New Yelp API Too Restrictive To Be Useful

Yelp recently launched some new developers tools, paving the way for programmers to build innovative mash-ups using data from its unique social networking service. But Yelp is also in danger of spoiling its own party by saddling potential developers with needless restrictions.

The site, which hosts reviews of restaurants and businesses written by users, has launched a new Application Programming Interface (API) that allows developers to query the site's stored data and display Yelp reviews or ratings on their own sites.

The API features the ability to:

• retrieve business review and rating information for a particular geographic region or location.
• display review information for a particular business.
• determine accurate neighborhood name information for a particular location.
• track recent reviews for a particular business.
• display pictures of highly rated local businesses and of the top reviewers for that business.
• determine a particular business??? review and rating information based on the phone number for that business.

Theoretically, this new API allows developers to roll Yelp data into
their mash-ups. However, before you get too excited, consider the following restrictions:

You May Not:

• Collect end-user ratings or reviews of local businesses on any website that uses the Yelp API or Yelp Content;
• Aggregate Yelp Content alongside content from other sources (e.g., you will not create aggregate ratings combining ratings from Yelp and other sources);
• Display Yelp Content on any web page or application page that includes local business reviews from another source.

I can see where Yelp wants to be the one and only source for reviews. But it seems like if Yelp is really as good as it thinks it is, it wouldn???t need to put limits on the competition. After all, Google's Maps API, the Flickr API and dozens of other similar APIs contain no such restrictions.

Another drawback: the default format for returned data is JSON rather than the more standard XML. You can also request that Yelp return its response in ???pickle??? (serialized python) or PHP, but if you???re not down with those three languages you???re out of luck.

For more info, check out the Yelp developer site. Also be sure to have a look at the great little Google Maps-Yelp mash-up example for some ideas on how you can squeeze some use out of the new API, restrictions and all.

Perhaps at some point Yelp will come to its senses and remove the silly handcuffs on what is otherwise quite a nice little API.