Glossary

The words behind the lists, in plain English: 17 terms.

Lists and records

Public record

A business record that is visible in a public source such as OpenStreetMap. It may be incomplete or out of date. Related page

Business list

A set of business records grouped by category and place, usually exported to CSV, Excel or a CRM. A list is not a verified contact database. Related page

Place

The city area used for a list page. Counts are derived from records inside the selected map area, not from an administrative boundary. Related page

Website coverage

The share of public records in a list that carry a website tag. It is not a measure of website quality or proof that the business owns the site. Related page

Phone coverage

The share of public records that carry a phone tag. A tag is not a verified phone number. Related page

Coverage gap

The share of public records that do not carry a particular tag, such as a website or phone. It is a research signal, not a qualified sales list. Related page

Data quality

OpenStreetMap

A public map database edited by contributors. It supplies the aggregate counts on this site under the ODbL licence. Related page

ODbL

The Open Database License used by OpenStreetMap. It requires attribution and share-alike terms for derivative databases. Related page

Tag

A key and value attached to an OpenStreetMap record, such as website or phone. A missing tag is not proof that the attribute does not exist. Related page

Deduplication

Removing repeated records before using a list. Duplicates can come from multiple locations, spelling variants or overlapping source records. Related page

Enrichment

Adding fields from another source, such as an email or social profile. Enrichment needs its own source and legal check. Related page

Verification

Checking a field against a reliable source, such as calling a number or visiting a website. A public tag alone is not verification. Related page

Using the list

Lead list

A business list prepared for outreach. It should be deduplicated, checked against the source and screened for lawful contact rules. Related page

Service area

The geography a local business serves. A city list may need to be filtered by neighbourhood, radius or travel time before outreach. Related page

ISO country code

The two-letter code used for a country in the list pages, such as US, GB, CA or AU. Related page

Data study

An original analysis of the aggregate list data with a repeatable method and a stated limitation. Related page

Questions

Does a missing website tag mean a business has no website?

No. It means the public map record does not carry a website tag. The business may have a website that was never added, or the record may be incomplete. Check the source before drawing a conclusion.

What is the difference between a public record and a lead?

A public record is a map entry. A lead is a record prepared for outreach, with duplicates removed, details checked and a lawful reason to contact. The lists here are a starting point, not a send-ready lead list.

Can I download the aggregate data?

Yes. Every list page has a free CSV of all named businesses under the ODbL licence, and every data study has a CSV of its aggregates. Phone numbers and emails are not included.