Where do I get data for a geolocation web app from? [closed]

Question

I'm wondering if anyone knows where the apps that can show you where the nearest petrol station is etc get their data from?

There must be some data that connects a lot of businesses to a specific geolocation.

Answer 1

Take a look at http://compass.webservius.com Data on 16+ million businesses in the US, including industry classification (e.g. gas satation) and latitude/longitude coordinates, all in a REST API form.

Answer 2

There is no universal lookup source for this.

Those sites all have access to some sort of directory - from something like the yellow pages, from the petrol station chains themselves (most likely), or entered manually by staff or other users.