What's the deal with Apple and Yelp?

[Heb 7:4]

One of the issues (here in the UK) with maps is that apple relies on yelp for business searches. Now I know that Yelp is huge in the US, but it never really took off in Europe, and so the information is really really patchy, and unlikely to improve anytime soon. It surprises me that apple didn't link up with Tripadvisor who are already widely used, and so have far more businesses listed and rated.

Are apple using yelp everywhere, or have they gone for local variations in other parts of the world?

 

[Czicks]

One of the issues (here in the UK) with maps is that apple relies on yelp for business searches. Now I know that Yelp is huge in the US, but it never really took off in Europe, and so the information is really really patchy, and unlikely to improve anytime soon. It surprises me that apple didn't link up with Tripadvisor who are already widely used, and so have far more businesses listed and rated.

Are apple using yelp everywhere, or have they gone for local variations in other parts of the world?

Yelp is being used everywhere. I live in Belgium and it's a bit of the same, but then again Google never made much headway listing businesses here so I'm not missing much.

 

[Heb 7:4]

Yelp is being used everywhere. I live in Belgium and it's a bit of the same, but then again Google never made much headway listing businesses here so I'm not missing much.

Is there a stand out review site (like Yelp or Tripadvisor) in Belgium? It seems with all their resources apple could link up with whoever is the most popular in each country and blow google out of the water.

 

[Czicks]

Is there a stand out review site (like Yelp or Tripadvisor) in Belgium? It seems with all their resources apple could link up with whoever is the most popular in each country and blow google out of the water.

People use TripAdvisor quite frequently, but honestly lots of Belgians are years behind the US and UK in terms of adopting internet tools. I can only speculate that one reason TripAdvisor wasn't used is it's completely focused on hotels and dining. Yelp includes all business types, such as IT firms.

Regardless, if you spot something missing or wrong on the maps, make sure you report the problem. It will only get better as people crowd source just like with Google Maps.

 

[KeanosMagicHat]

I'm in the UK too and unfortunately, the only way to make Yelp better, is to add your own businesses, restaurants, places of interest etc.

Having never used it before, I registered last week purely for the integration with iOS 6 maps & have posted 25 reviews already, with more to come.

 

[Brazuca]

Yelp could be much better if their UI and UX didn't suck so bad. The homepage feels like Yahoo, and they just finished a redesign.

Too busy, and too complicated to get to the things that matter. Especially if you want to add/correct information.

Heck, I had to google instructions on how to report duplicate listings (hint: it's an option in the "contact yelp" form, which is aaaaalllllll the way at the very bottom of the page, mixed with other stuff)

FAQ
Advertise
Content Guidelines
Contact Yelp <<<<<< HERE
Business Support
Developers

 

[JoeShades]

yelp is overrated, it could be great but it still lists places that are long gone and doesn't list places that have been around for years

 

[cotak]

In general crowd source data is not always reliable.

One interesting thought, what if Google buys out Yelp?

 

[RTWG]

In general crowd source data is not always reliable.

I've been contributing to Waze for about a year now, and it is incredibly accurate. All the service needs is one or two dedicated editors per area, and everything will be fixed up in no-time.

 

[kirky29]

Agree with you,

But...when I got the iOS 6 beta and looked for my business and saw it couldn't be found, I went and added it to Yelp, now Apple maps finds it.

So maybe many more will too.