Foursquare supplies data about commercial and non-commercial places—also known as points of interest or POI—that Esri uses to create global ArcGIS Places datasets that contain more than 46 million places spanning over 170 countries and markets around the world. Global ArcGIS Places data is available through licensed ArcGIS products and services; visit Introduction to ArcGIS Places for more information.
The supplier's data is derived from more than 14 billion consumer interactions and from numerous third-party sources, which vary by country. Available ArcGIS Places datasets include locations such as businesses, community services, parks, and transportation hubs.
Vintage
August 2024
Available geographies
Global ArcGIS Places are point-level datasets that contain information for more than 46 million places spanning more than 170 countries.
Update frequency
Three times per year
Methodology
Esri creates global ArcGIS Places datasets derived in part from content from Foursquare. Prior to publication, Esri applies a set of criteria that filters in only the highest-quality locations possible from the places dataset provided by Foursquare. A location may be removed if it is suspected to be closed or returns data validation or spatial errors, such as missing latitude-longitude values.
If a place is associated with multiple Foursquare categories, Esri converts these to a comma-delimited list for presentation in the software. Country values are presented as provided by Foursquare, apart from the Åland region of Finland, which is recategorized as part of Finland for consistency within ArcGIS Business Analyst.
Structures such as college campuses, landmarks, or transportation hubs may include more than one point in the dataset indicating the location. For example, an airport may have separate points for the international terminal, on-site restaurants, and parking structures. Or a landmark such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for example, has separate points indicating the main structure, the Burj Khalifa Lake, and the Dubai Fountain. Esri does not de-duplicate these points in the place data received from Foursquare.
Categorization code
Details available for each place include a place-name, country assignment, various address details, and a globally consistent categorization code. This categorization is based on Foursquare's hierarchical categorization and describes more than 1,000 types of features in both built and natural environments. There are 10 top-level Foursquare categorization groups; each has a five-digit associated code. These categorization groups and codes include the following:
- Arts and Entertainment (10000)
- Business and Professional Services (11000)
- Community and Government (12000)
- Dining and Drinking (13000)
- Event (14000)
- Health and Medicine (15000)
- Landmarks and Outdoors (16000)
- Retail (17000)
- Sports and Recreation (18000)
- Travel and Transportation (19000)
The last three digits of each category code are used to provide specificity. For example, 19006 is the Foursquare category code for Travel and Transportation—Electric Vehicle Charging Station.
Esri's global ArcGIS Places data can have more than one category code; for example, a location that is both a preschool and a day care center is assigned category codes for both. Either category code can be used to find the location in licensed ArcGIS products and services.
Attributes
The following Foursquare-derived attributes are available in specific ArcGIS products and services. In the below table, attributes available in ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App and ArcGIS Pro with a Business Analyst license (using an ArcGIS Online access method) are marked in the BA column; attributes available in the ArcGIS Places service are marked in the Places column. Visit Introduction to ArcGIS Places to learn more about these products and services and to find related documentation.
Some dataset attribute details are available in multiple languages; this varies by country and location.
Note:
Note that some attributes may not be included (the value returned is null or empty). For instance, a place may not include a postal code if it is in a country that does not use postal codes. An address may be missing if the source of the information didn't provide the address. In other cases, a feature may not be associated with a street address—examples include natural features, such as a pond or a forest; built features, such as bridges or statues; or nonpermanent places, such as weekend street markets. Where applicable, places may also include an associated chain name, related to franchise businesses.
| Attribute | Description | Example | BA | Places |
|---|---|---|---|---|
POI Name / Name ¹ | The name associated with a place, including businesses, natural features, schools, public services, and so on. | Buckingham Palace Garden |
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Address / Street Address ¹ | The street address associated with a place, formatted for the country locality. | Buckingham Palace Rd |
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Address Extended | Additional address information, such as a suite or apartment number. | Suite 404 | — |
|
Post Town | The town or place used in postal addressing for a place. | London | — |
|
Neighborhood | The neighborhood or other informal geography of a place. | Westminster | — |
|
P.O. Box | The post office box number for a place, when applicable. | Null | — |
|
Locality | The city or town associated with a place. | London |
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Region | The state, province, territory, or equivalent for a place. | Greater London |
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Admin Region | An additional subdivision—most often a country subdivision (for example, Scotland). | England | — |
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Country | Two-letter country code based on International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 3166 standard. | GB |
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Postcode | Postal code or equivalent. The format is localized based on country. | SW1A 1AA |
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Location | The place geographic coordinate in WGS84 decimal degree format. | 51.501122, -0.146041 | — |
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X, Y | The latitude (y-coordinate) or longitude (x-coordinate) in WGS84 decimal degrees of the geographic coordinate. This is used in conjunction with Location. | 51.501122, -0.146041 | — |
|
DMA | Designated Market Area (DMA), defined by Nielsen Media Research, is a geographic area that receives similar media offerings (U.S. only). | Null | — |
|
Census Block ID | The 15-digit U.S. Census Block geoID value (U.S. only). | Null | — |
|
H3 Hexagon R7 | Esri-provided Uber H3 global hexagon identifier for resolution level 7. Conceptually similar to a U.S. Census Block ID, the Uber H3 global hexagon ID is designed to help users rapidly associate and summarize places data within a grid for analysis. See the Using Uber H3 Hexagons in ArcGIS Business Analyst Pro ArcGIS Blog article to learn more. | 87195da49ffffff |
| — |
All Foursquare Categories / Categories ¹ | A list of all categories for a place, including any ancestor codes from the category taxonomy. A single place can have multiple category codes. | 16000, 16017 |
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Foursquare Categories / Category ID ¹ | The most granular Foursquare category code for a place. In the ArcGIS Places service, the Category ID (number) is returned with a separate Label (name). | 16017: Landmarks and Outdoors—Garden |
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The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) equivalent of the Foursquare category. | 53: Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions |
| — | |
Symbol ID | Unique symbol identifier for the place of interest category, assigned by Esri. | Park | — |
|
Foursquare Chain Name / Chain Name ¹ | The standardized chain (franchised business) name for a place. | Null |
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Chains | Chain ID assigned by Foursquare. This identifies any chain (franchised business) to which the place belongs. It is used in conjunction with Chain Name. | Null | — |
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Source | The primary data source from which the record is derived. This is always Foursquare. | Foursquare |
| — |
Esri ID / Place ID ¹ | The unique identifier of the place, assigned by Esri. This is perpetual over time. | 438b3df3d5b039e5-2d9e88b17c902519 |
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Esri-calculated confidence that a place is open or in operation. | high |
| — | |
Open 24 Hours a Day | Indicates whether the place is open 24 hours a day for at least one day of the week. | 0 |
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Open 7 Days a Week | Indicates whether the place is open 7 days a week. | 0 |
| — |
Open Weekends Only | Indicates whether the place is only open Saturday or Sunday. | 0 |
| — |
Hours | The hours of operation by day of the week in the place's local time zone. Seasonal hours may use start and end dates. | Null | — |
|
Opening or Popular | The open or popular hours for a place. Hours are shown by day of the week. Each day can have more than one pair of hours. For example, a coffee shop may be open or popular from 9:00 – 12:00 and 13:00 – 17:00. Hours use a 24-hour clock in the local time zone. | {“Sunday”:[[“10:00”,”19:00”]],”Tuesday”:[[“null”]],… | — |
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Opening Text | User-friendly text of the place's hours of operation. |
| — |
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UTC Time Zone | Indicates the time zone in which the place is located. | UTC |
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Place details | Additional details for a place (concatenated). This includes address, contact, opening hours, and rating. | Buckingham Palace Garden... | — |
|
Number of Sublocations | The number of child or sublocations associated with a place. For example, a shopping mall place may contain multiple sublocations. | 7 |
| — |
Geocodes / Additional Locations ¹ | Possible alternative geographic coordinates for accessing a place in WGS84 decimal degree format. | {"drop_off":{"longitude": 51.501122, "latitude": -0.146041} | — |
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Telephone | The best known phone number of a place using local formatting. | 020 7766 7300 | — |
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Website | Publicly available website (URL) for the place or chain. | royalcollection.org | — |
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Fax | Fax number for the place in local formatting. | Null | — |
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The primary contact email address for the place. | Null | — |
| |
Facebook ID | The unique identifier for the place's Facebook (Meta) account. | 262662820559943 | — |
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The unique identifier for the place's Instagram account. | Null | — |
| |
The unique identifier for the place's X account. | britishmonarchy | — |
| |
Description | A freeform description of the place, managed by Foursquare users. | "Buckingham Palace's famous 38-acre garden is often described as..." | — |
|
Price | A description of the overall price of the place's goods or services using the following scale: Cheap, Moderate, Expensive, Very Expensive. | Moderate | — |
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User | A rating for the place based on Foursquare user reviews ranging from 0 to 5, where 5 is the best rating. | 3 | — |
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¹ ArcGIS Business Analyst and the ArcGIS Places service use differing terms for this attribute.
Data availability
See Introduction to ArcGIS Places for a list of the ArcGIS products and services where you can find global ArcGIS Places datasets.
NAICS
Esri global ArcGIS Places data based on content provided by Foursquare also features a translation from the Foursquare category to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS values use the 2017 NAICS categorization. This information is not currently available in the ArcGIS Places service.
Note:
For standard NAICS code definitions, see the NAICS website.
Open confidence score
Esri global ArcGIS Places data based on content provided by Foursquare contains an open confidence score, indicating the likelihood that the location is open for business on a scale of low, medium, or high. This measure is based on indicators provided by Foursquare and can be used as a criterion to filter Places data. This information is not currently available in the ArcGIS Places service.