The most popular area to play in Sydney for community days and other global events appears to have been gutted of Pokestops.
The locations above correspond to the circled areas here:
These areas were previously filled with Pokestops, but now only the gyms and a handful of stops remain. Every corresponding portal in Ingress remains. In addition, some nearby areas have had gyms shuffled around. Any word on what’s going on? We’re a week out from global go fest.
Hello and welcome! I have no idea what has been happening in Sydney but some locations in the world have been experiencing a Pokémon GO rebalance to follow density rules for this game, which were previously not respected. I see a ton of Wayspots can still be found in Lightship around the piers you show in your screenshot, so this could be similar. The rebalance can take several days as in this example below.
(again I have no idea if this is the reason you are not seeing wayspots, or if you are experiencing some other glitch)
Hi there @yoshiofadown, welcome to the forum.
Not that I watch him, but I did once see a clip from one of FleeceKing’s videos where there was an abnormal density of Pokéstops in one location in Sydney, so as @Xenopus says, it’s likely that Niantic have been made aware of this area and other similar areas in Sydney, and they are performing a clean up, as the way the map was before should not have been possible with the proximity rules that Pokémon Go uses and was most likely achieved through Wayfarer abuse.
What happens is that they effectively wipe the affected areas in Pokémon Go and then allow them to sync again, thus ensuring the proximity rules get applied correctly to the area, so you should see the area repopulated within a few days at most.
If that’s the reason I understand, but it’s frustrating that it happens so close to Go Fest. If more removals happen over the Go Fest weekend, it will be very disruptive. I know I’m not the only one considering playing in not as good an area because of this. I know it’s probably too much to ask but if anyone from Niantic is reading, can we put a pause on this until after global Go Fest?
I’m curious, as it’s been a couple of days. Have some of the stops returned?
Some stops are noticeably gone, but yes, most of them are back. It took 48 hours. Also the locations of a few gyms wildly changed to different POIs.
Glad to hear it has returned to a playable area.
My best guess is that in circumstances such as this when a recalculation takes place some Wayspots that previously appeared in the game will no longer do so as they are not eligible. Because of this recalculation it will also mean gym selection may change.
