Four Square API use of section in query in R

Question

Defining x, y, and z as "10013","XXXX","20170104" and using

w <- paste("https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/search?near=",x,"&section='food'&oauth_token=",y,"&v=",z,sep="")
u <- getURL(w)
test <- RJSONIO::fromJSON(u)

does not return a good result, but if I replace section='food' with query='food' it will search for food in the name of the location (I replaced the authorization token with XXXX here).

Answer 1

The venues/search endpoint you're using doesn't have a section parameter. The section parameter is valid with the venues/explore endpoint if that's what you mean to be trying -> https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/explore

Note that /search and /explore are designed to accomplish very different things and you should read the docs before you just switch over.

/explore should be used to return recommended venues near a location. (example: coffee shop)

/search should be used to return a specific venue or venues near a location. (example: Starbucks)