Place Search and Matching

Foursquare's place database covers millions of businesses and points of interest worldwide, each with an address, category, and identifier. A Beam agent takes a name or rough address from a lead, account, or ticket, searches Foursquare for the closest match, and applies the customer's approved matching rule, such as accepting only exact chain and address matches. When a confident match is found, it updates the record with the verified address and category. Searches that return several plausible matches, no result at all, or a business that appears closed are left for a person to confirm before the record changes.

Category Tagging

Foursquare assigns a business category, such as coffee shop or auto repair, to each place in its database. A Beam agent reads the category returned for a matched location and applies the customer's approved rule for translating it into the categories used internally, for example mapping several Foursquare food categories to one internal tag. It updates the record's category field so downstream segmentation and reporting stay consistent. Categories with no clear internal equivalent, or matches the agent is not confident belong to the same business, are set aside for a person to tag by hand.

Location Freshness Checks

Businesses close, move, and rebrand, and Foursquare periodically updates its listings to reflect that. A Beam agent periodically checks whether a linked Foursquare listing still shows a business as open at the address on file, and applies the approved rule for what to do with a mismatch, such as marking an account record for a second look. It updates a status field to note the last check date and outcome. Listings marked closed, moved, or renamed are routed to a person to confirm and correct the underlying record, since only a human should close out an account on that basis.