Summary
This post explains how to update the categorization of a business in Google Places.
The Fuse app lets drivers record fuel purchases. One of the features it has is populating a pulldown of nearby gas stations so that the driver doesn't have to type all that in. I buy gas at the Costco in Lehi occasionally and I noticed it wasn't in the list while the Costco in Orem was. I got to wondering how the data for Google Places (the API Fuse uses) is collected and updated.
A quick search of the Costco in Lehi and the on in Orem on Google Maps didn't show any difference. There also wasn't an obvious difference when I drilled into the reviews. It was only when I clicked on the "Edit details" link that I noticed that the Costco in Orem had the following categories:
Optician, Discount Store, Gas Station, Department Store, Wholesale Club,...
whereas the one in Lehi only showed this:
Department Store
Fortunately, Google takes user comments on business listings, so I clicked "add category" and added "Gas Station." The change doesn't show up right away since Google reviews these types of changes.
So, the sequence for updating a business categorization:
- Find the business on Google Maps
- Click the "N reviews" link (or the "Write a review" link)
- Click "Edit details" under "Contact Information"
- Click the ">" to the left of "Category" to expose the category entry fields
- Edit as needed
- Submit
All in all, this is not easy to discover without some poking around. I'd tried looking from my phone a few times and never got far enough to make a change. But, once you know the secret, it's not too hard. I'm surprised that Costco doesn't do a better job of categorizing its stores in things like Google Places.
