 <p>It looks like you want to identify if some places belong to specific chains or franchises.</p> <p>This is not possible in Places API, other than by detecting <em>likely</em> relation to chains based on the <code>"name"</code> and <code>"website"</code> fields. But if you'd like to reliable detect this kind of relation, consider <a href="http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/entry?template=Places%20API%20-%20Feature%20Request" rel="nofollow">filing a feature request for Places API</a> (I couldn't find one).</p>