One desk, one town
About Metro Vancouver Local
One editor, one inbox, and every listing says where its details came from.
A business directory for Metro Vancouver. Here is who writes it, where the listings come from, and how to get something fixed if it is wrong.
What makes this one different
Three rules this directory keeps
The rules are set out here rather than left for you to work out from the entries.
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Honest about the source
Listings start from the open map data published by OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, and each one says so. Map data can be out of date, so a listing never claims more than the map and the business itself can back up.
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Sorted by where it is
Every listing is filed under the neighbourhood it trades in as well as its trade, so you can find what is near you rather than what happens to rank first.
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Quick to correct
If it is your business and a detail is wrong, send a note and it gets changed. The business's own word beats the map data every time.
Why this exists
Metro Vancouver deserves a business directory that is quick to use and honest about where its details come from. This one sorts every business by trade and by neighbourhood, so you can find what is near you without wading through a page of ads.
The listings start from the open map data published by OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, open map data that a great many apps are built on. That makes the locations dependable, but hours, phone numbers and websites can go out of date, which is why every listing says where its details came from and how to get them corrected.
The whole site is written under a single editorial byline, Metro Vancouver Local Desk, so every guide and listing note on here comes off one desk with one set of standards behind it.
Who writes this
The Metro Vancouver Local Desk prepares directory coverage for businesses, services and neighbourhoods across Metro Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. The desk relies on public sources, including OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, to build listings for the municipalities covered by the site.
What is actually on here
The listings are businesses on the public map, sorted by category and neighbourhood. Nobody crosses town on a Tuesday for a haircut, so where a place sits matters nearly as much as what it is.
Around the listings there are guides to the things people genuinely search for locally: where to eat, what is open on a long weekend, which trails and parks are worth the walk, and what to do on a wet weekend. Guides rank things and say why, because a guide that likes everything is no use to anyone.
Where the listings come from
Built from open map data, written for Metro Vancouver
Built from open map data means something specific here, and it is worth being plain about the limits. Each listing starts from the public OpenStreetMap or Overture Maps record for the business: its name, its address and its pin on the map, plus a phone number, website or hours where the map carries them. Anything the map does not carry is left blank rather than guessed at, which is why some listings have no phone number and no hours: an empty field is honest, an invented one is not.
What it does not mean is that anyone has stood outside every door. Hours change, businesses close, and a directory that claims otherwise is not being straight with you. If something here is wrong, the correction form is the fastest way to fix it, and every message sent through it is read.
Written for Metro Vancouver is the other half. A guide or category page that would sit just as happily on a site about the next town over is not finished, so the writing here is about this city in particular: its neighbourhoods, its streets and the trades people actually look for.
None of that makes the site infallible. Hours move, kitchens close, and a place that was open in March can be gone by June. It does mean that when something on here is wrong, there is one place to report it and one inbox behind it.
Includes data from the Overture Maps Foundation, licensed CDLA-Permissive-2.0.
How listings work
Free to be listed, easy to correct
Being on here costs nothing, and a correction is always welcome.
Free to be listed
A listing costs nothing and stays free. You send the details, they are checked, and the page goes up. An optional Premium upgrade moves a listing up and adds a badge, and the Premium page says plainly what it does.
Claim your own page
If the business is yours, claim the page and correct it: the hours, the phone number, the fact that you moved across the plaza in March.
Corrections come first
Report an entry that is wrong and it gets fixed. There is a contact form for exactly that, and those go to the front of the queue.
Where this stands
Metro Vancouver, honestly
Metro Vancouver Local is for readers looking for directory information on businesses and services in Metro Vancouver. Listings start from public map data, which can be out of date, and a business owner can ask for a correction through the contact page.
Run a business here?
Add it to the directory
Listings are free, and every submitted listing is reviewed before it goes live. Send the details and say what the business does best.