Are biking trail markers allowed? (see images attached)
sh1sh1ko-PGO
Posts: 4 ✭✭
I wonder if those biking trail markers in Belgium are allowed, it is unclear to me since some say they are and some say they are not allowed, Can someone from niantic confirm if this falls under criteria?
https://www.fietsnet.be/routeplanner/default.aspx
Answers
If they are used as placemarks for identifiable sections of a bike trail. However, your top one is for a bike lane, which is similar to a sidewalk or road, and would not meet criteria. The second would need context as to what trail section it is supposed to represent.
Please refrain from commenting on topics you do not understand and therefor spreading misinformation.
Both of these are trail markers. The top one is for a cycling trail, the bottom one is for a mountainbike trail, so they both represent a great place to exercise. The top one is for a 3.5 km long cycling trail between nodes 9 and 13 of the cycling node network Scheldeland. It's not because it uses a bike lane, that it represents a bike lane (A bike lane sign is a round blue sign with a bike on it. Those would not be eligible.). It is still a great place to exercise, which makes it a great wayspot. If you are a submitter, just submit them. They have a great chance of making it through. If you are a reviewer, these are easy 5* nominations.
There has always been a lot of resistance to these wayspots by parts of the community for some reason. I think those people either have a different idea of what the criteria should be, or they don't like them because many are located in places that are hard to interact with by car. But Niantic has always considered them great wayspots.
Here you have some links to clarifications:
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/comment/111961#Comment_111961
As you are aware, we consider any marker on a hiking trail as acceptable since our goal is to have folks explore. Even a small marker on a trail will encourage players to cover more of the trail if there are more Wayspots on the way.
In the same sense, bike trails are similar but if you have a signboard for a bike lane (along with say a highway or road), that’s not as interesting/unique as compared to a signboard for a bike trail that takes players through a new route.
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/comment/112676#Comment_112676
The above post is by a fellow Wayfinder, with a lot of examples of trailmarkers and their interpretation of the criteria. The post below is a confirmation by a Niantic employee. It contains some examples of NCN markers, which are similar to the node trails we have in Belgium and the Netherlands.
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/comment/113993#Comment_113993
Let me add to what I've already said, by the term "Generic signs" means regular mass-produced signs. Trail signs will be on the trail/hiking area or they may contain trail names with the direction sign or with trail numbers
From RobWaudby's examples made on 11th September, "Acceptable" and "not sure on these" are correct to be acceptable.
Both of these signs represent a predefined route that was designed to get people to exercise (and to a lesser extent explore and be social). Also remember that while the sign is used as an anchor to identify the wayspot with, you are actually nominating or reviewing a section of the trail.
I still would like a detailed clarification from niantic, since I have seen them get deleted in mass coal purges.
There were indeed people reporting that those markers were being deleted. But apparently, that is not because they didn't meet criteria. We never got a response as to why they were deleted.
In the following thread, a user reported these node signs among other wayspots. I tried to get this point addressed again, and finally got the response that they (Niantic) have access to information that I probably don't. That to me implies that not meeting criteria is not why they were removed, as I have access to the criteria. Maybe they were submitted by people who also submitted other wayspots that didn't meet criteria, and Niantic removed all their (recently) submitted wayspots, including the valid ones. But that for now is just speculation. The node signs reported in that thread were not removed, while most other wayspots were. If you also have an Ingress account, you can verify that.
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/45953/removal-request-for-several-recently-added-wayspots-that-do-not-meet-eligibility-criteria