Mike

Thanks for posting. The comments are especially helpful. I hope some candid follow-on may continue the discussion:

Factual does not charge to add data. This is important, as data has value and our goal is to become a frictionless repository for the world’s place data (more on this below). Removing cash removes much of the friction.

Anyone can freely submit through the API, as you note: I recognize that not everyone can use an API, of course, so we intend to surface form-based edit and upload tools to help the process. We’ve made it easy for other local-focused organizations and individuals to create similar forms to add data programmatically to Factual.

We launched email updates in an attempt to make it dead-easy to update data. It worked very well for a while, but the volume, and eventual verification, became untenable. By formalizing this relationship with our Trusted Data Contributors, we can focus on developing new tools that streamline the process of getting data into Factual, exposing where a contribution is in the pipeline, what, if any, attributes were changed on publication, and why.

I appreciate that there are huge hurdles when updating business data online. My intention is to ensure that Factual removes as many of them as possible, where we can. The TDC Program is the beginning, not the conclusion, of our work on this problem.

Tyler