The past, present and future of mass-imported wayspots

SiIverLyra-PGO

Several times now, Niantic has used existing databases to mass-import new wayspots into Lightship or into specific games. See the various Foursquare imports (location-specific, game-specific) and the Courts of the World import (Lightship, worldwide).

Those imports have repeatedly prompted a lot of criticism from the Wayfarer community for various reasons.

My inquiry on this topic consists of a few questions, but they're all related so I hope that - if picked - they'll be treated as one.

1. Is Niantic still looking through already-imported wayspots and erasing the (many) ineligible existing wayspots? Either on the team's own accord and/or using reports made via the form? Are reports made via that form still even get looked at? (I personally wonder that a lot since I still use that form for ineligible imported Turkish wayspots I still stumble on.)
2. Is Niantic currently planning on making such mass imports again? If so, how did the past imports and the feedback from the community impact or change the way Niantic treats upcoming imports? Will the community get warned before those imports happen?
3. Is Niantic considering alternatives or changes to the mass imports "solution" in the future, considering how problematic all past imports proved to be? For instance, why not make imported data into special, fast-tracked (akin to upgraded) nominations - since clearly Niantic want those imports to be added to gamemaps/Lightship faster than what the general Wayfarer reviews queue can currently offer (and to prevent clogging the queue further than it already is with regular nominations)? Why not create Wayfarer challenges or events around these imports to get the community to review them fast enough for Niantic's liking? Or, as an altogether alternative to these imports, why not create more events/challenges for areas that Niantic wants more wayspots in - like the challenges we had in the past?

Belahzur-ING

Something to think about on point #3 there - Wouldn't they all just be mass rejects? I understand they are imports, however on a 'quality' scale, they tend to have really non-specific titles (see the NBA stuff), no photo and no description (and since they're imports, no supporting either)

Could you justify accepting something with no photo, no description and a half-functional title? I know I wouldn't.

SiIverLyra-PGO

https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/comment/186102#Comment_186102

Good point. I think, in the supporting information section of such hypothetical nominations, Niantic could explain their special status as imported POIs, and ask reviewers to ignore photos and descriptions for those reviews, and focus on general eligibility and location accuracy. (Titles should definitely be more functional than the ones we've seen imported in the past, though.)

MargariteDVille-ING

Your entire post assumes Niantic agrees that the uploads made a mess. They have never said any such thing.

1. No, Niantic is not working on changing past imports. There is no evidence that they are anything but thrilled with them.
2. Niantic cares about the feedback of CUSTOMERS, not the volunteer Wayfarer community. They will do more imports, if app developers want them.
3. Yes, if Niantic can make more money on another import, they will.