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by nathancahill 2372 days ago
What type of accessibility information are you getting back from the Places API? OSM seems like a great fit for this since information is tagged in a structured way: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Disabilities

Feel free to email me, this is my area of expertise. For projects like that I can often help pro-bono.
3 comments
spaethnl 2372 days ago
We actually aren't using the accessibility data from the Places API, we are collecting and displaying custom data that is provided by users (detailed ratings, reviews and pictures from regular users, and highly detailed building assessments from trained users).

We only need the places API for having a comprehensive list of nearby places. Other services had too few places in general, but didn't necessarily lack information about the places that were available.

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rmc 2372 days ago
> OSM seems like a great fit for this since information is tagged in a structured way:

OSM both is, and isn't, structured. It's free form tagging system, where anyone can start adding new tags whenever they want, without any gatekeepers.

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spaethnl 2372 days ago
I just spent some more time looking at OSM's place data, and I'm not sure if more has been added since last looking at it, or if I wasn't using it correctly, but it seems to have more than I remember.

I see that a couple of popular restaurants that have been around for at least a decade are still not shown, but maybe that is anomalous? I'll have to re-consider OSM.

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nathancahill 2372 days ago
If you're collecting accessibility data consider adding it to OSM or making it available publicly for others to add :)
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