The featured Wayspot page is a reflection of the opinions of community reviewers, nothing more.
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It should not be like this, but it is. And all those who are chiming in that we should accept them because Niantic is featuring them are proving my point that this is a bad thing.
Hmm… I think YOU have made this point before iirc…
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When I log in to wayfarer I land on the page with the featured wayspots. They are put there by the company on the company’s web site. The community reviewers do not out them up.
I can only think this means the featured spots are definitely company approved. If this is wrong only the company can say that. It’s ok to disagree with the company but I’m not sure it is right to just disregard the fact that they post what can only be thought of as their example wayspits.
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The community reviewers don’t put them up, but Niantic does not individually curate them.
The “featured” page only shows community approvals and an algorithm automatically puts some of them up once a week.
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They are randomly chosen from all the community approved Wayspots from the prior week; no Wayspots approved by ML are included. Niantic doesn’t have people selecting them; it’s a system code that does so. Most of the bad featured Wayspots I see I never even get in review, and I would have rejected them if I had.
We have been asking for criteria clarification for neighborhood signs for quite a long time now, and have gotten nothing official back from Niantic. I tend to go off of what ambos have said about them, such as what @Shilfiell said. Unless there is something else included that might make them eligible, like a decorative fountain, sculpture, gazebo, etc, they’re not very distinct.
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Readers can only presume that a company is responsible for, and stands by, the content they publish. It’s ok to say that some content is computer generated. The company is still responsible for it though. It’s ok to say some featured wayspots are bad in your opinion. The company has had sufficient time to correct any mistakes (if any) they think their algorithm has made. Another pair of wayspots get featured and zero mention that previous ones may have been mistakes, borderline or whatever.
Regardless of eligibility or intent of the discussion in here, if you can distinguish a neighborhood sign from its surroundings then it’s considered “distinct.”
Hahahahahhahaha.
Sorry.
Hahahahahahahhahahah.
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Typically not here in the US. The developers will use the same design for the same neighborhood/subdivision many times.
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Outside of all the other considerations on whether this feature should really exist if it is so misleading at the moment (I believe it shouldn’t), just to give some perspective, community observations indicate that the showcase is shared with your local S2 L6 cell (more on S2 cells and how they work here, they are used across many features in Niantic games).
There are above 24’000 such cells in the world, since overall it’s a fairly small polygon. There can be up to 3 things in the showcase.
I wouldn’t operate on the assumption that someone manually curates all 24k to 96k of them every Monday.
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Niantic has said in the past that featured waypoints are not curated.
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Sorry @elijustrying you are incorrect in your assessment. The head of the road is a colloquial term for them. A lot of these estate name signs are on greens areas where you can have a game off soccer with a full team, lie back and listen to music or sit and chat with friends amongst other things for hours on end. If that is not socialising then what is?
As you said yourself:
They are not just a meeting point although they can and are used as such also.
They are an anchor point the same as other items that are currently eligible. Some of those already eligible are closer to meeting points then socialising points but I also agree with there inclusion for the very same reasons as I would with some of the estate name signs.
They are not road junctions, since you mentioned them, although, we still have horse and cattle fairs at certain junctions throughout the country also (even though the are rarer now then they once were) with hundreds in attendance on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Which if they were the topic of the discussion they would be great places to socialise but would probably not be eligible due to the non permanent nature of them.
Again maybe it’s different strokes for different folks but we can only go on local knowledge and that is what I am basing my opinion on. From what I’ve read in the US they are advertising platforms for developers, they are not that here.
On a new site you would see that sort of advertising thing during development but they are torn down when the project is finished and I would definitely not count that likes of those as estate name signs as they are not permanent and are usually an eyesore attached to a container or something of the likes showing what phase of the development they are currently building or have reached.
Should actual estate names signs (Not temporary advertising Signs) be showcased…I can think of better poi to be honest but there are a few that could deserve a showcase. Again like trail markers, showcase isn’t really ideal but if you had a trail marker at a nice view point then I wouldn’t disagree with it being showcased either.
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Hello,
I do want to emphasise that each should be assessed separately, and the onus is on the submitter to make a case.
I would say if its a large grass area where people play and socialise it is a park space, and I am very happy to assess these areas without a sign saying park - as per criteria clarification. Without seeing an example I think the play area is more suitable than an estate sign.
But since you seem to be talking about a different set up than either the US or what I am familiar with in estates in Scotland and England I think it would be helpful to see some examples of head of the road so we can discuss - which is important and why we have a forum 
as it is rarely yes or no but a question of how they match the basics.
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That’s not the case. In the US, these neighborhood signs tend simply to mark the entrance to a neighborhood. Some can be quite ornamental, many are nice looking, but not something that you go explore. They are rarely associated with large green areas or spaces where people will gather and do things, because we reserve those to be called parks and they tend to have their own park signs. As others have said, each case needs to be judged on its own, but overall, a sign simply marking the entrance to a neighborhood doesn’t inherently meet any of the criteria .
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Not going to get much support for this neighbourhood sign’s inclusion. Im thinking that this may similar to UK ones and so the negativity shown towards them.
Where I am – there would be no thought given to nominating “Riverside”
We are talking about big, big, permanent installations that are a landmark and well known by locals – they make a statement to passers by and say “come have a look”.They are not advertising. That would be the (temporary) electronic sign board placed on any left for sale.
They differ – some will have a sculpture, some an etching. When I get time I will be nominating one that has a big, big sign but it is part of a large artisan made, stone wall. It has a garden in front, then a lawn.
Perhaps there is a confusion as to the scope of the signs being discussed.
@elijustrying @Leedle95 this is just one I can think of. The green area alone here is bigger than my local park.
Sign is on the bottom pic. In my opinion it’s a great area to socialise.
@Leedle95 just to clear up something, I am going solely on socialise. Not explore.
I don’t think there is any confusion. I’d say one out of every three or four nominations that I review is a neighborhood sign. Like I said, many are decorative but still just marking the entrance to a neighborhood.
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Well there it is – The first one is in the middle of the road and small. The other three are tiny compared to the ones near me. I wouldn’t go for any of those based on your pics.
I can see the merit in your arguement for those. A lot of it can come down to submitter putting decent photo in supporting. Where Wilshire looks like it’s in a bad spot like the position where it is, orchard view could be ok if there was a full view.
The side that also gets overlooked is just as you said, the are entrances to neighbourhoods, normally with multiple 10’s of families living in an enclosed area. Neighbourhoods are great places to socialise, like how did most of use meet friends when we were younger and where do our kids play and socialise with their friends right now?
I appreciate parks and plazas are great but estates are one of the best places to socialise just the same. Even within these estates there would normally be a group of residents that maintain the place and they would socialise probably weekly during the spring/summer months maybe less during autumn/winter for obvious reasons.
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These are the sort of landscaped spaces that I do think should be considered. They have been left as open space so that people can use it for social and exercise activity. It is often laid to grass simply because that is cheap. But it is totally accessible.
I would start to look at council websites as they will typically be responsible for the upkeep. Find out how these are described. Finding the planning consent online will often yield that these are meant to be considered recreational space. Finding an anchor point might be tricky.
Try to ensure the google maps has an appropriate label that matches what you find in the research. A supplementary picture on a nice day with people playing or sitting around will also help.
Overall it wont be easy but this is what people are likely to gravitate towards and not the estate sign. And I can see people spending time there.
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