Instagram API real-time limit

Question

We would like to monitor a large area through the real-time API on Instagram. But unfortunately we quickly hit the max. 30 subscriptions roof. This will limit us to a 30 x 5 km radius area to monitor.

Any thoughts on how to monitor larger areas or have you heard of people getting a higher rate limit?

Answer 1

To monitor larger area, you can try to subscribe to location, instead of geography which is based on geolocation coordinates.

Steps could be as following:

1. easiest way to get the location, is to check its Foursquare id (this one for Hong Kong Airport),

2. map it to Instagram object_id (use Instagram API Console),

3. subscribe to this location using the object_id you just fetched (check Location Subscription paragraph here

EDIT: Regarding monitoring larger area - I'm using cluster of the accounts, and subscribing to set of locations, to not reach the limit. Works fine for couple months already.