Upgrade?

Hey trainers. So this may be a silly question, but can someone please explain what an upgrade is? Or upgrade next? I kinda feel silly asking.
Tyvm!
Hey trainers. So this may be a silly question, but can someone please explain what an upgrade is? Or upgrade next? I kinda feel silly asking.
Tyvm!
Comments
An upgrade is like a priority pass in an amusement park.
Your nomination will be reviewed faster and by people from a larger area then when not upgrading it.
You can earn an upgrade by reviewing. Each 100 agreements (meaning you voted in the same way as the community) will entitle you with an upgrade.
If you have multiple nominations in queue, with the "upgrade next" button you can identify the nomination which you want to be upgraded once you have earned your upgrade. If none of your nominations is marked as "upgrade next" the upgrade will be randomly applied to any of your outstanding nominations (unless you've deactivated the auto-apply upgrades in your settings)
Also take care when upgrading something.
Some submissions can be a 5* but may be specific to the locality you are in. If it gets pushed out to a wider audience they may not be as familiar with what makes it a good submission.
I absolutely would not upgrade anything connected to a local business, especially a restaurant. Anything in/around a park or church, yeah, go ahead and upgrade; the acceptance criteria around these is (more or less) universally understood. But sometimes the significance of a local business is not easily understood by someone from far away.
Only problem with that is if you don't upgrade it may never get voted on. I have several un-upgraded submissions in my queue that haven't entered voted for over a couple years now.
I'd rather wait 18 months to get valuable reviews from locals than to have a 3 week rejection through upgrading.
What guarantee do you think you have that it will be reviewed by only locals in 18 months? When I'm reviewing stuff I'm doing stuff from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Texas, California, all over the place. While I do get some stuff local to NYC, what I'm seeing is all over the place. I don't think that will change over time.
There's a standard "pool" you'll see as a reviewer. Most or those nominations you're seeing from outside of your current play area or chosen regions is an upgrade, however some may be given prioritization from Niantic.
I think that used to be true, but Niantic tweaked the formula a few months ago - and now you see even non-upgrades from far away.
Most or those nominations you're seeing from outside of your current play area or chosen regions is an upgrade, however some may be given prioritization from Niantic.
I would love to be able to review pending stops/gyms. It would be a ton of fun to see spots from all over the world! How does that work?
After passing the exam you would be reviewing pending wayspot nominations not stops/gyms.
The wayspot nominations you get presented to review are based on your home and bonus locations along with where you last played a Niantic game.