Do you? I would love to know this.
Only niantic have the number. I am just stating that its unrealistic to expect random unknown person memorial to get approved since its indistinguised from fake submission.
Personal opinion as someone who already plays the game. If a friend told me “Hey, I made your dead partner’s memorial bench in to a PokéStop.” I would be creeped out and likely end that friendship.
Even with my “Aunt Carol” example, being someone I wasn’t as close to, we still probably wouldn’t be on speaking terms after that.
I think that the problem here is that the OP is insisting that the wording on the criteria needs changing where most people here are aware that Criteria is often open to interpretation often because what / who is deemed “notable” in one country may not in another.
IMO: Most people on the forums understand the “Bench Criteria” and I see no reason they “need” to be changed. I am sure if Niantic decided to change them there would be posts made here that “it made more sense before”.
Ah! now I see what you meant in the original post. It isn’t about the wording. I thought you were addressing the value of the physical location in it’s setting. You meant personal value of an individual. Niantic has long held this stance that a memorial must be to someone of significance to the community for it to be accepted for that reason. I dug up a support post from 2020 with the same kind of sentiment:
I don’t believe that you will convince Niantic that the importance of the person doesn’t matter for a memorial bench to be acceptable as such. But we have given you plenty of other ways this bench you want to submit could meet criteria.
I would suggest you check with your friend before submitting to be sure she would not find it creepy. I watch a sweet widow place a kiss from her fingertips on the bench dedicated to her husband every time she walks by. Some might consider having the bench in a game a tribute, but others might find it insensitive.