Public bicycle station

Hi All,

I found this discussion on the archive guideline clarifications. Casey said that such a public bicycle station is not unique enough, so it is ineligible. Since the criteria changed, I would like to ask again.

The photo is a photo of a public bicycle station in my city.

This station is government-run. People can rent bicycles at a low price at the station. For tourists, it is an excellent way to explore the city with bikes. And it also promotes exercise. I think public bicycle stations meet the new criteria and would be eligible now.

I would like to know what you think about this. Thank you.

Image source: https://tbike.tainan.gov.tw/Portal/zh-tw/station/Detail/46

Comments

  • Theisman-INGTheisman-ING Posts: 1,001 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nothing stopped them from promoting exercise in the first place.

    However, they are still mass produced and visually uninteresting so I would still reject them

  • LukeAllStars-INGLukeAllStars-ING Posts: 4,625 Ambassador

    Would agree, this is more mass-produced and not visually unique. I got like 50 stations of such bike stations in my city. If there's a trail for exploring the city, try the signs for it.

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭

    Hi @Theisman-ING and @LukeAllStars-PGO,

    Thanks for your feedback. May I ask another question?

    I would like to know the clarification of basketball courts. A basketball goal is also mass-produced and not visually unique. Does that make basketball courts ineligible?

    In my opinion, mass-produced and not visually unique is not the critical criteria. I’m not saying that the mass-produced rule does not matter. My point is that it is not the top priority rule. If an object is mass-produced, we should consider both eligibility criteria and rejection criteria. Otherwise, all sports fields, park signs, playgrounds, and trail markers would be ineligible.

    Please let me know if there is any problem. Thank you :)

  • atsepicnu-INGatsepicnu-ING Posts: 33 ✭✭

    I wouldn't compare it. Basketball courts have the added value of people meeting and playing sports together, spending their time together..(let's not talk about the pandemic now). Although these places are not visually different they are still valueable POIs.

    The shared bike rack will always be just a shared bike rack. This is highly individual, but for many people this kind of place is simply not a sports place and has no cultural or visual value. It's just a city service.

  • Jtronmoore-PGOJtronmoore-PGO Posts: 1,581 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sportfields also would be considered great places for socialization as well. I get what you say about sport fields but if theres 50 bike stations like this there really isnt anything unique about them and theres no real interaction with people either

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭

    Hi @atsepicnu-ING and @Jtronmoore-PGO,

    Thanks for your feedback.

    I’m not sure if I interpret the criteria correctly. The exercise criteria say that “something that teaches or encourages us to be our healthiest selves.” It means that it is not necessary to be a sports place. A place that encourages exercise like this would also meet the criteria.

    I would also like to say that a bike station is also a great place for exploration, especially for tourists. My city is the most historic city in the country. There are several ways for tourists to explore the city. With bicycles, tourists can explore the city to the last detail. I wouldn’t say that the bike stations have no cultural value. Instead, they are a part of the tourism industry and also great places for visiting.

    There are about 60 bike stations in my city, approximately one station every one kilometer. I think the number is not so high. Furthermore, as I said above, uniqueness is not the critical criteria. If the object meets other criteria, we should take both of them into consideration.

    Also, if there is any problem, please let me know. Thank you : )

  • ApplPsydarr-PGOApplPsydarr-PGO Posts: 139 ✭✭✭

    I love traveling and I love playing pokemon in other Countries. I especially enjoy seeing all the unique pokestops when I am traveling. So I am going to put this in a travelers perspective.


    If I went to another country and all I saw were bike racks like this I would be a little sad. I enjoy seeing the culture, the history, the public places of play and sport. I enjoy taking a tour of the cities through pokemon go. But if most of what I saw were bike racks, I wouldn't be learning anything about the city and there would not be as great of an incentive to use the app for exploration purposes.


    Granted it would add more pokestops for me to spin and play with but wayfarer is more than just getting the most points of interest in a city that you can. We all have our different reasons for nominating and reviewing, and my reason is I love using these points of interest as a guide to the cities I am visiting.

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭

    Hi @Runnerddp-PGO,

    I would like to said that culture is not limited to historical buildings and fine art. Everything that humans created, including visible and invisible things, is culture. Culture is the way how humans live. Our everyday life shapes and is shaped by culture. I admit that the bike station might not be the best wayspot. But I still like to say that it meets the eligible criteria. And it is also a part of our culture.

    Anyway, if you come to my country, I would like to bring you to my favorite pokestop that I have nominated. I promise that it would not be a bike rack.

    Thanks for your feedback. Please let me know if there is any problem : )

  • stayKeener-PGOstayKeener-PGO Posts: 23 ✭✭

    I agree that these bike racks are great places to start exploring or start exercising (just like a trail head or the entrance to a park). I also think that your basketball net analogy is a good one: in a city with 50 bike racks like this one, there are bound to be more public basketball nets, all purchased by the city, all the from the same manufacture, all mass produced. Both can be social activities: you can **** hoops alone or with people just like you can go rent bikes solo or with others.

    The key difference is that you're not nominating the net specifically, you're nominating the basketball court and the basketball net is just the place marker for the court. The courts themselves are not mass produced. Different shapes, sizes, colours, etc. Small distinction maybe, but in the eyes of most reviewers, as you're seeing here, very important.

    What you're battling here is perception. Reviewers simply don't see it as having enough cultural value to outweigh that it is mass produced. Approving Wayspots always has been and always will be a subjective thing. As part of the refresh, Niantic acknowledges this. I don't fault you for submitting this, but think it will likely continue to get denied.

  • Theisman-INGTheisman-ING Posts: 1,001 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stayKeener-PGO , @phi2458-PGO ,

    You both seem to be under the incorrect assumption that just because something may qualify to be a POI that it must become one.

    I can assure you that this is not the case.

    Niantics view on POI's is, and has always been, to accept unique interesting POI's, not to just accept every single possible POI just because its there.

    The basketball court analogy works resonably well, if there are 60 similar / identical looking basketball courts in an area then they should NOT all be accepted. They would not all be visually unique and should be rated as such during the review process.

    Some may pass, but all of them, no.

    Just because something can qualify, it still needs to be reviewed, NOTHING should be automatically accepted, not even basketball courts, and if there are a substantial amount of one specific POI in the same area, then some should be rejected due to lack of visual uniqueness.

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    Hi @Theisman-ING,

    Let me make sure I have it right. Did the area you mentioned mean the whole city? If you mean that all 60 courts are in the same field, I agree that it should be one POI. However, if you mean all of them scattered in the city, I think that is not the case.

    As far as I know, the current criteria do not ask us to count how many basketball courts there are in the city when we review a basketball court. The rule only applies to art, local shops, restaurants, etc. Several explicit statements said that such a nomination should be unique in the local. If that rule also applies to basketball courts, all basketball courts in the city would be ineligible because they are not unique.

    Please let me know if I misunderstand what you mean. Thank you.

  • stayKeener-PGOstayKeener-PGO Posts: 23 ✭✭

    @Theisman-ING I'm under no such assumption.

    "Reviewers simply don't see it as having enough cultural value to outweigh that it is mass produced."

    I'm under no illusions that in the eyes of the reviewers (and according to Niantic) that this is mass produced and therefor meets rejection criteria. I'm simply engaging with @phi2458-PGO to say "I get where you're coming from, but..."

  • Lechu1730-PGOLechu1730-PGO Posts: 537 ✭✭✭✭

    I just checked and my city has 400 of such stations. They're named and numbered, the name generally being a reference to the street or park where they're located.

    I've never seen one as a wayspot but to be honest I'd probably approve them if I were to review them, both on the grounds of promoting exercise and being a good starting point for exploration.

  • Gendgi-PGOGendgi-PGO Posts: 3,534 Ambassador

    We have a few of these in the downtown of my city. It definitely isn't uncommon to see tourists (we aren't a huge destination but do have some international tourism) using these bikes. There are also some set up on college campuses.

    Like most things, especially post 3.1 clarifications, I wouldn't say I view them as eligible or ineligible. I'd definitely read the whole nomination and take in the importance of the bike share location for the particular area.

    I actually helped a friend nominate one in a local park. She had it rejected once but it did eventually get approved. This is a park with a 3+ mile scenic path around a pond and through some woods.

    Something doesn't have to be unique "one in a million" to be eligible, and I agree with your opinion on them promoting physical activity and exploration.

  • silverkali-INGsilverkali-ING Posts: 92 ✭✭✭

    How are they any different to a bus stop or similar which we've been told in the guidance not to accept. These are not very common where I review so have never had one come up on screen.

  • Lechu1730-PGOLechu1730-PGO Posts: 537 ✭✭✭✭

    For once, a bus stop doesn't promote exercise so it has one elegibility criteria less going for it. I'd also say the exploration criteria has a lesser weight on it as well.

    Regarding bus stops, some exceptions for me would be tourist bus stops (clearly meet the exploration criteria) and bust stops located in the access road to small towns if they're somehow decorated or named by the town they serve.

  • sogNinjaman-INGsogNinjaman-ING Posts: 3,313 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    Does it seem to be a great place of exploration? No. I might go there to get a bike to go exploring, but as an object or place to visit, no its not.

    Does it seem to be a great place for exercise? No. I might go there to get a bike for the purposes of excercise, as as an object or place, no it's not. Do I ever say "I'm going to the bike stop to work out?"

    Does it seem to be a great place to be social? No. "Hey guys, lets go to the bike rack and hang out" said nobody, except schoolboys going for a smoke at break time. A bike rack would not be my first choice for a Friday night out.

    IMO, a bike station fails to meet criteria on multiple levels, and you only need it to fail on one to have grounds for rejection.

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭

    Hi there,

    Thanks all for your insight. @stayKeener-PGO I’ve got your point. Reviewing is a subjective thing. As a result, reviewers’ opinions play important roles in reviewing. As @Gendgi-PGO said, the spirit of 3.1 clarification is not to provide what is eligible or not to the last detail. Instead, it left some grey areas to reviewers. The importance of a nomination depends on its context. Reviewers shouldn’t judge by a simple rule alone but the whole nomination.

    Again, thanks all for providing your opinions. It makes me understand how other reviewers would rate this nomination.

  • B00JL5YI7G-PGOB00JL5YI7G-PGO Posts: 244 ✭✭✭

    It's a very poor thing.

    The bicycle moves

    It was not designed by a designer.

    When it comes to mass production, it's no good.

    The signboard is better

  • phi2458-PGOphi2458-PGO Posts: 164 ✭✭✭

    Hi @B00JL5YI7G-PGO,

    I agree that bicycles are not good. But we are talking about the station.

    I’d like to know your opinion on bicycle stations.

  • B00JL5YI7G-PGOB00JL5YI7G-PGO Posts: 244 ✭✭✭

    @phi2458-PGO

    Hello

    Regarding bicycle parking lots, there are places around us that are authorized.

    Only artwork is approved for individual bicycles

    As for the things that the application moves, the things around us will disappear as if they were not there.

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