(Image is of all footpaths/rights of ways in Kent and is about 80km across). There are hundreds of millions of them and most are in the countryside. The UK has something called right of ways. They're everywhere and allows people to walk across private land. There's also a tonne of official named trails which means we dont need more stops/portals like this. Every time you enter a field, sign. Turn a corner, sign. Get to a tree, sign. Get to a stile, sign. Get to a ditch, sign. I am worried you have not taken into account of other cultures with this blanket statement.
Everything footpath, road, house, cycle route has been assigned a number. Its how the local government keeps track of them. These are designations not names.
Not every footpath, road, house or cycle path has been given a name.
A number doesn't make it a "named trail". M25 is not a named trail for instance, it is a motorway. A2 is mostly dual carriageway nowadays, and large parts are unsafe to walk along. So giving a cycle route a number doesn't necessarily make it a trail. As Jimbobwai says, it enables identification by the government. By numbering roads it is easier to explain where a repair is needed, where an accident is etc. (I know the what3words app is busy trying to sell itself as a solution to those but it didn't always exist).
Numbering roads and routes is different to my mind than naming them. If you're naming them, then generally you're saying they're more important. E.g. "The Saxon Way" - a route we believe was used by the Saxons, historical interest.
And we also name roads where we build houses on them, partly because that means we can split up those long A and B roads and number only the houses in that village as sections of the road will have different names in different villages, and we don't have to continue the numbering from the last village. (Given many of these villages have been joined up by town spread this has often been useful in preventing having to renumber houses which might have happened had people not named the sections of road but still numbered them separately in each village.)
After all the comments and threads, I think that Niantic should be aware of how many of those markers are there, so if they have confirmed over and over that they are OK, go ahead and submit them. They want more wayspots.
I was obviously being overly optimistic that things could move on 🙄
Sorry but this just doesn’t hold water.
Giffard has made a helpful clarification, giving examples and guidelines that can be applied in different circumstances. it’s totally inappropriate, as it tries to muddy the waters to try and compare the road system with footpaths.
The different designations are just shorthand used by people. If you are out on a walk you just want to quickly confirm you are following the correct route so you can continue to enjoy the walk.
the exact same named route will have a variety of indicators - the long distance footpaths https://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/public/ldp_public_home.php is a great place to check the various ones that apply to any individual route. There is also helpful information specifically for NCN routes that explains the differences in signage and how they are trying to standardise it.
National Cycle Network 62
NCN 62
Trans Pennine Trail
TPT
a distinctive double wave symbol
All of these are regarded as interchangeable to mark the route that travels for many miles locally. It is not common sense to try and single out one as acceptable and thus say the others don’t help you follow a trail. You can still decide exactly how high you want to rate it against the various elements - your judgement.
It was just about these markers in England, as mentioned in @Shottix-ING ’s original post.
Unsure as to why the community (part of the community) keeps approving yellow public footpath markers as waypoints, they exist in every single field in England with a public right of way, just because the submitter calls it some made up trail name doesn't make it a trail. Niantic states named trails only, where the marker exists on a route with a legitimate trial name and the marker displays this name.
Ignoring the exaggeration, all the places you describe are places to explore in the countryside and exploration, outdoor activities and excercise are key things for Niantic. Exactly why they are allowed
I hope the big wayfarer chat rooms take this as Niantic wishes and vote accordingly rather than how they wish to vote.
Now the arrows are resolved, it might be good to give a final word on some other similar examples so the discussion can be put to rest and maybe someone even does an infographic so it's easily explained. Everyone loves an infographic :D
Its not a disc on a wooden post in the countryside but I see where you are coming from. At the moment the only clarification is on the arrow type discs (usually on wooden posts) showing ways across fields/open areas so I would go out on a limb and say probably not.
Looks like it fits under e) no named and on a street, so reject
I dont think numbers of markers in most area will be high as they are usually spaced out along walks/have big fields between them etc. It will actually help people find rambling routes instead of having to rely on maps which are not Google based.
It all fits in with Niantics mission statement so I don't know why these were such an issue from the start
I'm glad I live where markers are clearly done by a local agency and placed for public use. Our trail system seems pretty easy to understand locally. Currently we have a player who loves to hike in our hills and is submitting all the markers. It's been nice to see our trail system light up with PoI.
Niantic can't take every little "but what about" and make a nuanced rule about your local area. Really we all just need to take a look and so what is best for each community.
As long as you are reading this thread @NianticGiffard could you read the one near by and talk about memorial benches, and other rest stops along trails whether they make good waypoints on trails. Wouldn't they fit your same purpose of encouraging exploration and exercise down the trail?
Some memorial benches could be acceptable if they were for, say, a viewpoint, think people have agreed thstbits a good thing, but it would still jeed to be sold well. Could it be used for trails? Well of the bench had the trail name on it it could
You didn't read his post did you... Having a Name of Trail on a Trail Sign say a Yellow Arrow pointing isn't required. If there was an obvious say Rest Area created as part of a trail, it wouldn't require a trail name on bench/sign/etc.
Comments
So then the original image posted here;
Would fall under one of these;
c) A marker with no trail name on the trail <- Good (Correct)
d) A marker with no trail name on an open green space area <- Good enough (Correct)
even though it is not a trail at all, and just a Public Footpath? Just to clarify before they all start flooding in with a link to your comment.
(Image is of all footpaths/rights of ways in Kent and is about 80km across). There are hundreds of millions of them and most are in the countryside. The UK has something called right of ways. They're everywhere and allows people to walk across private land. There's also a tonne of official named trails which means we dont need more stops/portals like this. Every time you enter a field, sign. Turn a corner, sign. Get to a tree, sign. Get to a stile, sign. Get to a ditch, sign. I am worried you have not taken into account of other cultures with this blanket statement.
Thanks
Also, does this affect the ncn signs. Most are on roads and are not named, just numbered.
E seems to suggest that they would now not be eligible.
thank you Niantic for respecting contributions and accepting this.
The community has a big issue with these.
A number sounds like a name.
Sounds like, but is not.
Everything footpath, road, house, cycle route has been assigned a number. Its how the local government keeps track of them. These are designations not names.
Not every footpath, road, house or cycle path has been given a name.
Numbers sound like a unique identifying mark to me. We have lots of forest service trails here that are simply numbered to differentiate between them.
What is a name if not a designator? Do these not share the same function?
I would say it is, the number is the route
A number doesn't make it a "named trail". M25 is not a named trail for instance, it is a motorway. A2 is mostly dual carriageway nowadays, and large parts are unsafe to walk along. So giving a cycle route a number doesn't necessarily make it a trail. As Jimbobwai says, it enables identification by the government. By numbering roads it is easier to explain where a repair is needed, where an accident is etc. (I know the what3words app is busy trying to sell itself as a solution to those but it didn't always exist).
Numbering roads and routes is different to my mind than naming them. If you're naming them, then generally you're saying they're more important. E.g. "The Saxon Way" - a route we believe was used by the Saxons, historical interest.
And we also name roads where we build houses on them, partly because that means we can split up those long A and B roads and number only the houses in that village as sections of the road will have different names in different villages, and we don't have to continue the numbering from the last village. (Given many of these villages have been joined up by town spread this has often been useful in preventing having to renumber houses which might have happened had people not named the sections of road but still numbered them separately in each village.)
After all the comments and threads, I think that Niantic should be aware of how many of those markers are there, so if they have confirmed over and over that they are OK, go ahead and submit them. They want more wayspots.
I was obviously being overly optimistic that things could move on 🙄
Sorry but this just doesn’t hold water.
Giffard has made a helpful clarification, giving examples and guidelines that can be applied in different circumstances. it’s totally inappropriate, as it tries to muddy the waters to try and compare the road system with footpaths.
The different designations are just shorthand used by people. If you are out on a walk you just want to quickly confirm you are following the correct route so you can continue to enjoy the walk.
the exact same named route will have a variety of indicators - the long distance footpaths https://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/public/ldp_public_home.php is a great place to check the various ones that apply to any individual route. There is also helpful information specifically for NCN routes that explains the differences in signage and how they are trying to standardise it.
National Cycle Network 62
NCN 62
Trans Pennine Trail
TPT
a distinctive double wave symbol
All of these are regarded as interchangeable to mark the route that travels for many miles locally. It is not common sense to try and single out one as acceptable and thus say the others don’t help you follow a trail. You can still decide exactly how high you want to rate it against the various elements - your judgement.
This isn’t just about the U.K. so can we move on.
It was just about these markers in England, as mentioned in @Shottix-ING ’s original post.
Unsure as to why the community (part of the community) keeps approving yellow public footpath markers as waypoints, they exist in every single field in England with a public right of way, just because the submitter calls it some made up trail name doesn't make it a trail. Niantic states named trails only, where the marker exists on a route with a legitimate trial name and the marker displays this name.
👍
I ‘ve lost the Will to live on this topic.
The m25 is an outright road, the ncn route 745 is the trail name, national cycle network designated route 745 would be what it's called
Not to mention, we literally got a full thread where it was passed as good
I thought the National Cycle Network was created and maintained by Sustrans a walking and cycling charity.
Why would the government have anything to do with the naming?
If I call National Cycle Network Route 1 the North Sea Coast Trail can I get some new poi? :)
Ignoring the exaggeration, all the places you describe are places to explore in the countryside and exploration, outdoor activities and excercise are key things for Niantic. Exactly why they are allowed
Thank you for this clarification!
I hope the big wayfarer chat rooms take this as Niantic wishes and vote accordingly rather than how they wish to vote.
Now the arrows are resolved, it might be good to give a final word on some other similar examples so the discussion can be put to rest and maybe someone even does an infographic so it's easily explained. Everyone loves an infographic :D
Its not a disc on a wooden post in the countryside but I see where you are coming from. At the moment the only clarification is on the arrow type discs (usually on wooden posts) showing ways across fields/open areas so I would go out on a limb and say probably not.
Looks like it fits under e) no named and on a street, so reject
Putting an arrow disc submission on the Showcase at login could be useful too ;)
I got like that talking about postbox in the past lol
I dont think numbers of markers in most area will be high as they are usually spaced out along walks/have big fields between them etc. It will actually help people find rambling routes instead of having to rely on maps which are not Google based.
It all fits in with Niantics mission statement so I don't know why these were such an issue from the start
I'm glad I live where markers are clearly done by a local agency and placed for public use. Our trail system seems pretty easy to understand locally. Currently we have a player who loves to hike in our hills and is submitting all the markers. It's been nice to see our trail system light up with PoI.
Niantic can't take every little "but what about" and make a nuanced rule about your local area. Really we all just need to take a look and so what is best for each community.
@NianticGiffard Where does this fall on the scale?
As long as you are reading this thread @NianticGiffard could you read the one near by and talk about memorial benches, and other rest stops along trails whether they make good waypoints on trails. Wouldn't they fit your same purpose of encouraging exploration and exercise down the trail?
Some memorial benches could be acceptable if they were for, say, a viewpoint, think people have agreed thstbits a good thing, but it would still jeed to be sold well. Could it be used for trails? Well of the bench had the trail name on it it could
You didn't read his post did you... Having a Name of Trail on a Trail Sign say a Yellow Arrow pointing isn't required. If there was an obvious say Rest Area created as part of a trail, it wouldn't require a trail name on bench/sign/etc.