From time to time in the GMB Forums the question arises of where Google Map’s gas prices come from and how to fix them when wrong.

If your listing has your pricing wrong at Google you can file a report via “Report a Problem” at Google although it makes more sense to get in touch directly with the source for the gas price data.

Previously when this question came up, Google would only share that it came from a trusted third party data provider. In a recent conversation though Google noted that if a business owner felt that Google (or any the third party website for that matter) is inaccurately representing their business vis a vis gas prices, they should contact OPIS directly via gasprice@opisnet.com

Who is OPIS? It is the Oil Price Information Service that, according to their website, provides the most accurate and timely information available including [to] AAA, Microsoft, Mapquest, America Online, Garmin, Verizon, Sprint and many more. And clearly Google as well. And they serve not just the US but the whole world and OPIS provides real-time and historical spot, wholesale/rack and retail fuel prices for the refined products, renewable fuels, and natural gas and gas liquids (LPG) industries. 

Given how frequently gas prices change and how infrequently the issue of wrong or missing prices arrises in the Google My Business Forum I was curious exactly how they maintained these prices so accurately.

While this may only be of interest to me, I find the methodology fascinating and a peak into how the ever more granular data is flowing into the local ecosystem. And how both automated and quasi manual techniques are used to gather the information accurately on a daily basis down to the level of the storefront.

Here is the OPIS Retail Gasoline Pricing methodology and facts from their website:

Price Discovery
Every day OPIS captures station-specific retail gasoline and diesel prices for up to 130,000 service stations throughout the United States. Through exclusive relationships with credit card companies, direct feeds and other survey methods, OPIS is able to provide the most comprehensive and accurate pump prices in the industry.

The OPIS retail data is relied on by some of the top companies in the country to provide consumers with the most accurate and timely information available including AAA, Microsoft, Mapquest, America Online, Garmin, Verizon, Sprint and many more.

Data Integrity
To ensure accuracy of the retail prices, OPIS scrubs the data through a number of computer programs to make sure the prices are current and are for pump gasoline purchases only – not for in-store purchases that may include non-gasoline products.

OPIS gets prices for most major retailers regardless of whether the station is company operated, jobber owned or dealer operated. Included in the feed are many of the more aggressive c-stores such as WAWA, QuikTrip, Maverik and Sheetz and most of the discount chains and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart, HEB and Kroger.

OPIS has daily, weekly and monthly standard reports as well as customized reports which allow the user to slice and dice the data to get the view of the market they need to make smart decisions. In addition, OPIS has retail history going back as far as 1996 at the station level and can quickly roll the data up to nearly any geographic criteria you desire.

Time Stamp
OPIS is able to capture prices in near real-time – as soon as the swipe happens – at more than 25,000 locations. OPIS Is currently working with the major networks in order to bring you more and more prices as they change and expects a major percentage of the 130,000 stations to be available in real-time by the end of this year.

The stations which currently don’t have the ability to be captured in real-time are updated via a batch file each morning and each price has the actual transaction date of the purchase. The daily feed through the batch process has transactions that are from 1-5 days old with the majority of prices being no older than 3 days.