I would like to better understand the synchronization and visibility rules for accepted Wayspots in my area. I have noticed that several approved nominations are not appearing in certain games, or in some cases, any games at all.
I have conducted a field test by downloading and checking Pokémon GO, Ingress, Monster Hunter Now, and Pikmin Bloom. I’ve attached an image to illustrate the situation:
Red Circle (marked with “1”): These Wayspots are visible in Ingress, Monster Hunter Now, and Pikmin Bloom, but they do not appear in Pokémon GO.
Green Circles: These points were accepted by the community but do not appear in any of the four Niantic games mentioned.
Lower Red Circle: This was a Gym in Pokémon GO years ago but was removed. It currently does not appear in any Niantic game.
I understand that each game has its own density rules (such as S2 cells or distance buffers). However, I would like to clarify:
Is there a specific reason why the “Green Circle” points are not appearing in any game, even Ingress? Are they held in the Lightship database only due to a 20-meter rule?
Regarding the removed Gym: if a Wayspot is deleted from one game for a specific reason, does it automatically become ineligible for all other current and future Niantic titles?
I appreciate any insights or official documentation that can help me understand why these accepted locations are not being utilized in the game maps.
For reference, the coordinates for the area shown in the image are: -19.839209731745385, -43.950986853990194
Ingress split off from the other games in May 2025. Anything added using Pokemon Go will not appear in Ingress, unless it is separately submitted using Ingress.
This may explain some of your issues.
For Niantic (Pokemon Go etc), all wayspots are in a database and each game selects which ones it wants to use as features in the game. It has been established by the community that Pokemon Go uses the S2 cells for density rules (with some unexplained exceptions), so when two wayspots appear in the same L17 cell, only one will be a pokestop/gym.
“The two points circled in green were suggested by me on January 7th and accepted by the community. Theoretically, shouldn’t these points appear in at least one of the games? As you can see in the image, this is Pokémon GO and there is only one Pokéstop nearby, so the area isn’t crowded enough to block new additions. Any idea why they haven’t synced yet?”
From the two maps above, your red circle at the bottom appears to be an import, not your wayspot that was removed years ago. You can confirm this by clicking it in the Pokémon GO view you showed above and seeing if it has an image.
Edit:
In the group of 4 at the top, was one or all of them approved in the past couple of days?
Or has anything in the area been removed recently?
Not exactly. Each wayspot submission is reviewed separately, and nothing prevents something being resubmitted.
However, it does depend on why and how it was removed.
For example, with a removal of a wayspot on a school, a re-submission should be rejected for being on a school, without reference to the old wayspot.
Sometimes, an area is geo-blocked, so anything in that area might get rejected (or never appear in Pokemon Go), but again without reference to the old wayspot.
None of these points exist in Pokémon GO. One point that was previously there (a music school) has been removed. As for the other four points, they have never appeared in Pokémon GO at all. Only one of them is visible in Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom (the same point in both). The other three haven’t appeared in any Niantic game yet.
Sorry but I’m going to ask again as this is important:
Are you sure that the southernmost wayspot is your former gym? Looks like an import to me.
Are the 4 painting wayspots yours and do you know if any of them are recent (as in, in the past few days)? (if they are not yours and you don’t know it’s fine)
Has anything previously appeared in this cell (where the 4 painting wayspots are) but has been very recently removed?
All land everywhere has someone who is the property manager.
Walls are easy - one side might be public and the other side not public space, so the wall is considered to belong to the non-public side including the outer face.
I see, thanks a lot for the explanation. Now I understand why there haven’t been any new spots there. It’s a shame, though—there’s some really cool graffiti in that area.
