StudyMap

Docs/Data Sources & Provenance

Data Sources & Provenance

Where the place and exam-centre data comes from, how it's verified, licensing, and known accuracy caveats.

StudentSuite Team · · 3 min read

Where the map's data comes from and how it's verified. For the legal side (liability, use-at-your-own-risk), see the Disclaimer page instead - this one is about provenance, not privacy or liability.

How places get added
Community-sourced, via GitHub

Every place in data/ was added by a contributor through a GitHub issue or pull request, not by StudyMap staff independently researching locations. Each record carries an added_by field crediting the GitHub username that submitted it.

Contributors are asked to include, in the pull request itself (never in the committed data): a source or citation, a Google Maps rating of 4.0 or higher, 50 or more Google Maps reviews, and the date they verified the place. See Contributing Places for the full process.

Bulk-imported SAT centres
A different path from hand-added places

A large share of sat_centre.json came from a bulk import rather than individual contributor submissions - identifiable by numeric, CEEB-style id values instead of the usual city-type-number format. These entries did not go through the same per-place rating/review gate as hand-added places.

Coordinates on these entries are accurate, but a few had formatting quirks from the import (inconsistent city casing, a placeholder-style gmaps_link on some records) that have been progressively cleaned up. None of this affects in-app navigation, since Directions is always computed live from the stored coordinates, never from the stored link.

Verification is honor-system, not automated
What the validator actually checks

scripts/validate-places.mjs (run on every pull request) checks structure - required fields, valid types, coordinate bounds, unique IDs, well-formed links. It cannot verify that a place is real, still open, or actually has the rating and review count claimed in the PR description. That part relies on reviewer judgment and contributor honesty.

Exam calendar dates
Sourced from the official boards

SAT, IB, and Cambridge IGCSE session and result dates are sourced directly from College Board, IBO, and Cambridge International, with a link back to the source on every entry. See Using the Exam Calendar for how provisional dates are marked.

Licensing
MIT, code and data alike

The entire repository, including everything in data/, is MIT licensed. See LICENSE on GitHub.

Found inaccurate or stale data?
Places move, close, and change - help us catch it

Open an issue at github.com/StudentSuite/StudyMap/issues with what changed. See the Disclaimer for why you should always verify details before visiting.

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