Where the listings come from
Business names, addresses, phone numbers and websites start from open geodata: the Overture Maps Foundation places dataset, which includes Foursquare OS Places and OpenStreetMap contributions. We keep ice cream parlors and scoop shops, creameries, frozen yogurt, gelato, frozen custard, soft-serve and dairy bar stands, Italian ice and shaved ice stands and paleterías that sell from a fixed storefront, while grocery stores, restaurants and fast-food places whose main business is not ice cream, wholesale makers and mobile trucks without a fixed location are left out. We remove duplicates (the same name and street in the same city) and drop businesses that are reported closed or that asked to be removed.
A city gets its own page when it has at least two ice cream shops; towns with a single listing appear on their state page, so no page is built around one business.
What a listing shows
91% of listings have a phone number and 62% link to the business's own website. Opening hours appear only where the business or its owner has published them. We do not show ratings or reviews, and we do not copy text from other directories.
How features are marked
Frozen yogurt and paleterías are marked from the shop's name and business category. Soft serve, gelato, custard, Italian ice, shaved ice, rolled ice cream, homemade, milkshakes and drive-thru are marked from the name and category, or when the shop's own website names them. Vegan, ice cream cakes and dog-friendly are marked only from the shop's own website. We read the site text with fixed word rules and check samples by hand, and a shop without such words is left unmarked rather than guessed. Vegan and dog-friendly labels mean the shop says so, not that it is free of cross-contact or that every pet is welcome. These marks are applied by software — name rules, wording rules run over each business's own website, and an AI model that reads that website — not written by hand. A mark from a website is kept only when the wording is found on the page, so a business without a mark may still offer the service — call to check.
Corrections from owners
Owners can correct their listing for free — new hours, a changed phone number, a moved address, services they offer. Corrections are applied and the listing is marked "Updated by the owner" with the month. Owners can also ask for a listing to be removed, and the removal is permanent. Write to contact@icecreamatlas.com.
How lists are ordered
Top 10 lists and the order of each city page follow how complete a listing is — website, phone, hours, services — and whether the owner has checked it. No business can pay for a position.
How often it is updated
The directory is rebuilt from the current data every night, so owner corrections usually appear within a day. The underlying geodata is refreshed from new Overture releases.