Wayspot(s) with third-party photos
Title of the Wayspot: Scenic Viewpoint Gazebo, "Cove55 Resort"
Location: Somewhere around 1.7196914,110.3498336 (I can't get exact coordinates due to Niantic not fixing Intel access bug)
City: Kuching
Country: Malaysia
Screenshot of the Rejection Email: N/A (I reported this through the Wayfarer form and nobody responds to those)
Image of currently live wayspot:
Image of Google search showing a larger, uncropped version of the same image (the same image doesn't always show up on the front page, this screenshot is from a week ago when I first reported it):
The same uncropped version was used as a supporting photo in their submission before, and the submission photo is just a cropped and edited version of that:
Larger version of the Google photo:
For easier comparison, I put it side-by-side and also marked out some strange circles that look like some kind of cursor or editing mark:
The submission photo is just a lightened version of a photo that's on the hotel's page on Google, with some weird border effect on only the right side of the image and a strange circle on the walkway.
A different submission from the same area, probably from the same person:
I've found the supporting photo on Google (right side, second from the top):
And there's the submission photo, looks like they flipped the original horizontally before cropping it and colour-filtering it (left side of the screenshot below):
There are probably a lot more of these that were approved already in other areas, as I really only noticed this by coincidence since the original Google photo showed up on top the first time I checked the resort name.
Comments
Forgot to add the link to the hotel's page on Google in the first post:
Another one in the Sarawak area, likely by the same submitter:
Title of the Wayspot: Seaside Swing, "Roxy Beach"
Location: Around 1.828013,109.748743,207m
City: Sematan, Sarawak
Country: Malaysia
Screenshot of the Rejection Email: N/A
Photos to support your claim:
Screenshot of live wayspot:
Source image:
I forgot to save a copy of the picture on Wayfarer directly as proof, but if you access it in your database you can compare the people, plants, angle, etc and see they match. Judging by the satellite view, the position also appears to be incorrect as the correct position looks to be at the white things at/under the trees near the beach, not on top of the hotel building area, which further suggests that the submitter has not been to the location.
Map link: https://www.google.com/maps/@1.828013,109.748743,207m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en-US
There are other nominations I've seen at this resort that don't appear to have been approved (yet?) that similarly use photos found on Google. I'm just going to list them below so I don't have to fill out more reports later.
This one:
Their source image, identical down to the dog behind one of the deck chairs and the other one below the submitted object (cute!):
Larger version of the submission image, look at that cute dog behind the bottom chair:
I've seen this one as a submission before too, same bottle on it:
I believe I've also seen this photo on a submission a while ago, though I think this one might have been rejected by Wayfarers due to the date timestamp as this doesn't appear to be live:
@NianticGiffard Is this being investigated or is using images from Google actually allowed? If it's the latter, can I at least get a reply to confirm it so I don't need to waste my time checking if images are original? Same with my other thread on submitters using edited Street View screenshots, if that's actually allowed then I'd at least like to know for sure so that I don't have to waste time checking when voting.
Sorry for the delay there, your report is under investigation at the moment. I'll be certain to respond to your report once it gets reviewed.
Thanks for the reply. I do have some other screenshots of stuff I've come across in Wayfarer that are likely from the same submitter based on the naming scheme, how they're obtaining the photos, and the way they edit / crop photos. I can post them if more examples will help.
Like this one today:
Submission image (dated in Jan 2019):
Supporting image (dated in Sep 2019):
Just adding two more that also passed Wayfarer but are using third-party photos taken from Google. (The third wayspot with a photo taken through a car windshield doesn't appear to be a third-party photo.)
#1
#2
Notice that there's a bird in the same position in the wayspot and Google photos, above the arch.
@NianticGiffard Can I check if this report is still under investigation? I notice that the first one reported in this thread is still around, still appears to be a third-party image.
There are additional submissions in this area using a different naming scheme now, but still appear to be using images taken from Google. I don't think the one below is live, but I'm posting it as an example.
Note that the submission and supporting photos are credited to different people and are taken on different years.
Apologies for the delay. We have rejected the invalid image edits, removed invalid images from existing Wayspots, and have taken action on 2 Wayfinders in accordance with our policies.
@NianticLC I've just noticed that the third-party images weren't actually removed from "Cove 55 Triangular Gazebo" and 'Scenic Viewpoint Gazebo, "Cove55 Resort"'. At least some of the other newer wayspots in that area also appear to be using third-party photos.
Not too sure where the other wayspots' images are sourced from but if they're from the same user(s), they're probably third-party as well.
We have reviewed the reported Wayspots and taken action on them and 2 Wayfinders in accordance with our policies. Thanks!