Which API did Instagram originally use for named location tagging?

Instagram originally used the Foursquare API for named location tagging. When Instagram launched in 2010, location labels helped users attach a recognizable venue name to a photograph rather than relying only on raw GPS coordinates. Foursquare’s venue database supplied the location information behind that feature.

This arrangement lasted for several years, even after Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. In March 2014, Instagram began testing Facebook Places as an alternative source for location data, and the service gradually moved toward Facebook’s own location system. That later change is why some accounts of Instagram’s location history mention Facebook Places instead of Foursquare.

A common mix-up is confusing Instagram’s location-tagging provider with mapping services such as Google Maps or OpenStreetMap. Instagram could display a place name and associate a post with it, but the underlying venue data originally came through Foursquare. The answer refers to the original named-location system, not every mapping or geocoding service Instagram has used since.