Why were these two apparently valid wayspots removed?
There were two wayspots, I think called 'Littoisten monitoimitalo' and 'Metal Heads', which disappeared recently, and I can't figure out why. The first one was about a community centre for sports and such (link to home page, which I'm afraid is quite sparse and in Finnish but Google translate slaughters it less than usual, and it contains address and a map: https://kaarina.fi/fi/yhteystiedot/littoisten-monitoimitalo#), and the second was about an art installation in the back of the building (picture from street view: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/463076820292468738/789578120104902726/unknown.png). Both wayspots were, to my knowledge, valid candidates (nowhere near a school or anybody's private yard, and about an important community gathering point for sports and an interesting piece of art that definitely hasn't been mass-produced), there's free pedestrian access and even free parking nearby, and they are definitely still there. And if memory serves the pictures were fine too. Could we get the wayspots back, please?
Comments
Number 2 appears to be on the wall of a School, so it may have been reported as ineligible under K-12 guidelines and removed.
It's not a school, it's a multi-purpose community centre for sports and other community activities. There is no teaching in that building. The school is here, over a kilometer away on the other side of the lake: https://kaarina.fi/fi/varhaiskasvatus-ja-opetus/perusopetus/kotimaen-koulu
They either got removed because Niantic thought it was a school or the owner asked them to remove them. Either way, the only thing you can do is wait for the official answer of Niantic.
I would also suggest that you make an individual appeal for each wayspot, as they're more likely to get processed.
I highly doubt that the town of Kaarina would have asked to remove wayspots from their most remote community centre where there is barely even any player community nearby for any of the games, when they haven't done so for any of their other community centres that are much closer to the town centre and much more popular among players. And since it's a public building owned and maintained by the town, it would have needed to be the town itself to make that request.
There must have been some request to remove them, either from the municipality or from a player. And if someone reported them, Niantic might have (according to you, mistakenly) thought it was a school. I still suggest that you make a separate appeal for each and provide a lot of evidence (including photos) showing that it's not a school. If the owner didn't ask for them to be removed, they will probably be reinstated.
I just posted the first one: https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/10868/incorrect-removal-littoisten-monitoimitalo/
Still writing the second.
I can't get there to take any pictures at the moment due the pandemic, but I rather think that there's enough evidence that it's not a school available on the home page, Google Maps, and OpenStreetMaps already. It's a public building and looks like a public building, so some outward similarities to schools are to be expected.
Second one: https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/10870/incorrect-removal-metal-heads/
There is some speculation going around that the new feature in Pokémon GO where players are asked to enter video about the surroundings of wayspots has resulted in their removal, when rather than doing as instructed (like Ingress players are probably more likely to do), people have submitted video of just about anything in order to get the rewards. The majority of the player base near that area consists of a bunch of school age kids, so that kind of behaviour wouldn't surprise me in the least, but kids goofing around does not mean that the entire building or the art piece have suddenly disappeared after being there for decades.
Please don't spread misinformation that has already been refuted by Niantic.
Thank you, as you can see I'm new to these forums so hadn't seen that before. The other speculation in that thread for people asking for removals because their homes have got in the picture doesn't sound likely for this instance, since there's a road, a train track and I think even some vegetation in the way. This leaves me with the conclusion that the removal request has most likely been malicious in some way (depriving some other player or faction of the wayspot), or a well-meaning 'looks like a school' request by some non-local player who does not know enough Finnish to understand what 'monitoimitalo' means and who hasn't bothered to check where the local schools are actually located.
And in case anyone wants to check themselves, under the 'Koulut Kaarinassa' heading there is a link to every school within Kaarina: https://kaarina.fi/fi/varhaiskasvatus-ja-opetus/perusopetus (plus there is a high school in the town centre: https://kaarinanlukio.fi/). And if you want to check for daycares too, those are listed here under 'Päiväkodit': https://kaarina.fi/fi/varhaiskasvatus-ja-opetus/varhaiskasvatus
Appeal Accepted - Thanks for the appeal, Trainer. We gave this a second look and after reviewing the additional evidence provided, we've decided to restore the Pokéstop/Gym in question.
Thank you!