Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
simonwillison.net
Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#2A nice exploration, this is a link to the announcement itself from the article:
https://location.foursquare.com/resources/blog/products/four...
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#3[deleted]
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#4What is the motivation of Foursquare to open source their places data?
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#5Looking forward the taking a peek. Both at the foursquare data and datasette .. which I feel I've seen spruiked so much I want the tshirt.
As an aside a place in my (small, regional) city is listed in the sample gist. Feel like I should win something.
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#6What is the motivation of Foursquare to open source their places data?
Largely, improve the data quality from contributions.
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#7What is the motivation of Foursquare to open source their places data?
Incentivise integrations to gain market share, I assume? Maybe also grow developer knowledge and trust? I honestly haven't thought about 4S in a long time, although I am outside the US so maybe that's why?
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#8What is the motivation of Foursquare to open source their places data?
Cynically, a desperate attempt at restoring its own relevance, which it hasn't had since 2011.
Not that I'm complaining; it's always nice to have more options.
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#9[flagged]
Re: Foursquare Open Source Places: A new foundational dataset
#10What is the motivation of Foursquare to open source their places data?
There are a few reasons.
Firstly, the published reason is they intend to let people contribute and maintain the dataset. This is a good open data mindset to allow a dataset to maintain its health and grow. It would make the dataset sustainable.
An unpublished reason is that it could be a sign that things within Foursquare are winding down. Making the dataset sustainable reduces internal costs and increases the value to themselves and others. (like the reasons to open source software)
Foursquare City Guide is shutting down, and recently laid off 105 (25%) employees. I would imagine releasing data before things stop is a good ethical move.
https://foursquare.com/city-guide-sunset/
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/23/foursquare-just-laid-off-1...
"The letter does, however, address which units were impacted and, relatedly, the divisions that Foursquare plans to ditch, including Visits, OCF, and Foursquare City Guide.
According to Little’s letter, Foursquare is also pausing work on a number of other initiatives, including "Mobile Developers Tools, Geode, and the current version of FSQ Insights."