Question

I am working on an application in which i need the stores from where a person is standing, i started using Google Places but places marked in my city are all in the wrong “type” in the google database, e.g. There is a restaurant nearby by the name “XYZ” and its now showing under restaurants but in some “establishment” type… Is there a way i can fix these types ??

Answer 1

All places are categorized under the type establishment until Google has enough metadata about a place to categorize it under more specific place types like bar, cafe and restaurant.

A work around that may find more results is to use the keyword parameter in your request with something like ‘restaurant’ as the value.

e.g.

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/search/json?location=-33.8670522,151.1957362&radius=500&keyword=restaurant&sensor=false&key=YOUR_API_KEY

As per the documentation:
The keyword parameter is matched against all available fields, including but not limited to name, type, and address, as well as customer reviews and other third-party content.

You can also update the business listing information to include the correct type by following the instructions here.