Just to add my 2 cents. 
Some neighborhood signs are designated meeting places for families in case of emergencies. Under that circumstance, I’d say it qualifies as a gathering place.
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At my job, when I worked in an actual office building, our team was instructed to gather at a particular parking section for fire drills and evacuation simulations. That doesn’t mean that particular parking section a great place to gather. It’s just a point on a map to get a headcount in an area that doesn’t obstruct emergency vehicles.
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A gathering point for a set purpose but not social gathering point.
The social aspect is what is critical.
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Time to add all the “Evacuation Zone” signs to Wayfarer because they’re for gathering spaces, right? 
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I guess it’s all in how you define “places to gather”. But remember, I’m one to put an eligible POI in every cell.
That’s not the criterion I’m looking for. 
From a Wayfarer perspective, I’m looking for “great places to be social with others” and not just a spot where clusters of people might appear.
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I guess it really does come down to point of view.
You see a neighborhood sign saying “Sunny Side Estates” as no different than a street sign that says “2nd Street”.
While I can understand, I disagree. I view them more as describing an area. You can walk around and explore Sunny Side Estates, you can’t walk in middle of 2nd street to find something.
Again, maybe its the fact that I am PMG player. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Aloha, Galar, Hisui, Paldea are lands that people go to to explore and catch them all. For a kid, I don’t see travelling to Sunny Side Estates any different than Ash travelling to Hoenn.
Same thing on a more adult scale for cities. When I catch a pokemon or hatch a pokemon from a far away city it, it says it. My shundo giratina says from Toyko Japan on it. Even though I’m from Michigan, USA. So the idea of different cities and places matters. So why wouldn’t signage showing that place matter?
Again, I do get what your saying. I just simply view it differently.
PS: If a sign is artistic, everyone tends to agree you can try to nominate/accept based on its artistic nature. This viewpoint is about non-artistic signs
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Each of the fantastic lands in Pokemon has an unique culture or community.
If you can identify such a characteristic pertaining to Sunny Side Estates and persuade voters that it is real, go for it.
Some real-estate developments might be influenced by historic roots or cultural or environmental concerns and manifest something noteworthy.
A slab of concrete with square letters that identify a developer’s brand, the same as dozens of others in the vicinity, is a bit hard to choke down. It has been imposed on the area along with the Home-Owners Association agreement and Zoning Law bypasses.
If there is any public stuff inside that gate, why not simply nominate that? If there’s a lot of it, THAT becomes the charm or character that you can use to sell the special nature of your community sign.
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I’m a Pokemon Go player, too! For me, housing developments and apartment complexes are more akin to being in the tall grass along the routes in the original games. Definitely, different places do matter - but in your example, you get gifts from Tokyo, not Shibuya or Shinjuku or Ueno, and definitely not from specific neighborhoods in those wards. So if I’m understanding correctly, you consider these signs eligible under the Explore criterion? If so, is the sign itself an Exploration destination or just a location pin for the neighborhood you might consider worthy of exploration? What about the neighborhood makes it “great” to explore, vs. a similar subdivision that has no sign?
It’s a matter of how do we judge criteria from the viewpoint of an adult or child?
From an adult viewpoint
Welcome to Toyko-- fits
Welcome to Sunnyside Estates – doesn’t
From a child viewpoint
Welcome to Sunnyside Estates – does
Yeah, I personally think the signs should be explorable, as fitting game. I will readily admit that’s not Niantic’s current view and I review by Niantic’s view not my own.
I’m a little more lenient than most, because as a parent, I often ask myself would this meet the criteria not just to an adult, but to a child.
I didn’t make the statement that “Sunnyside Estates” is similiar to Unova, etc.
I would say welcome to City X is. Especially since the game puts those cities on where a pokemon was caught. In my mind, Cities Signs are similar to various lands the game travels to.
However, welcome to Sunnyside Estates is similar in the mind of my 10 year old. Who might mention on a walk can we go over to Sunnyside Estates or walk around it. Or talk about it like some grand travel.
But again, I’ve never seen any post about whether we are to judge something from POV of an adult or a child. So I often consider what my 10 year old would think too when I review.
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The adult VS child argument makes no sense. it keeps referencing Pokémon, but wayfarer has nothing to do with Pokémon. wayfarer is game agnostic.
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I’m not sure why “Child vs Adult” makes no sense. It’s an entirely self-evident question. The pokemon references don’t matter.
Criteria1 Quote: great place for exploration
A place you love to venture out to ((Different for an Adult vs Kid)) ; a destination ((Different for an Adult vs Kid)) or a placemark of local interest ((Different for an Adult vs Kid)) and importance and which makes our communities unique and shapes its identity. Somewhere or something that tells the unique story about a place, its history, its cultural meaning, or teaches us about the community we live in.
Examples of Wayspot categories
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Historic plaques
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Unique Art or Architecture ((Different for an Adult vs Kid))
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Public Libraries
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Public places of worship
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Zoos
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Museums and galleries
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Community gardens
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Historical gravestones
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Nature signs
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Unusual or unique local shops ((Different for an Adult vs Kid))
Pokemon just served as an example, the wayfarer criteria can be looked at multiple ways and not just kid vs adult
Even something such as a “Destination” does that mean from ((Something you’d travel out of town for on a vacation, something you’d take an out-of-towner to, or something you’d take a walk to to see again?
I tend to see Welcome to City signs as Explore worthy. My kid tends to see Neighbor Hood signs as explore worthy.
Because age is not important to WAYFARER. The only reason people keep brinig up age is because they are linking Wayfarer to Pokemon GO which they (incorrectly) think of as a kids game.
When this process for adding points of interest began, the frame of reference was Ingress under Operation Portal Recon. No one talks about kids or children when discussing Ingress. There were no “think of the children” moments during OPR.
But since Wayfarer was established in order to be game agnostic and brought in access from Pokemon GO, suddenly people are all about the children.
Children don’t care about Wayfarer. Wayfarer doesn’t “care” about children beyond the exception of keeping us away from K-12 properties and making sure that pedestrian access is safe for all humans.
People are supposed to be 18 (i think) to participate in WF. (That may only be the age restriction for ambos.) Kid accounts from the games that have those don’t have access to Wayfarer.
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Vehemently disagree. Age is important to how you judge existing Wayfarer Criteria completely seperate from the various games.
OPR is 100% irrelevent. Completely different criteria, before my time. I don’t know what the original OPR criteria was. And whether a kid would view one of them differently or not.
Existing Criteria is open-ended, and viewed differently by different communities. Look at explore subcategory “A destination”… What is meant by a destination?
Which EXACTLY is a “Destination” ???
- Neighborhood Walk to Spot
- Place I’d drive 10 minutes too for my own enjoyment?
- Place I’d take an Out-of-Town Friend to see
- Place I’d go out of my way to see while I’m on Vacation?
- Place I’d schedule a vacation too?
All of those are “Destinations” but viewed differently and different people when reviewing and nominating look at it differently. Wayfarer doesn’t define how we should look at a “Destination” communities, submitters, and reviewers do.
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Are you trying to give me new ideas? If so, I’m listening! 
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Wow! The cicadas really are bad this year!
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Admitting this a bit of detour, but to the point about retail plaza signing, I have the one below as my “featured wayspot” by Niantic. I truly have no idea what is acceptable. It really seems like a crapshoot.
You can disagree all you want, but age is not part of any of the official explanations or guidance for Wayfarer. It’s as relelvant as judging a submission based on how my grandmother would like this POI.
You’re adding a layer that is not part of the official discussion in order to justify POI that don’t qualify for any real reason.
Do i submit things that meet criteria but are typically only used by kids? Yes. But i don’t submit or vote to approve ineligble things because kids “need places to go.”
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No you are completely misunderstanding what I am saying and I will try one last time to get you to understand. I completely agree Age is not anything official to consider. However, what is officially are given broad criteria to interpret and encouraged to use our own judgement.
Undebatable, (cut and paste from Niantic Webpage and Criteria) is phrase “Unique Art or Architecture”
Now, what makes something unique? A building different in my city from any other building? My State? My Country? Does it need some sort of award? Does it need some sort of recognition.
Those are JUDGEMENT calls, that we are encouraged as submitters & reviewers to make.
Do you really disagree with that???
As for Subdivision Signs. Welcome to Sunnyside Estates I’ve already said Niantic has clarified they don’t count. But the community in Florida routinely ignores it and approves them. To the best of my knowledge Niantic hasn’t removed them, nor has Niantic sent warning letters to submitters or reviewers. I don’t accept them when I review. But my argument is, I would. I would because when I go for a walk my child says Hey can we go over to Sunnyside Estates. The people of Florida do, people most places do not.
If niantic changed their mind, and said they were eligible. I’m sure more places would join Florida and other places would not. That’s the core feature of Wayfarer
Niantic doesn’t require us to ask “What would a child think is Explore Worthy” but it doesn’t forbid it either.
I often use a baseball analogy to make sense to my friends with Wayfarer. The baseball hall of fame is really a huge debate. There are small hall voters, who think only the very best of the best, should get in There are big hall voters, who have an easier standard to getting in. Same happens on wayfarer. I tend to be a big hall voter.
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