I’m working with Maps API to fetch business details and save them to my database. The API gives me basic info like location, hours, ratings and customer feedback. However, I can’t figure out how to get the short description text that appears for businesses. You know, those brief summaries like “Cozy family restaurant serving authentic Mexican cuisine and fresh margaritas since 1985.” I really need this descriptive text for my app but it’s not included in the standard API response. I suspect this content might come from sources like knowledge bases or online encyclopedias, but I’m not certain. Does anyone know how to access this description data or can recommend another API that provides business summaries based on place identifiers? Thanks for any suggestions!
Google pulls business descriptions from way more than just Google My Business. I figured this out building a restaurant finder app - some come from Wikipedia, others from crawled business websites, and some from third-party providers. I used the Place Details API with the “editorial_summary” field, then cross-checked the “website” field when I could. Honestly, scraping the business’s actual website often gets you better, fresher descriptions than any API. Mapbox’s Search API is worth trying too - they’ve got different description data than Google sometimes. Don’t forget Facebook pages either - their Graph API can pull page descriptions through the Pages API. But for reliable results? I ended up mixing automated web scraping for business sites with manual curation for the important locations. More work upfront, but you control the quality and format.
Been fighting this same problem for months on a client project. Everyone suggests manual scraping and juggling APIs, but that’s a maintenance nightmare.
I built an automated pipeline that actually works. Set up workflows to hit multiple APIs in sequence - Google Places first, Yelp if there’s no description, then Foursquare, and finally scrape the business website if needed.
Automation is everything. Mine runs on schedules, updates the database automatically, and handles rate limits without babysitting. Smart caching means I’m not hitting APIs repeatedly for the same business.
I use Latenode to orchestrate everything instead of writing custom scrapers and managing API calls manually. It connects all the services and handles the logic flow. Way cleaner than maintaining a bunch of scripts.
My workflow pulls from 4-5 sources per business and always finds something useful. Takes an hour to set up vs weeks of custom coding.
The editorial_summary field is definitely hit-or-miss. I ran into this building a travel app - tons of businesses just don’t have descriptions in Google’s system. What worked way better was the Overture Maps Foundation dataset. It’s open source and pulls business info from multiple sources like Meta and Microsoft. Their venue data often has description fields you can’t get through standard APIs. You can query it directly or use their Python tools. Data quality varies by region, but I got much better coverage for business descriptions than just using Google Places API. Worth checking out if you can use open data sources since you won’t hit API rate limits or costs.
honestly, the easiest fix i’ve found is using chatgpt’s api to generate descriptions from the business name and category data you’re already pulling from maps api. costs almost nothing per request and keeps everything formatted consistently. way better than juggling multiple apis or scraping sites that keep changing their layout.
Had this exact issue three years ago when building a location service. Needed business descriptions badly.
Most APIs actually return description data - it’s just hidden under different field names. Google Places has “editorial_summary” but also check “overview” and “business_status.” Yelp calls it “snippet” in their business endpoint. Foursquare uses “description” but you need premium.
Here’s what worked in production: Build a fallback system. Try Google first, then Yelp, then Foursquare. If none have descriptions, pull from the business website’s meta description tag.
Cache everything aggressively. Once you find a description, store it and don’t query again for 30 days. Business descriptions rarely change.
Also found that combining short review snippets works surprisingly well when there’s no official description. Grab the first sentence from recent reviews and you get something usable.
Warning: don’t scrape business websites directly. Most block automated requests now and you’ll waste time on captchas and rate limits.
Those descriptions come from Google My Business profiles that owners create. Problem is, they’re not always available through the standard Places API.
Hit this same issue last year building a local business directory. Used the Places API “fields” parameter and requested “editorial_summary” - but heads up, this field is pretty sparse and only works for certain businesses.
Ended up combining multiple approaches for better coverage:
- Yelp Fusion API often has business descriptions
- Foursquare Places API includes venue descriptions
- Web scraping as last resort (watch those rate limits)
No single API gives you descriptions for every business. You’ll usually need to fall back on category/type info and maybe piece something together from reviews.
One thing that helped - I cached whatever descriptions I found and built my own database over time. Started sparse but got better as more businesses filled out their profiles.