Are gated communities eligible for Wayspots?
Based on the criteria I recently reported one (for no Pedestrian Access) in game only to have the the report rejected.
Should I have used a different reason code? It seems ineligible for a number of reasons such as Ineligible location (No pedestrian access, private residential property) & Abusive location (strategically placed to provide advantage to a single player or collective group)
Yes.
Rightfully so.
No. It’s not a rejection or a removal reason.
I doubt the gated community is eligible by itself if that is the thing being nominated, however, there are exactly zero problems with the location of an eligible wayspot being on the grounds of a gated community.
Things in gated communities are indeed eligible. When you’re reviewing nominations on wayfarer, check the tool tip on the appropriate section and you’ll see it’s quite clearly stated there that things in gated communities are eligible.
So long as some people have access some of the time, and the access is safe for those people, then that’s fine.
If there’s a Showcase Pokestop that only people that live in the community can access and gym that only people living in a neighborhood can reach I fail to see how that’s not a “Location that is intentionally and strategically placed to provide advantage to a single player or collective group.”
We’re talking about 50 homes. How may players do you realistically think are in the neighborhood?
Can you be a little more specific? I don’t see gated communities mentioned at in any of the tabs under Criteria. The only thing I see that’s close to what you’re saying is “Indoor vs Outdoor: Indoor nominations are eligible, so long as they are publicly accessible to some capacity (e.g. inside a library or business with limited hours of operation), and where small groups can congregate and play comfortably. Note that nominations on private residential property are ineligible.” Areas (playground or green belt) in Gated communities are private residential property w/ no pedestrian access and are not publicly accessible spaces.
I think you’re misunderstanding how Niantic classifies private property. This is on the tooltip under “Appropriate” when reviewing.
As mentioned, places within a gated community are eligible, even if they aren’t always accessible to the general public. These places may include parks, swimming pools, clubhouses, etc. As long as they can be accessed by pedestrians safely, even if it’s just a few people that live nearby and meet eligibility criteria, they can be Wayspots. There’s no hard number on how many players have to visit Wayspots daily for them to stay in the games.
I look at these Wayspots similar to rural Wayspots, which may not have as many players using them as urban/suburban players, but there is someone using them to play the game(s). Trust me, in PoGo, I have occupied gyms for weeks in rural areas, but that isn’t against the rules of the game.
Also, the criteria is more limited when it comes to removing Wayspots. For example, I submitted a removal request for a Little Free Library on private residential property. A private residential property is a single family home, and this LFL was on the front lawn of a home. While it was rejected, I did appeal it, showing proof of the LFL being at a single family home, and the Wayspot has now been removed. The home owner even saw me take the photo, and I explained to them what I was doing. Turned out that their kid played the game, and they really didn’t want strangers raiding a gym on their property.
Got it. Thanks.
Looks like that was indeed the case. Thanks for this.
Literally, whilst you’re reviewing any nomination and you have the sections where you give thumbs up or thumbs down, there’s an “i” button on the Appropriate section. If you tap that button it’ll come up with some tips for what is and isn’t considered appropriate. Gated communities are listed under the appropriate locations section.
This is not what is meant by that quote. That quote specifically refers to intentionally placing the pin for a wayspot away from where it should be in order to benefit certain players or game maps. For example, if a wayspot would be just out of reach of someone’s house, and the submitter attempts to place it a few metres away from where it actually is so that they can have a couch stop/portal, that would fall under intentionally and strategically placing a location to provide an advantage to a player. Locations in gated communities aren’t intentionally placed to provide a strategic advantage to anyone.
Can you explain what “providing an advantage to a single player/collective group” means?
We definitely understand that there are some strategically placed Wayspots that are critical for competitive play in Niantic apps, including areas that have restricted or limited access. This doesn’t apply to those locations. This guideline is about curbing abuse by Explorers who are attempting to make their Niantic app of choice easier to play by submitting fake or misleading nominations. In general, follow the criteria and help your fellow player explore interesting real-world locations in your cities and you should be fine.
Sorry I’m late to this. I think a big part of the confusion around this issue is people not understanding the word “pedestrian.”
Pedestrian simply means “a person walking.” In this case, it is also extended to people with poor mobility so that we don’t exclude persons in wheelchairs.
I believe many Wayfinders think it means “a member of the general public.” It does not.
It simply means that a human needs to be able to stand (or sit in their wheelchair) safely at the spot of the POI.
