In Belgium, as in some other European countries, bread is a daily ingredient in most people’s menu (often in 2 of the 3 daily main meals).
Typically this is sold in bakeries, of course, but all over the country, there are also vending machines where you can purchase bread at times when bakeries are not opened or in areas where there is no bakery nearby.
Some of them are located just outside a bakery, but those are often entered on Maps as separate POI, which can definitely be justified because of the different opening hours (24/7, whereas the bakery will have 7:00 - 16:00 or so). Others are located near other shops (the picture above is one located next to a newspaper shop) or simply standalone in a residential area.
But they are really all over the place in Belgium, and most of the ones already entered on Maps as POI have the category ‘Bakery’, which is not really accurate, as it suggests a shop with people behind the counter. Some are categorized as ‘Wholesale bakery’ or other food related categories. Here’s a list of 4 of them, randomly picked from different areas of Belgium:
So, my request to enable local guides to improve Maps in Belgium, and the Maps users to have a better experience would be to add a new category: Bread vending machine.
By the way: the bread-idea has already inspired other business owners to set up something similar for their product category, so we’ve already seen vending machines for strawberries, potatoes or even flowers, as you can see in the picture below:
@Ivi_Ge could you please make sure this post gets forwarded to the appropriate team? Thanks!
@KattyGeltmeyer @KristofVaneeck I’m sure you, living in Belgium, will be able to confirm my claim of the ‘Broodautomaten’ all over the country. There will be hundreds, if not thousands of them, I think.
By the way #2: if you are reading this post and you know about bread vending machines in other countries, please do share this info in the comments.
[UPDATE 16/08]
After having read some of the initial comments, it looks like “Fresh food vending machine” might be a better category name (with the type of food then mentioned in the POI name?).
The addition of “fresh” would be needed to distinguish these types of vending machines, which are typically a destination in their own right, from vending machines selling prepacked snacks, which are typically places you encounter when you are on your way to some destination (e.g. at the airport). You could compare that distinction to the one between a trashcan you encounter on the road (not your actual destination and hence not suited to be a POI on Maps) versus a recycling point for glass (which definitely is your destination if you start from your home with a bag of empty bottles and jars - and therefore belongs on Maps).
