About VeganSpots
VeganSpots is a map of places where vegans can eat: 100% vegan restaurants and cafés, vegetarian places, and restaurants, bakeries and shops with vegan options, with what to order at each one.
How it works
Everywhere in the world, we list the places OpenStreetMap’s contributors tag as vegan or vegetarian. In the regions we cover fully, we import every food place from OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps, and regional open data where it exists (in Montréal, the city’s food establishment permits). Most of these places have nothing vegan, or haven’t been checked yet: they stay off the map, but search still finds them.
An AI agent checks places one by one (in the regions we cover fully, on its own; elsewhere, when a visitor suggests a place or reports a change): their own website and menu first, then reputable sources such as vegan guides and local news. It decides whether a place is 100% vegan, vegetarian, has vegan options or has nothing vegan, and lists what to order. A level is only set with a source that says so, and a dish is only listed when its source names it.
Chains are researched once: what holds at every location (vegan options, dishes, menu, website) is shared by all of them, and each location keeps its own address, hours and phone.
Every detail records where it came from and when it was last checked, and the place page shows it. In the regions we cover fully, places on the map are checked again regularly, and sooner when something is uncertain or a visitor reports a problem.
Regions we cover fully today: Quebec. More will follow.
Help keep it right
Suggest a place we’re missing, or report one that changed (closed, new hours, no more vegan options): the agent checks it again right away, and a suggested place is added once a source confirms its vegan food.
Reviews and meal confirmations are checked before they’re published.
Corrections can also go upstream: our team can send a verified fix back to OpenStreetMap, reviewed by a person each time, so every map that uses it benefits.
Open data and credits
The place data is open: anyone can download it under the Open Database License (ODbL). It is built on © OpenStreetMap contributors, with places and details from © Overture Maps Foundation and, in Montréal, the food establishment permits of the Ville de Montréal (CC-BY 4.0), and in Toronto, the City of Toronto’s business licences and Toronto Public Health’s DineSafe inspections (contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Toronto). The map’s starting position uses IP Geolocation by DB-IP (CC BY 4.0).