I keep getting rejected for my nominations, even though I know for sure that some should be accepted. I keep getting “ This submission was declined by Niantic’s automated process for not adhering to Wayfarer criteria”
Why does this happen???
The AI (eMiLy) does not see anything acceptable usually it’s due to the photo.
If you would like to take a screen grab of the nomination we can suggest improvements (or even state if we believe it’s a definite reject).
Good luck.
Hello and welcome @Meessieboy
We will be very happy to help you work out why this is happening and see if we can improve your situation.
I am going to move this to nomination support as that is the best place to discuss it.
If as suggested you can supply some examples tgat will help.
Welcome to the forums 
If you want to understand why your submissions are being rejected, please post details of them and you will get advice. This may even help you find eligible things to submit.
This gets automatically rejected, but I’ve seen the same construction get accepted at other locations..
My first thought on seeing that is the ML system doesn’t understand everything. I think that should at least get passed through to reviewers to give them a chance to evaluate, as it certainly isn’t an automatic rejection.
I can’t see anything significantly wrong with the title, description or main photo. I would prefer the title to be a little bit less generic, such as “Stone Pillars on xxxx Street”, but that wouldn’t be why this failed the ML system.
You could appeal or retry.
If you retry, change the photo. Never reuse the same main photo when ML made a rejection, as there is a strong chance the ML system will auto-reject even if the title and description are amended.
The main picture has peoples homes in it. Take one without the residential properties being a part of the photo.
That shouldn’t matter at all. Something being incidental in a photo is just that - incidental.
1 Like
The automated system flags photos that show private residential front doors because Wayspots cannot be located on or appear to be part of single-family residential property (PRP). If a front door is visible, the system may assume the nomination is associated with a private home and reject it.
Niantic also requires photos to avoid identifiable private information. This is similar to why car registration plates, faces, or other identifying details are not allowed in Wayspot photos — they can expose personal information or compromise privacy.
So images should focus only on the eligible object and avoid things like house entrances, licence plates, or people, ensuring the nomination clearly represents a public place or object.
Can you please point at the guidelines which say that no part of a private house can be in a main photo
It doesn’t need to be a written rule. The automated review system is trained to detect signs of private residential property, and visible front doors or house entrances are strong signals of that. Since Wayspots cannot be on single-family residential property, the system may reject the nomination to avoid a potential violation.
So even though houses in the background aren’t explicitly banned, including residential doors increases the chance of an automated rejection. If you want to avoid needing appeals, it’s best to frame photos to exclude residential entrances, just like you would avoid faces or vehicle licence plates.
OK. I’ve never had an automated rejection for this reason, so it may be I’ve never had enough of a private residential property in a photo for this to be an issue.
The automated system just rejected a trail marker for me because it appears to have mistaken the nearby stairs for the object being nominated. It’s a frustrating limitation of the system when it misidentifies what the submission is actually meant to represent. I also had to appeal for a pier because it thought I nominated the water.
I’ve had a PoI getting rejected that was the third of two other nearby accepted PoIs (it was a scooter installed on a sign that usually alerts drivers about a rail crossing, but this is a sculpture, there is no rail crossing nearby and its on a walking/cycling path)
Turns out i had a chain supermarket in the background of the photo.
Appealed, but they still denied it. (Probably incorrectly, since there are two PoIs right next to it that are vehicles that don’t have a motor on top of the other 2 of the 3 signs. Will likely re-submit.)
Chain supermarkets are not private residential property, so this is a very different situation. Supermarkets can have wayspots at them, SFPRP can’t.
No, my guess is that the AI though i submitted the supermarket.
Make sure to have some sort of nature in the background of trail markers, like tree branches or something, makes it easier for ML to recognize it as a trail marker