Google Maps is the world's most comprehensive business directory. Understanding what data it contains, how it's structured, and how tools like Project Lead access it helps you use it more effectively — and responsibly.
What Data Does Google Maps Contain?
- Business name, category, and description
- Physical address and geographic coordinates
- Phone number (local and international format)
- Website URL
- Opening hours
- Star rating and number of reviews
- Price level indicator
- Business status (open, temporarily closed, permanently closed)
How the Data is Accessed
Google provides an official API — the Places API — that developers can use to query business data programmatically. Project Lead uses this API to search for businesses by category and location, returning structured data for each listing. Using the official API means the data is accurate, compliant with Google's terms of service, and updated in near-real-time.
What's Publicly Available vs Private
All of the data listed above is publicly available — it's the same information anyone can see by searching Google Maps manually. There's no private or hidden data involved. The only difference is that tools like Project Lead access it via API rather than manual browsing.
Email addresses are not part of the Google Maps data. Project Lead finds email addresses by visiting business websites and extracting them from contact pages — information the business has deliberately made public.
Using the Data Ethically
- 1Only reach out to businesses genuinely relevant to your service offering
- 2Respect opt-out requests immediately
- 3Don't misrepresent how you found their contact information
- 4Comply with applicable email marketing regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR, etc.)
- 5Focus on providing value, not just harvesting contact information
Project Lead is built on the Google Places API and fully complies with Google's terms of service. All data accessed is publicly available, and the tool is designed to help service providers find and contact businesses that genuinely need their help.