PinballMap.com is a great site which is open source and has an API for interacting with it so people can develop apps for Android and iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Pebble Watch (see http://pinballmap.com/apps).

The PinballMap database seems to be maintained much more accurately and up to date than the Pinside Pin Map. It does so, I believe, through the use of administrators for regions and crowdsourcing by people using the web/apps. The disadvantage is that for places to play with no region administration I think there may not be a capability of documenting the locations. Additionally, it is very USA based. However, for the places with admins it seems to be much better than pinside's map.

So... wondering if there would be a way to make Pinside's Pin Map better (by it pulling data from Pinball Map using the API)... and if that could be reciprocated (such that when new data is added to Pinside's Pin Map it gets pushed to Pinball Map via API as well (but only for geographies with admins).

Note: A year ago someone started a similar request (but not in the feature forum) and it go little traction and no official response that I could tell (see https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinside-pin-map-and-pinballmapcom-can-they-work-together#post-1070892).

So... primarily just bumping this, adding a bit of detail, and putting it in the Feature Request Forum with the hopes of getting an official response.

I'm not saying it wouldn't take some work and some differences between the sites might need to be overcome (and I'm avoiding trying to say how this could or should be done - b/c I don't have the time or capability). BUT I do feel like the Pinside Pin Map is not a very good resource except for places not listed on PinballMap. So the point of this feature request is to get Pinside's Pin Map to be better... by it pulling more accurate data from PinballMap (when possible). And for it to reciprocate that benefit by adding to PinballMap when it can.

In the end... and as a player... I'd like to have to only look one place for where I could play pinball (via an app or website). Today I look at pinballmap first (typically on my phone unless I'm already at a computer)... and if a region exists that's all I use. But when I travel someplace without a region (e.g. Connecticut) then I look on the Pinside Pin Map.

Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you for considering this Robin! I have confidence in you and the Pinside staff that whatever you pic to implement will be great for all pinball hobbyists.

See http://blog.pinballmap.com/2014/07/21/criteria-for-adding-a-new-pinball-map for a blog post from the pinballmap people. Essentially a person has to volunteer to be an admin for an area. Not sure how that would best work relative to pinside but I'd guess volunteers could be solicited?

With just a quick look at the Pinside Map (and keeping in mind Pinball Map is very US centric) I'd guess Region Admin's would be needed for:

Continents or Very Large Regions:
* South America
* Australia or Australasia
* Africa
* Middle East
And Countries
* Mexico
* Each country in Europe
And perhaps when more specific...
* Each Province in Canada...

And that is with no need to compare databases (as long as we ignore the USA). However, I had hoped to improve the USA too so that portion would likely require a database comparison and then some further thought.

Scott

For moderating or administering a location I do not know... but I would guess once it is running they rely primarly on crowdsourcing to keep it up to date (as I can't imagine them actually visiting or calling all locations regularly)... so it may be mostly just getting it up and going? Perhaps some moderators are pinsiders and could comment?

Also love the idea from williams about an API and then app developers could read from both databases... that might be easiest to implement... and then the Pinside Map would maybe also check both databases?

From a user (and my own) perspective I would guess they only care about an accurate list of locations regardless if it comes from 1 site, 2 sites, or multiple sites. Just show me all the pins near where I wish to look and I'm happy.