Is there any sort of commonly used alternative to Google Maps reviews out there?

[afewbugs@social.coop]

Is there any sort of commonly used alternative to Google Maps reviews out there? I've written a lot of reviews over there (mainly cafes, campsites and bike shops) - I do want to leave them up because they're all places I want to support and bring business to, but is there anywhere better I could be copying them to?

#EuropeanAlternatives #DeGoogle

[gilraen79@mastodon.social]

@afewbugs I have downloaded Mapy.com instead of Google Maps and I see that they allow reviews of places. But I am afraid it might still be a platform too small to make a difference. Other than that I am still looking for a valid alternative as well.

[solardavy@climatejustice.social]

@afewbugs I use CoMaps when I can, but I agree, I miss a place to review places. (And read reviews)

[haraldkliems@fosstodon.org]

@afewbugs Not necessarily commonly used yet, but @mangroveReviews is an open alternative to other review systems. Two ways to access it are via @MapComplete and #OpenCampingMap

[cdamian@rls.social]

@afewbugs
Someone should implement something with OpenStreetMap and ActivePub.
Having the reviews centralised is probably not a good idea any more.

[cdamian@rls.social]

@afewbugs
Clearly my idea is not original
https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/a-crowd-sourced-review-service-for-openstreetmap/136235

[monstreline@ottawa.place]

@afewbugs great question, I’m interested to know as well.

[byebyebyku2137@mastodon.social]

@afewbugs I have been using @organicmaps for over a year now. The maps are downloaded locally to the device and many places are marked, while those that are not can be easily added.

[boink@chaos.social]

@afewbugs I'm afraid the way the internet has developed makes it extremely hard for independent alternatives.

Besides the usual chicken/egg problem with users and reviews you need content moderation for reviews and who's gonna pay for them if the platform doesn't generate income by generic big tech shittieness?

I mean there's Yelp, TripAdvisor etc. but are they really an improvement towards Google?

[carstenraddatz@pixelfed.automat.click]

I want to know this too. Searaching about I find this thread https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/a-crowd-sourced-review-service-for-openstreetmap/136235 which names:
* https://lib.reviews/
* https://mangrove.reviews/
which may be a good start. Anyone reading this has an invite?

[moss@beige.party]

@boink @afewbugs that’s exactly the problem: all the major review sites are ruined by profit seeking and predatory abuse of the system. And why would the average searcher look at small sites that don’t have many reviews?

[jeppe@uddannelse.social]

@cdamian @afewbugs thank you for the link. Really interesting and respectful discussion. I learned a lot