I submitted a few weeks ago several new wayspots in my village (graffitis created on the big rocks of a public parking).
3 were accepted as pokestops and 3 accepted as wayspots (i guess related to distance and amount in a cell, they didn’t appear as Pokestop but we could see them as wayspots when you try to submit new ones).
Edited infos after the discussion : I think they meet all criteras : unique (drawing and not a basic tag or vandalism, distinct (easy to identify), and permanent.
I thought it was a lonely person doing them but after investigating, it’s coming from the small art club of the village. Idea: draw on a rock what your imagination see from the shape of it
They are here since october 2025, protected with a glazing, on a public parking and even the mayor place is happy about having the area a bit “decorated”. It doesnt look like vandalism
But since 10:00 (Paris time, GMT+1) this 02 of december, they disappeared.
They are not in the game and they don’t even appear as POI when you try to submit new pokestops.
Is there a bug related to the launch of new season and some wrong update in the database ?
I doubt any player would report them, especially considering that even the POI disparread (and a player can’t report if it’s not a visible Pokestop)
What’s the process to get them to appear again ?
If any infos are needed, let me know which ones.
Find a few screenshots prooving they existed and were validated.
THanks for your help
Have a nice day
Here you can see 2 of them on my scanner from 15th November while i was walking around
My best guess is that these were reported as vandalism and not true artwork. As such the likelihood is that they would be removed.
Please read this clarification
If they were part of an authorised community project, you will need to provide that evidence to be considered - an official piece that shows approval and therefore that these are permanent.
that’ sounds hard to understand. They were validated. And because somehow maybe someone did report it, they are automatically removed ?
There are tons of graffitis in the world and they never get removed. I don’t know if it was a school project or someone who likes to paint. What i know is that they are here for a while now and they never bothered anyone. They even have a glazing on them to stand in time
Most wayspots are approved by the community (i.e., people who play Pokemon Go etc and spend time reviewing wayspots).
This does not mean that every approved wayspot is validated by Niantic.
It is perfectly possible that wayspots can slip through the approval process that shouldn’t, sometimes with local assistance, and when this is pointed out to Niantic, they review the wayspots and remove them. If this happens, they can be completely removed.
I have in the past reported multiple wayspots that were appearing in review which were on school grounds - they were ineligible and got removed.
If someone reported them and you had not shown any evidence that they are authorised then they have to be removed, otherwise it could be seen as encouraging vandalism.
Do you have any evidence, any official website, any sign at the site?
When reported or uncovered, the vandalism type ones do get removed. They could be picked up by a reviewer (Niantic or community) noticing them on the nearby when reviewing a different submission or edit request, not necessarily by someone physically at the location.
no i don’t
I never thought it would be so “legal” and complicated to get some pokestops. I thought it would be more some common sense for such a drawing “it looks nice, it’s not a dangerous area, it’s ok”
Reading you all, i am lost, feeling that there is always a good reason not to accept a submission. a bit like spending so much time justifying why it should exist as if we were debating something super fundamental in life.
The onus is on the submitter to prove to a reasonable level that a wayspot is eligible, that it exists etc. Simply finding something interesting and submitting it, without assisting the reviewers, is unhelpful.
Imagine you find something interesting that isn’t on streetview and is too small to appear on ‘satellite’ images. You submit it. How do reviewers know it exists? How do they know it is where you have said it is?
Maybe there’s a website - don’t make every reviewer go a google search to find this. You should do the leg work.
There’s a lot more to submitting real eligible wayspots than simply taking two pictures and writing a small amount of text, but it is a rewarding process when you realise what is eligible and get interesting things accepted.
Many reviewers treat wayfaring with respect, want to accept things that are eligible and reject things that are ineligible.
I am sorry that we are discouraging you. I think that the current onboarding does not make it clear that Wayfarer is a serious, literally game-changing endeavor. Try to look for things to submit that are more clearly valuable to the community, and it will be easier. This topic has lots of suggestions:
If you would like some help to find wayspots that are eligible we will be happy to do so.
Personally I don’t feel that doing wayfarer is legalistic.
We have certain rules and guidelines to work within. The guidelines can be open to interpretation so we often end up with ifs and maybe. For example….
This is not normally eligible because it is likely to be removed by the authorities, however if you can demonstrate that the authorities have approved and won’t plan to remove then that will not get it rejected for that reason.
This framework that we work within is there to help ensure that these wayspots are likely to have longevity and be suitable for a range of uses beyond Pokémon Go.
So how do i get them to be pokestops ?
According to the criteras here, it’s clearly not a vandalism. Ok it’s a drawing on a rock and not on a wall. I don’t think it makes a difference.
And even if they might look “easy” or even “childish”, they look nice enough not to be considered as vandalism as shown in the criteras. i agree that just a bunch of words other each others is vandalism
I will never get any “administration document” granting the autorisation.
The art club did those, they put some glazing (vernish ?) so it stands in time.
I doubt that for all the streetart we can find over the world in Pokemon / Wayfarer, the person who did submit got an evidence of permanent thing + authorisation from any authority
This is good information! Do you have any documentation about this being an art project by an organized/authorized group?
Edit: I would also be concerned about the locations. When I tried to search for this one, my favorite of these, all I see is what appears to me to be Single Family Private Residential Property (SFPRP).
And no i dont have any documents about being an art project. They have weekly class and they do random projects. Sometimes a big temporary (with chalk) drawing on a wall or sidewalk, sometimes more permanent painting, sometimes temporary structures made of wood.
Here it was just about making easy drawing thanks to what you imagine from the shapes of the rocks (as we do with clouds also)
You can post links to streetview, not just copy the images. On a web browser, there is a Share link at the top-right. Similar on a phone. This allows other people to move around the area.
How do you know about this class? Can you link to proof about this class? Can you contact them about proof of the art project? What kind of art class is this? School age children, or community club?
Sorry I don’t live in a spot with streetview actualised so often so i can’t prove they exist
Street view i have is from May 2023 … and those paintings are from october 2025 !
That’s why i got them accepted in november
