find them; or

3. Places aren't listed at all.

Cheers,

Sarah

[mobitour]

In my case, this is the 2 :
-  Places are correctly categorized as something more specific than 'establishment', but a search for that category doesn't find them.

For example, the train station named "Gare Montparnasse" in Paris belongs to the train station category in Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=3406200659643261432&q=gare+montparnasse&hl=en&sll=48.840754,2.31947&sspn=0.071946,0.071946&ie=UTF8&ll=48.884247,2.232628&spn=0,0&z=13), but doesn't show up by searching via the Places API (https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/search/xml?location=48.840754,2.31947&radius=10000&language=fr&types=train_station&sensor=false&key=APIKEY).

[Ed Estes]

Sarah,

I posted this over in the google-maps-js-api-v3 group, but was directed to this conversation:

Is there going to be an "update" command exposed so we can correct data in our Places app? (which will hopefully be committed to the master Places system over time)  It's nice to be able to Add things, but updates are just as important.  (I've found too many location issues to list here)

There also appears to be some inconsistencies in what we can filter on.  For example, the Places Android app can filter on "Coffee" but we don't have that Places Type.  I've tried to apply filters to locate the local Moca coffee shop but the only type that it appears under is "food" & "establishment" for developers. (which isn't something the user would think of) The Places web categories the business was able to select are "Tea House, Espresso Bar and Coffee Shop" which are not types in the Places API.  Any reason for these discrepancies and will they be addressed for a consistent user experience?

Thanks.

--Ed

[Ed Estes]

Disregard my question about updates - I found Gary's request here:

http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=3360

and added my vote to it.

--Ed

[Robbie Kim]

In my case,

1. Places that should have a more specific category only have the 'establishment' category

- amusement_park (e.g. name=에버랜드&location=37.291295,127.214760)

- aquarium (e.g. name=코엑스아쿠아리움&location=37.512543,127.058324)

- atm (e.g. name=외환은행ATM 신도림현대아파트&location=37.503178,126.790795)

- movie_theater (e.g. name=CGV&location=37.530122,126.965166)

- shopping_mall (e.g. name=마리오아울렛&location=37.477909,126.887552)

- stadium (e.g. name=수원월드컵경기장&location=37.289958,127.034916)

- train_station (e.g. name=Yongsan&location=37.529502,126.964671)

- zoo (e.g. name=인천대공원 어린이동물원&location=36.994051,127.084303)

2. Places are correctly categorized as something more specific than 'establishment', but a search for that category doesn't find them

- airport

3. Places aren't listed at all.

- establishment

- rv_park

- taxi_stand

Sarah, could I know when these types search is available?

In addtion to this, I hope more categories(Coffe, Attractions, Fast Food Restaurants selling burger or pizza)  will be added to Places API.

Robbie

[Sarah Woenne]

Hi mobitour,

The categorization system for the Places API is different to the one used in Google Maps.  If you search in the Places API for 'name=gare+montparnasse', can you find the station?  Does it have the train_station category in the Places API?

[Sarah Woenne]

Thanks Robbie, I've filed a bug internally. 

If you want additional or different categories, the best thing to do is file a feature request (http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/) - this also lets us keep track of how many people are interested in the feature from the number of Stars.

[Dave Tanel]

Sarah;

 

What is the source of the ‘type’ parameter in the Places API? Seems to be a mismatch between ‘type’ and ‘Category’ (in Maps/HotSpot). When a business defines itself via the Places website, it is able to include up to 5 values for ‘Categories’, but these categories are not the same as ‘types’ in the API. For example, “food” is a ‘type’ but not a ‘Category’. Are types derived from categories, or ????

The challenge is the api “type” isn’t the same as the “Category” that a business specifies in Places. For example, a business in places (maps.google.com) specified it’s ‘Category’ as “Food, Restaurant, Barbeque”, but that same business, when queried via the places.api shows "types" : [ "establishment" ]. As far as I can see, there is no way for the business to change its’ ‘type’ values to match its’ ‘Category’ values. The result is that this business only shows up in api queries where type=establishment, which is way too broad (everything is an “establishment”). It does not show up in queries where type=restaurant. Is there a way for us (or the business) to set type? 

THANKS!

-dave

[Sarah Woenne]

Hi Dave,

The types system in the Places API is different to the categories in Google Maps.  At the moment there are areas where the two are not well aligned - we're working on ensuring the information available in the Maps categories is reflected in the Places API types, but it's a work in progress.

You might also want to star this feature request: http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=3360 

Cheers,

Sarah

[Dave Tanel]

Sarah;

 

How do type values get set currently, and is there any way (API or otherwise) to update type values?

 

Thanks,

dave

[Sarah Woenne]

The types are set internally and at present, there is no way for developers to update type values.  We're working on improving the types classification system, but it'll take a little time.