I’m here once again looking for help with a submission. The nomination below has been rejected by the “team” six times in a row now all within less than 24 hours of submitting. I’m aware that this is an indication that it is the AI is the one doing the rejection so I’ve come to you lovely folks for help lol.
I’ve attempted to tweak the angle of the submission photo, the title, the description, and the supplemental info all to no avail. Is this one of those submissions that I will just have to use an appeal on? Is this even a nomination I should continue attempting to pursue?
Hey there, when you think about submitting something, you have to check that it fulfills one of the three core criteria:
-Is it a place or object to explore?
-Is it a place or object that encourages exercise?
-Is it a place to socialize, where people would come together?
Here an example how I would do it:
Explore: Not really fitting, it’s not something you would want to go see specifically or show to others.
Exercise: The tunnel itself is unrelated to exercise. If there is a hiking trail going through it, maybe you could argue for it, but that’s still a bit weak.
Socialising: It’s not fitting here at all, sure you can meet up at a tunnel, but that is more being suspicious than having a good time
Overall, your only chance will be exercise, which you haven’t addressed in your nominations.
My recommendation would be though, to give up on this one, this a case of not being against the rules that much, but just not good enough
The main issue for me here is that it keeps getting auto rejected without the chance to even go into voting no matter how I try to change up the photo or the supporting info.
But the feedback you have for me is helpful! Maybe I should elaborate further within the nomination that the tunnel is made specifically to allow people to go to and from the park?
I marked up the map below to show the length of the tunnel, as well as the entrance which I’m attempting to nominate.
I submitted this with the Explore and the Exercise criteria in mind due to the fact that people from the surrounding neighborhood use it daily to jog/run to and from their homes to the park on the other side. It also greatly increases those same residents’ access to the park, as they would have to travel all the way around to the southern end of the 36-acre park to access it otherwise. It has its own dedicated street crossing as well shown here via Google Street View.
Well, I wouldn’t see it as fulfilling exercise with it just fulfilling its primary function - connecting through a road - enabling access to a park still doesn’t have to do anything with that.
Also, exploration is something the park itself fits better to
How does this differ from foot bridges which are widely accepted on the basis of facilitating exercise and exploration? I’m genuinely curious, as this tunnel provides safe access by going under/through a major freeway and into the park as seen in the screenshots.
Although I am still curious as to what I can do to prevent the AI/ML from auto-rejecting this submission as well.
I have not submitted a tunnel since the ML was introduced, but I think this is one of those cases where you need to turn your phone sideways and back up just a bit to give it more context for what you are submitting. It seems to be trained to reject plants, concrete, and asphalt unless it can detect something eligible in them. I can’t see the tunnel on Street View to try to make a snip illustrating what I mean, but you could take some new photos and post them here. I also feel that pedestrian underpasses for greenways meet criteria for making exercise and exploration possible.
I tried a completely different angle as well as a new title and got auto-rejected again
It’s looking like I’ll have to use an appeal on this, which I was really hoping to avoid! Does anyone have any other suggestions or recommendations as to what I should do to prevent the AI from shooting me down? Haha
Hi @Niianiikii
How does the tunnel looks from the other side? Maybe you could try that side?
Or go inside the tunnel and make a photo with walls and a section with the outside (hopefully the park looks nice), like a “from inside to outside” photo. Do you get my idea?
In the US, these footbridges do tend to be accepted (of course not always). It’s a shame ML is blocking it without giving a reason.
I don’t think I’ve submitted any since ML has started. My last tunnel was approved by Niantic voters several years ago. The other handful I’ve done have been community approved.
I usually try and explain what and how my nomination meets criteria. For example, with yours…
Facilitates exercise by providing a safe and separated access for pedestrians on a popular walking path. Encourages exploration in connecting pedestrians to their local parks. Underpass tunnels, like this, are essential to reconnect areas for pedestrian traffic and are often focal points for meeting or playing children.
I think the above text is sincere and accurate and would help a community reviewer understand the importance and logic of the submission. I’m never sure ML has the reading & comprehension to understand.
I uploaded it with a completely different picture and ML still denied it immediately. I ended up having to use one of my Appeals on it and it went into Niantic Voting after a couple of days. It was eventually accepted as a wayspot though and is now a visible POI in game!
Unfortunately, nothing I did in terms of changing the title, description, supplemental info, or images helped getting it past the AI. It’s unfortunate that I had to use an appeal on this, but I hope it helps train the AI in some way.
