Data Sources

Business Listings

Primary Source: Direct submissions from business owners through our listing form

Business owners provide their own information including:

• Business name, description, and category
• Hours of operation and contact details
• Photos, amenities, and special features
• Premium fields (fit signals, accessibility notes, etc.)

Location & Map Data

Source: Google Places API (where applicable)

For some businesses, we supplement owner-provided information with publicly available data from Google Places to ensure accuracy on:

• Address verification and map coordinates
• Business hours (cross-referenced with owner data)
• Phone numbers and website URLs

Note: Owner-provided information always takes precedence when there's a conflict.

Events & Activities

Sources: Multiple channels

• Business submissions: Events submitted by venues and organizers
• Public calendars: Official Blue Ridge and Fannin County event calendars
• Community sources: Local announcements and verified social media posts
• Manual curation: Our team verifies event details before publishing

User-Generated Content

Future Feature: We plan to add user reviews and photos

When we launch reviews, we will:

• Require verified accounts to prevent fake reviews
• Moderate reviews for spam and violations
• Allow business owners to respond
• Never sell or manipulate review rankings

Verification Process

• Manual review: Our team reviews every new listing before it goes live
• Cross-referencing: We verify contact info, addresses, and hours when possible
• Business verification: We confirm ownership before publishing listings
• Regular updates: We periodically check listings for accuracy
• User reports: Travelers can flag outdated or incorrect information

Content Ownership

All photos, descriptions, and details you submit remain yours. We display your information to help travelers find you, but we do not claim ownership of owner-submitted content.

Paid access controls display and promotion, not ownership. Removing a subscription does not transfer ownership of your content.

For unclaimed listings created from publicly available information (Google Places, official websites), the listing is based on public data. Subscribing to Business Standard lets you claim the listing and replace auto-generated information with your own.

Corrections & Removal (Always Free)

These actions never require a subscription:

• Request factual corrections: Wrong hours, address, phone? We fix it promptly — no subscription needed
• Request removal: Any business can be removed at any time, for any reason, with no fee
• Report inaccurate information: Flag anything outdated or harmful
• Verify permanent closure: Let us know and we update the directory

Accuracy and removal are rights, not paid features. Email info@blueridge.town.

What Happens When You Cancel

If you cancel a paid plan, your listing remains on blueridge.town but reverts to an unclaimed listing. Priority placement, enhanced fields, and analytics are removed. No penalties apply.

Full removal only happens if you specifically request it. Canceling a subscription ≠ removal.