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When using the foursquare API Explorer, I am getting back what appears to be errant data when using timestamp. I am finding that when I make the calls about a specific venue at multiple times, I still receive the same output (meaning, the same people are at the venue, despite looking at varying times).

For example, I make the following call below. 

https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/4bf6ef8b5efe2d7fd10d6834/herenow?afterTimestamp=1337475603

I change the time stamp to other times such as below.

https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/4bf6ef8b5efe2d7fd10d6834/herenow?afterTimestamp=1337969407

However, I still get the same output in the data. I've tried other timestamps as well. Why is my output remaining constant despite my changing timestamp?

user1420440
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  • As a word of warning, the herenow endpoint is somewhat deprecated, see: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/foursquare-api/sQMuHlv9wiU for more details. – akdotcom May 29 '12 at 14:44

1 Answers1

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So, hereNow is only about people who are currently checked-in at a venue.

On foursquare, we consider people to be "checked in" until 3 hours after their check-in time, or until they check-in somewhere else (whichever comes first).

So, afterTimestamp is intended to be used on timescales shorter than 3 hours. You could use it, for example, to restrict yourself to viewing people who had checked in within the last hour (as opposed to the last 3 hours).

As the endpoint suggests, this is useful for polling for changes in real-time (though if you're the manager of the venue, you should be using our Realtime Venue Push API).

That said, make sure to read through what Akshay posted about the upcoming changes to Here Now: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/foursquare-api/sQMuHlv9wiU

smehmood
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  • Hi smehmood! I was googling about how does foursquare actually calculate hereNow and i came across with your post. What you say about the 3 hours or check-in in another place seems really legit but do you have any link about this? – Alex Karnezis Jun 08 '12 at 11:15