I’m new to Wayfaring and I’m having a really hard time getting any of my pokestop nominations approved. I’ve double checked that they meet the criteria and so far, all of them do. But for some reason they keep getting declined. I have quality pictures, a good title, a good brief description, and a detailed yet to the point explanation of why they would be good for my area? The only thing I can think of is that the current satellite image that Pokemon Go has of my area is almost a year old and hasnt updated to show the new additions to our community.
For example, the 2 I posted below are of our communities walking path that runs from the community clubhouse, along multiple lakes, runs along a creek that the neighborhood is named after, and ends at the back of the neighborhood where another clubhouse is currently under construction. I walk with my kids along this path every other night and its almost 2 miles long and is made to be a community walking/exercise path. Our community is massive and has tons of young familys and many play PoGo based off the people i see leaving their Pokémon at powerstops in the neighborhood. The other is our community mailboxes which are along that same path and have the information board for our whole neighborhood. I’ve seen so many other stupid pokemon stops in my town and yet I have perfectly acceptable locations that meet all the criteria and I cant get a single one to be approved.
Could some of you guys please help me understand why or give me advise for how to get them approved finally? I have several more throughout our community I’d like to nominate but I have a feeling they’ll just get declined. The 2 nominations im referencing are marked below as a dark blue and yellow mark. The others are places I plan on nominating in the future. Like I said, the map doesnt ahow the full expansion of our neighborhood. All the construction seen on the map is finished and the next major phase with 250 more homes is underway on the weat side of the lake. Please help!
At first glance, the only things I see that should be easy acceptances are the covered playground, pool, and community activity center(?) building.
A community announcement board also sounds eligible - it’s a place that encourages peer to peer networking.
In theory, I like the idea of the walking path, but in practice you almost always “need” signage to designate it as a “bona fide” trail and not just a generic sidewalk.
Please don’t bother with the pond aerator - those have a history of slipping in (especially in Florida) but meet explicit rejection and removal criteria. I suspect any signage you try for the community entrances will be denied, too.
I also just noticed there’s a nearby Methodist church you could easily get accepted.
Wayfarer criteria is something that is a great place to Socialize, Exercise, or Explore. Think about places that bring the community together - such as public play areas. Maybe you can work with the HOA or other association to add things like Little Free Libraries or picnic areas to public grounds?
PS I have family off of Manatee Ave W and I’ve had a few nominations that way, myself.
“Wayfarer criteria” usually indicates that the ML (machine learning ai) model has rejected the nomination, but the model seems to have been turned off since November 28. Did your emails say these decisions were from the “community” or from “our team”?
Thanks for the tips! I tried for the sign at the front entrance because the neighborhood down the street from me has a pokestop at both entrance signs My goal with that club house area was to try and get 3 stops at it since its our neighborhoods most common gathering place. I was gonna try 1 on the Pathway to the north, one on the Playground to the south, and one on the clubhouse itself too the east. It seems this is gonna be a lot harder then I first expected… what’re some times for making these places acceptable? They absolutely fall into the criteria but I just dont understand why they’re being rejected.
On top of these, I’m a local first responder and a ton of my coworkers are super into pogo still with all the driving around we do on shift. We all really wanted to make more of our stations pokemon stops and a few of them actually are already. But i just tried to get my current station as a waypoint and even though it was located on the outer edge of the property and technically in an area that is a public education and meeting center for the near by neighborhood, it was still declined. How do people get other fire stations accepted? Especially since its a building type in the description?
Fire stations should not be accepted nowadays. Way back in the beginning, some were imported just to create places to play. Any that are reported to Niantic as live are removed.
Man, that stinks! Our stations are all located in very popular locations in town and are always open for public use. They also make great stops since they’re very close to a lot of locations that are frequented by all the bikers, joggers, and cross country groups that our in our town. We recently built some new stations that include community meeting and education rooms that are public useable locations for the surrounding neighborhoods. Plus, 5 of the 6 guys on my shift all still play pogo and have since 2016 we promise that a waypoint wont interfere with emergency operations lol
Okay the community meeting rooms might work. The actual rejection reason is “Obstructs emergency services” as you mention, so if you can convince that the location does not, then it might have a chance. It will be very hard to convince reviewers, though, so have a lot of documentation.
Also, all of my decisions except my one appeal for the fire station (before i understood what that was) say “our team”.
If im getting blocked by the AI algorithm how can I get around it better if the area’s actually meet all the criteria, like the spots in my neighborhood?
The two that you showed don’t meet criteria in my opinion, so I think the model was right. Mailboxes and sidewalks are simply infrastructure, and if either made it into review, I would mark that as not distinct. Do you have more screenshots you would like to share?
I guess Ill have to try and resubmit it as a community meeting area or a safety education center lol? We literally have dozens if not hundreds of bikers and joggers going past our station weekly and hold training and community meetings every other weekend. Theres definitely a lot more too this then i originally anticipated
I do feel the pokestop nominations are really hit and miss though. Sometimes submissions you think would go through don’t while some you wouldn’t have ever imagined of do. I.e. in my general area, you’ll come across a pokestop or two attached to some sort of rock on the corner of a block or sidewalk that was painted or decorated, very obscured murals, marketing ads, and such.
What part of the world are you in? Some of that sounds like it could be attached to abuse. But of course I can’t say for sure without seeing them.
[Edited to add that if you want to discuss some of your rejected nominations, you should start a new topic in Nomination Support to keep from getting the discussion confused.]
Any way you can ask the local facilities to install signs? Either named trail signs or even distance markers - “Lake Loop - .5 miles” or something like that? Below is a fun example I found nearby me:
It encourages exploring the local area and exercise.
At least for the specic examples you’ve shared, I don’t share the same opinion of them being eligible. Mailboxes aren’t a place for socializing, exercise, or exploring - they’re “just” generic infrastructure where you might bump into a neighbor. The path, like I said, I like the idea but there isn’t anything visually obvious that sets it apart from any other sidewalk around town - generic infrastructure.
Going to add real quick, too, I’m glad you found your way here and are contributing to the conversation. Yes, I’ll agree, it can be very difficult and urban housing developments like this often have issues finding things that can be eligible. But it’s definitely possible and I’m sure we can find other things, too.
With careful planning, you could add all of the nearby baseball fields, too.
Unfortunately this isnt something that will mean much to reviewers, when safety is at risk, people will side with abundance of caution, someone promising something shouldnt and wont sway reviewers.
I assumed they metr the criteria based on my understanding of it and my lived experiences in my neighborhood. I also figured that they were better nominations then a lot of other ones ive come across so i figured they’d have a good chance at getting approved?
I dont have any other ones at the moment. I may ask for some help when i go to try and make my other station a stop. Its across the street from a massive sports complex and park thats next to a local high school and theres already tons of stops on that side of the road. I was wanting to eventually get our station or our info sign out front, to be a stop since its right at the back corner of the park and tons of people go jogging past the station and use our parking lot. I really appreciate all your help though!
Fire stations, typically, are not eligible and should be removed if accepted. Also, even if they weren’t excluded, how do they meet any of the three eligibility criteria? They aren’t great places to exercise, socialize or explore.
Do post you nominations here for help. There are many experienced folks who give great advice.
My goal with that club house area was to try and get 3 stops at it since its our neighborhoods most common gathering place. I was gonna try 1 on the Pathway to the north, one on the Playground to the south, and one on the clubhouse itself too the east. It seems this is gonna be a lot harder then I first expected… what’re some times for making these places acceptable? They absolutely fall into the criteria but I just dont understand why they’re being rejected.
we promise that a waypoint wont interfere with emergency operations lol