The local player community in Rovaniemi, Finland have noticed that a lot of pokestops have started disappearing again. For context, we experienced a sudden mass wave of POIs getting both vandalized and later deleted from game earlier this autumn. Link to this post on the Wayfarer forum can be found here.
Afterwards, things in game were peaceful for several weeks and thanks to Niantic we got several pokestops back in the game. Our community has also worked hard to resubmit many of the pokestops that got previously deleted. As for now, I have not heard about any new vandalizations in the city, and I don’t know if the city/police have done anything about the previously reported ones. But this post isn’t about that.
Recently we’ve lost several pokestops/gyms in just a matter of days. These pokestops include football fields, public playgrounds and graffiti/mural art. Resubmitted pokestops stay in game for only 1-2 days before getting removed again.
Here are the pokestops/gyms that I know have been recently removed. Coordinates are not 100% correct but they’re as close to the original placement of the POIs as possible:
The one above is huge underpass for pedestrials going under highway. Made FOR PEDESTRIAN ACCESS under the highway. Why else would art school make huge murals there?
Following are next to major pedestrian walkway from city center to Viirinkangas area. Separated from higway with large high wall. Can provide pictures of both.
City of Rovaniemi employee here. If you take a look at the area in Google Maps, it’s quite obvious there are no lanes in the underpass for cars or other motorized vehicles. The underpass is only for pedestrians, cyclists and people of various ages who require assisted mobility (children in prams, people in wheelchairs, people on mobility scooters, etc.)
thank you for your quick reply. However, I must disagree with you on several occasions. I’ll provide you with more information here:
Keltakankaan liikuntahalli, Keltakankaan leikkipaikka and Keltakankaan jalkapallokenttä are not located on a school property. Liikuntahalli (“sports hall” in English) is a city-owned venue with multiple possibilities for doing sports, and attached to it is a small football field and a playground which are also part of the venue. There’s also a basketball field (“Keltakankaan koripallokenttä”) in the same area, which also is a POI in the game but it has never been deleted unlike the other three.
More about Keltakankaan liikuntahalli can be found on the city’s website here (in Finnish only).
And yes, I agree that there is a school near the public city venue, but it only operates on the other side of the building. It does not own the whole property or the area surrounding the building. The area belonging to the school has a fence around it.
Maahisten valtakunta and Tonttu both do have safe pedestrian access. Maahisten valtakunta is a huge art mural stretching across the whole wall of an underground passageway. It allows pedestrians to safely cross the E75 road by going under it. Tonttu is painted on a pedestrian bridge right next to the road E75. They’re both accessible for pedestrians, cyclists, even people using a wheelchair. Unfortunately, the Google Maps car hasn’t driven through the underground passageway so I could provide you with a picture, but you can see the start and end points of this road on the map and in Google Streetview.
About spamming ineligible pokestops not being a good idea - I agree with you on this one, too. I however disagree on the ones I’ve listed in my first message being ineligible. If you (or anyone else reading this thread) has checked the previous conversation on the matter of POIs getting deleted in Rovaniemi, my post is more of a cry for help towards Niantic to investigate on the matter again. We, the local player community, strongly feel that we’re being bullied in-game again and that this isn’t acceptable behavior but deliberately targeting certain players. If we’re not vocal about it and Niantic does nothing about the situation, we unfortunately do not have many other options than to resubmit POIs after they get removed.
Fair enough, based on the additional evidence, we have restored the Wayspots on the property of the sports complex and also “Maahisten valtakunta”. Thanks,
Thank you very much, NianticAaron! You’ve been very helpful.
Just one more question, does Niantic have any kind of advice for players on how to proceed if we experience any in-game bullying? As we can’t really report this to the local police, I would like to know what we as players can do and what measures Niantic is willing to take in order to put an end to in-game bullying? My fear is that returning the removed pokestops only solves the problem temporarily.
Hi, it’s me again. Not sure if I should start a new thread but I’ll write here first to give an update on the matter.
The thing I was worried about in my previous message happened and several of the pokestops NianticAaron kindly returned back on Friday (Oct 17) were again gone by Saturday evening (Oct 18). Definitely feels like some player(s) are doing this on purpose to both annoy and bully the local Pogo community.
The pokestops in question are the city-owned sports hall, playground and football field: