etc.nginx.site-locations.api.api_thing.conf

 location /api_thing/api {
     if (-f /etc/nginx/maint_mode/api_thing) {
         return 503;
     }
-    limit_req zone=api_thing_servers burst=2000 nodelay;
+    limit_req zone=api_thing_servers0 burst=2000 nodelay;
+    limit_req zone=api_thing_servers1 burst=4000 nodelay;
+    limit_req zone=api_thing_servers2 burst=1000 nodelay;
     client_max_body_size 1m;
  }

etc.nginx.sites-available.api

-limit_req_zone $http_x_forwarded_for zone=api_thing_servers:16m rate=10r/s;
+# Rate limit zones per IP address
+geo $http_x_forwarded_for $geo_api_thing_servers {
+  default 0;
+  1.3.2.2 1;
+  5.6.3.5 1;
+  1.2.3.4 2;
+  6.5.4.3 2;
+}
+
+map $geo_api_thing_servers $geo_api_thing_servers_key0 {
+  0 $http_x_forwarded_for;
+  1 '';
+  2 '';
+}
+
+map $geo_atlas_servers $geo_atlas_servers_key1 {
+  0 '';
+  1 $http_x_forwarded_for;
+  2 '';
+}
+
+map $geo_api_thing_servers $geo_api_thing_servers_key2 {
+  0 '';
+  1 '';
+  2 $http_x_forwarded_for;
+}
+
+limit_req_zone $geo_api_thing_servers_key0 zone=ageo_api_thing_servers0:16m rate=1000r/s;
+limit_req_zone $geo_api_thing_servers_key1 zone=geo_api_thing_servers1:16m rate=3000r/s;
+limit_req_zone $geo_api_thing_servers_key2 zone=geo_api_thing_servers2:16m rate=500r/s;
 upstream api_thing_servers {
   least_conn;
   server hostname1.company.com:8080;
   server hostname2.company.com:8080;
 }