How to prevent eligible wayspots from being removed?

[EONloveu]

Wayspot location: 25.055158, 121.608162

Wayspot Title: 臺北市立圖書館南港分館(Taipei Public Library Nangang Branch)

City, Country: Taipei, Taiwan

Hello everyone, I applied for a wayspot which is a community library located in vocational school. In the early days, this library was just a school library, but later, due to the lack of community land, it was renovated and became a community library and opened to the public (access to the library does not require passing through any school land). This community library is open and accessible to all ages and opens onto a wide pedestrian walkway. Apart from the fact that he is next to the school fence, I believe there is nothing wrong with this wayspot. I also described this situation in detail in the description column when I applied, and it was approved. (Once for general review and once for AI)

However, after I applied and was approved, I don’t know if it was a local player or Niantic’s own review mechanism who reported it and deleted the wayspot, or even a second time. Wayspots that passed the normal mechanism were deleted by the reporting mechanism, which confused me very much.

Looking for help, are there any suggestions here?

References:
library photos(Google Maps)

Street View Links:

Street View · Google Maps

Public Information:
Official Link

“This branch was moved to Nangang Road in 2019. It was renovated from the 1st to 3rd floors of the original library and information building of Taipei Municipal Nangang Advanced Industrial Vocational School. It was jointly built by the community library and the school, with a total area of ​​about 820 square meters ping, revitalizing the campus space.”

Google Maps Markers

Note:

I found through Lightship Dev that this library has been deleted five times in total LoL…including me twice (I applied with full English name)

[DTrain2002]

Hello,

Once a Wayspot has been approved, it cannot be removed by ML, the AI system. It can be removed by the request of players, if said request is granted by human staff, either in-game or via the link at the top of the forums labeled Wayspot Removals. The link at the top of the forums may also be used by those not playing any of the games to request removal, typically if they own or manage the property that the Wayspot is on. Unfortunately, Niantic may not be able to provide you with much info as to why the Wayspot was removed.

Staff may be able to look further into why it was removed. The library is listed as a public branch of the Taipei library, and it’s in a separate building from the school just from satellite view. It does appear that the school may be more than just a vocational school, as there’s also regular high school on the grounds, Google Maps list the vocational school as a vocational high school, but again, the library is in a separate building that doesn’t appear to be on the same grounds as the school, just next to it.

I would also say from Street View that the main entrance of the library is on the south side, closer to 25.054773697316985, 121.60815035535016. Your coordinates are closer to the school on the north side of the library.

You may want to edit the topic this is in to Wayspot Appeals, as this is where this type of request is handled.

[EONloveu]

Thanks for your reply. I know there is a Wayspot Appeal discussion forum and I often apply for appeals there. But this article is mainly to discuss this phenomenon, because I have a similar situation in other counties and cities. Wayspots that clearly meet the standards were deleted because they were close to schools.

If, as you say, this is not a system deletion but a human report (unknowingly or in a targeted manner), this is really troubling.

[DTrain2002]

Wayspots aren’t removed by ML, and if another computer system removes, it was most likely programed by humans to do so. Sponsored Wayspots where the sponsorship has ended may get programed for mass removal, just for an example.

A report of some kind does have to be submitted to Niantic, and then that report is reviewed by humans. Humans also aren’t perfect and make mistakes; I’ve also had to apoeal rejected removal requests that are valid as typically extra proof is needed for staff to make a final decision.

I don’t know how many people from your area are here in the forums, but where I live I don’t see Wayspots being removed without a good reason. Most of the time, I’m actually the one requesting removal and for a valid reason. So, I don’t know how many people will be able to back up what you’re noticing in your area here.

If you’re noticing a pattern that seems odd, it may be something you report as abuse, and the link to that is at the top of the forums.

[EONloveu]

In fact, I also find it quite strange. In the first few years when I played Wayfarer, similar things rarely happened. Now, it happen so frequently, as if someone is deliberately looking for trouble. I listed three other deleted Wayspots that all had similar situations. They all happened this year.(2024)

1.Yucheng Amusement Park
(25.053006,121.592873)

Street View Link

Note:
From the street view, you can see that it was in the playground outside the school. Before being deleted this year, this Wayspot existed for at least six or seven years.

2. Falling Flowers Floor Tiles
(25.0585658,121.6105212)

360-degree Photosphere

Note:
Decorative floor tiles, located in walkways/corridors outside the school
I even took a panoramic photo of it.

3. Shang-Mei school Basketball Court
(25.136948,121.778346)

Like the library on this theme,
It is located on the school’s community basketball court
It is open in the evening on weekdays and open all day on weekends for community residents to play ball.

Street View Link

[DTrain2002]

I think you may want to either appral for their restoration, or report this using the report abuse link at the top of the forums.

Keep in mind that a basketball court on school grounds is ineligible, as may be the tile art. Even if there is something at a K-12 school that is open to the public after school hours, it’s still on school grounds and meant mainly to be used by students during school hours. There may be safety and security issues that could present themselves if Wayspots were allowed on K-12 school grounds.

Also, Niantic may give us some distance in-game to interact with Wayspots, but for Wayfarer, they want us to be right at the Wayspot, not a certain distance away to interact.

There are some out there that submit inaccurate or abusive removal requests, sometimes because they might not think something meets criteria, or to improve on their game play. Some may abusively request Wayspot removal to gain another stop or gym in PoGo because they want their approved Wayspot in-game, or to make the game play uneven for another faction in Ingress.

Again, not something that happens in my area of play, so not something I’m all that interested in. I’m also not staff, so nothing I can do to restore Wayspots.