I’ve been going through notes trying to resolve them and I noticed some of them are asking for home based businesses to be listed. Is that something OSM does or is there a special way to handle it? Personally, I rather not list them due to their transient nature and the fact that I think a business should have an official store front, not be located in a house. Even if it is an incorporated one or not. Any other opinions on the matter would be helpful.
I tend to map them if people have a sign in their garden indicating they are a plumber, constructor, caterer, etc. They typically fall in the craft category. I also map notaries, lawyers, etc.
People that sell stuff via Shopify will typically not have such signs and will not be mapped. I’ve heard “OSM is not a business directory” in several occasions.
Google has specific rules on these, although often frustrated by the businesses themselves. I’d suggest that OSM ought to operate similar rules. Generally, to be considered acceptable for mapping on Google, the business needs to be one that people would routinely visit in person, and therefore need to be able to find the exact location. I think they use the term “service area business with no physical presence” for businesses that customers would never, in practice, visit.
Many home businesses simply see maps as just another way of doing link spam. I suspect that is true of most of the notes. Generally someone with the interests of the map at heart would actually map their business rather than leave a note. They leave notes because it requires little effort, and because the note, itself, make the business stand out (in fact, standard layer probably won’t render such business).
A typical characteristic is a heavily hyped, marketing speak, description for the business.
In the UK, Bing seems to be particularly bad in relation to clearly inappropriate business entries.
If I check one out, and it can’t be verified from the street, the note will probably get deleted. If I do verify it, I will not put any of the hyped description in the map entry.
I would also include places where trucks come to deliver/pickup goods. After all, truck drivers use satnav systems as well.
Otherwise I’ll agree with hadw.
Even if clients never visit them, the signs can be useful for navigation and other purposes.
So, if it has a signal I think it’s useful to map it