Now, I have researched extensively on this topic, but due to the old forums being wiped I have to ask… what exactly is eligible in a cemetery? From what Niantic has stated, cemeteries and anything in it are generally not allowed… but… if there are famous people’s gravestones, they are eligible? And stuff that is considered “public attractions?”
There’s also the topic of people playing video games in a sensitive area. But clearly there are some exceptions. Where’s the line?
Now, I’m nominating an informational sign/board, not a gravestone. It is kind of unclear to me whether that is considered “public attraction.”
Is it up to reviewers to decide? What things in cemeteries are allowed? What if there are murals, statues, interesting signs, and otherwise eligible nominations located in a cemetery, are they supposed to be rejected?
Finally, is it worth appealing this? Or have I misunderstood the criteria?
I’m going to talk from my own point of view.
In general I don’t like wayspots inside cemeteries as, at least in my country, they are sensitive locations. If I want to submit something inside a cemetery I would try to be sure that is a place where they are not allowing new people to rest there or if is a place, as @26thDoctor said, where you can cause aggravation to people who have lost a loved one.
Also I would try to investigate if in that cemetery they organize tourist guides to show people famous people’s gravestones, monuments, churches, chapels, etc.
For example, I went to the biggest cemetery in Western Europe to nominate some monuments and some famous people’s gravestones because is a 140 years old cemetery with organized tourist guides inside it.
So, to summarize, I would say it depends always on the context of the place and what you want to submit inside the cemetery.
The user was submitting the cemetery, which I’m not nominating, just an informational board. I’m also not nominating a gravestone of famous person, or art murals.
After reading the conversation, I am still confused on whether my nomination is acceptable.
The informational board is right at the front of the cemetery and there is plenty of space to just “loiter” around and play on your phone without disturbing others grieving. However I understand that anything cemetery related is iffy. My thinking was because I’m not nominating a cemetery or gravestone, but rather an informational board that’s away from grieving people, it would be okay. Plus, the cemetery has many paths to walk around so I thought it’d be a nice way to play and walk in solitude. Obviously, I didn’t clarify that in my nomination, so I’ll provide more context and reasoning next time.
I’ll perform more research on the cemetery I’m nominating. I’ll probably let it go, since it’s in a rural area and not very “touristy.” Besides I’m not interested in hard convincing reviewers for this.
Yes, this is a category where it totally depends on the proof the submitter provides about the cemetery. If you can point me to proof that locals consider this cemetery as a place to gather and explore (most likely on a website) then i would approve it. But if you write the bare minimum, i will reject it. Or if you make claims without backing those up, i will reject it. Cemeteries have too high a probability of being a bad place to play a game, im going to err on the side of caution. And i say that as one who is adamantly supportive of legit tourist cemeteries being POI.
I think some cemeteries are sensitive locations but not all.
I would nominate things in a historic cemetery ie one that’s full, and has some statutes and interesting people laid to rest there a long time ago.
One of my groups of friends play every event inside a park and cemetery that are next to each other. The cemetery is full of well maintained gravel paths making walkways through and a lot of famous people from the city are buried there, so I do think its a good place to explore and low risk of upsetting anyone since many of the graves are from the 1800s
A modern cemetery thats still in use, or a crematorium, I would say that is much more sensitive of a location.
They’re both sensitive kinds of location because people are laid to rest there. They both have artwork in the grounds. So I do think they’re the same kind of place, just for people with different budgets!!
Our local crematorium has a few waypoints in it - artwork and a war memorial. Its not a common place for people to play because its in the suburbs and almost no waypoints around it anyway.
Of course its not eligible on its own but the grounds are large and they do have some monuments ie the war memorial and a big sculpture. Those have been in the games since before wayfarer so take that one up with Niantic/Ingress players I think
I recently had a cemetery info board come up for review, but it was one that showed the plots, and it helps those coming to visit graves find where the one they are looking to visit is. I’ve used these before to find graves that I have wanted to visit (don’t get me started on using them at large US national cemeteries pre-smartphones), and I don’t really find them to be appropriate for Wayspots, since the purpose is for mourners to find where a certain grave they’d like to visit is located.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here, maybe in the old forums, but there is a famous baseball player buried in one of the cemeteries where I live. The grounds keepers have no issues with respectful fans visiting his grave, which I have done (I love baseball), nor does the family, including his widow, who is still alive, but has her eventual grave next to his. Many fans leave items at his grave, such as baseballs, caps, gloves, but also golf balls, as he had started a charity celebrity golf tournament before his passing that is still ongoing.
Now, this person hasn’t been dead for 50 years, and the cemetery is still active. Like I noted, the widow is still alive, and her grave will be next to her late husband’s. While it’s a famous person there, even if 50 years has passed, I still wouldn’t nominate it out of respect to all of the family and fans of this person currently.
You would struggle to find a cemetery/graveyard in the UK that doesn’t have a WWI and/or WWII memorial. They are mostly Wayspots irrespective of whether burials are discontinued or active so to speak.
The church on the grounds is pretty much always a Wayspot too so I can see why there is a lot of confusion not helped by the lack of clarity and unwillingness to remove a poi from Niantic.
Realistically if someone is mourning or paying respect to their family I don’t think it makes much difference whether we are standing at the cemetery church, memorial or grave of Sir Farqhuar Toppington-Smedley-St Clair III, empire builder and all round git.
Maybe they should just remove all graveyard Wayspots and be done with it.
Ours have a large grounds area for those cremated remains to have like a headstone and memorial sculptures etc, as well as other artwork, statues etc. Its basically like a graveyard but with smaller plots because theres not a whole grave dug, if that makes sense?
The crematorium itself has chapels for services too, its not a waypoint to my knowledge, but havent been there except for funerals as you might expect. I can see some of the grounds and those waypoints from my local area hence why I know there are some spots there.
Its not my preference to go to these places but I do think old chuchyards, which are often graveyards as well are interesting places to explore with some headstones so old theyve almost completely eroded and a lot of stone carvings, and theyre usually full decades ago so not places where lots of people are going to mourn, more places of peace and reflection.
Repeating what @seaprincesshnb has said, a crematorium will never meet criteria. What I think we have here could be a failure to communicate. A crematorium is the place where remains are cremated. IMO, those are definite rejections, as with funeral homes.
Perhaps you’re meaning to describe some sort of memorial park where a columbarium, or multiple columbaria, are located? I would still reject a columbarium but it is possible that other items around it are definitely eligible.
For me, this topic is one of trickiest because the conversation doesn’t make sense from a stand alone logic sense. Cemetaries are “Culturally Sensitive” but Churches are “Autoaccepts”. That is how the criteria works but there is no logic in it, as there are plenty of churches that would find playing a mobile game and loitering to be insensitive. I’ve seen priests come out and yell at raid car caravans and call the cops.
So I tend to focus on the community behavior. Just like if I see it upsets a church, I kindly point out to the upset priest how to get Niantic to remove the church, I try and use judgement on the purpose/culture of the Cemetary.
Cemetaries that are not accepting new funerals, are always empty, and very importantly aren’t locked (a good sign they don’t want you) I tend to accept because these older ones really tend to fit the explore criteria often with ornate statues, gravestones, etc.
Cemetaries that do accept new funerals have to give me the impression they are open to the public for a park-like purpose and not just for a visit gravestone purpose. Some might put it in their names like “Memorial Parks”, have gardens separate from the gravestones, walking paths, even dog walking/waste stations, some even go so far as to do tours to show off architecture.
The key here is you have to know the cemetary and know your local gamer community. If you think there is a chance of local players interferring, err on the side of no.
Always remember though that while guidliness are global, they also repeatedly say use local standards and knowledge.
