Data Formatting FAQs

How do we select a FSQ category ID? Can we submit multiple FSQ category IDs per record?

We currently accept multiple categories per record. The correct format should be a series of numbers separated by comma.

One category: [13145]

Multiple categories: [13145,13031]

How do I format hours of operation in JSON for file submissions?

For flat file submissions to Foursquare, hours of operation in JSON should use day of the week as the keys and hours as the values. Hours should be in 24 hours and day should be the three letter abbreviation for the day of the week:

{"dayOfWeek":[["hh:mm","hh:mm"]],"dayOfWeek":[["hh:mm","hh:mm"]]}

• dayOfWeek: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri or Sat
• hh: Stands for the hour that ranges from 0 to 23
• mm: Stands for the minutes that range from 0 to 59

Hours Format Example
{"Mon":[["9:00","18:00"]],"Tue":[["10:00","18:00"]],"Wed":[["09:00","18:00"]]}

• The opening hour is 9:00 (9 am).
• The closing hour is 18:00 (6 pm).

Example of 24 hour
{"Mon":[["00:00","23:59"]],"Tue":[["00:00","23:59"]],"Wed":[["00:00","23:59"]]}

Example of split business hours (e.g., closed between 2:30 pm and 6 pm)
{"Mon":[["12:00","14:30"],["18:00","22:00"]],"Tue":[["12:00","14:30"],["18:00","22:00"]]}

What happens to the “extra” fields that I provide that are not included in Foursquare's schemas?

Foursquare will only surface data attributes which are listed in our schemas. Additional data is kept in a raw format and potentially used as metadata. It does not hurt to contribute this extra data; we will surface that data if the particular attribute is added to our schema in the future.