I am usually located at Sunshine Coast, Australia. 2nd biggest tourist destination in the country.
Quite a few old phone boxes have been repurposed. They are now FREE wi fi hotspots. That’s free to anyone. They have retained the whole phone box look and the hand set is still in place. Free to anyone phone calls can be made — nation wide — via the handset.
Many tourists — backpackers, students, elderly — especially — use the free wi fi to use social media, FaceTime, WhatsApp etc.
Locals, of course also use when low on data or whatever. Older folk may use the handset.
To me they meet all the wayfarer requirements.
They are definitely a point of interest, promote social interaction and are often in parks, by walking tracks or other light exercise areas.
It is a very cool concept, but I am not sure that it would not just be infrastructure. I think a nomination telling about the project might convince me it meets exploration criteria - at least the first few.
What do you mean by that? If you are talking about the nomination categories section, that is not a list of eligible Wayspot candidates. Idk where the list came from, but it also has “elementary schools” and “fire stations” on there.
Let’s not confuse this topic by digression into other criteria topics.
And to be clear the comment quoted about fire stations was about a specific query and not in a general criteria clarification.
I agree that it’s a cool idea, but remember a wayspot has to be a great place to exercise, to explore or to socialize. I don’t see how they would meet any one of those three. Also, the website said they are starting with 1,000, making them something more or less everywhere.
Are we saying that finding an old phone box on a pathway next to a beach entry is not exploring? Wondering, what is that ? Discovering it gives free wi fi to all. Plus free calls via an old style hand set. It stunned me that’s for sure.
Are we saying that a group taking advantage of this and using this free service is not socialising?
Are we saying that one person using it to catch up with social media or calling freinds and family via WhatsApp is not socialising?
This repurposed phone box is accessible via a walking path — does this qualify as exercise?
Are you saying that you would go along the path to see the phone box were it not along the beach? Do you think the phone box is exciting enough just to go see all by itself?
A POI that’s a great place to explore is more than just something you’ll come across along your normal walk. It’s something worth going to see all by itself.
Yes, simply having access to a wifi signal is not synonymous with socializing. Many people go sit in coffee shops to use their WiFi to work in their paper or project….no socializing at all. Just because something CAN happen somewhere isn’t enough, it needs to be a pace where socializing is the point of the place.
And lastly, no. Just because something exists along a place doesn’t make it a great place to exercise. A trail, a gym, a sports field/court are great places to exercise. An old phone booth is not. The water cooler at the gym is not the place to exercise, the gym is. Trail markers aren’t themselves a great place to exercise, but they mark the great place to exercise. Phone booths just happen to be where people tend to walk, like street lights and street signs.
If I apply that reasoning to everything lots of things shouldn’t be on the map.
It always seems to go hand in hand with the statement ‘Would you take someone from out of town here’ which would remove even more Wayspots.
The map is full of things that are interesting but not great that I wouldn’t go out of my way to see or take someone from out of town to see. I still think they should be on the map they just don’t align with those statements.
I could also say that great is a very subjective notion
That’s fine that you have a different opinion on what constitutes a great place to X, Y, Z. But I stand by my opinion. It’s really general guidance and up to a community to decide if something in their area really great.
Of course, Niantic could change their guidance to “A good….” or “ An OK….,” or just “Any old place”. Until then, I’ll still recommend focusing on the places that people would really want to go to, not just happen to be around.
I completely agree that what is great is subjective.
That’s why I agree that great is subjective, but great is also the general aim. I can see when my brother and his kids come to visit saying (and have said), let’s walk over to the park for the kids to play and they can even get some books at the LFL. It’s a really nice/great thing to have for them to do in the neighborhood.
When I say great I don’t mean Eiffel Tower great, I mean something of particular interest to the community. So, not just the thing on the side of the road you may or may not notice, but something you’d go see….maybe in conjunction with another purpose, but it’s intentional.
Quite interesting. i know where there is one of these. They are not that common at all where I live. A thousand spread over 4.8 million square kilometres.
This one close to where I regularly shop is used a lot by high school students. It seems they do meet there before / after school and watch videos, tic toe etc together. Students, homeless not so well off seem to have a mobile but maybe not anywhere near limitless data.
Probably good for visitors and in emergencies. I would take my grandchildren to it for sure. 16yo & younger may have never seen a phone with a cord. So a very interesting curiosity for them.
What maybe not interesting to me or social to me can be the opposite to others.
It merely needs to be a venue that one would seek out. Nobody is walking a hiking trail because they wish to see mile-marker number two, nor going to a park in order to admire a bench, rather they are seeking an experience that is available there.
Post Offices and libraries are considered to be excellent points of interest. Is this so different?
Finding it hard to say that they are not a real point of interest to some. Absolutely for younger people who haven’t really even seen a phone box let alone a phone with a cable. I am swayed by those with limited data allowance and see the point for homeless or under privileged.Games can be free to play. Do we exclude people who do find them interesting and even necessary and their major source of social interaction? There are lots of tablets that don’t have a sim but can be connected via this old phone box. Would be interesting to all when there provider has an outage.
Like a lot of categories there is much to consider. As a newer reviewer I suppose I look for reasons to include first by honestly answering those check box questions. I am not going out of my way to find a fault or searching for a reason to
I see your point that if a phone booth with wifi was made into a wayspot that could be placed in a game, that would help people play the game if they had no other access to them. That’s nice, just not the point of identifying POIs. Lots of businesses have free WiFi (at least in the many countries where I travel). Should all of those be made into wayspots so the people who don’t have wifi can go there to play games?
It’s cool that they converted those old phone boxes to wifi hotspots, but if there are 1,000 of the exact same thing throughout the city, each individual one is not really all that interesting. They are really part of the city’s infrastructure.
