Hi, I’ve got a question on submitting trail markers and warnings.
Going by this a trail doesn’t need to look distinct to be eligible.
I can’t see any guidelines that say stickers aren’t allowed as they will last as long as the trail is there making them as permanent as the trail itself.
I submitted the marker below with a unique title which was rejected by Niantic voting and I got a warning email for submitting a genuine waypoint, both of which seem wrong.
What can I add to the supporting info to help ge these markers through?
Title - Cycle Surrey Hills Trail Marker - Hankley Common Car North Car Park
(I now see there is an error here)
Description - trail marker for the Surrey Hills Cycle Trail, Thursley Loop. The trail is a 9 mile loop around Thursley Common and Elstead, through the Thursley National Nature Reserve.
support - Encourages exercise and exploration into nature, more info on the trail can be found Thursley Loop - Surrey Hills National Landscape. The location is on the trail in the link above, easy access by foot or bike and encourages exercise. Thanks
Your evidence here seems to indicate that this is the official sticker that represents the trail. The link you gave in the supporting section doesn’t immediately show that this is the official sticker, and I see how people could have thought this was homemade abuse that was simply stuck here from the design. The rejection reasons you showed here are just reviewers thinking this was abuse. Did you get a separate warning email? Did it have a place to appeal (contact us) or did you reply to it?
Submitting trail marker is one of the hardest. Many got rejected because not distinct, considered temporary, or reviewer just cant find it. U need to prove that this is the norm in your country and not someone’s attempt to make wayspot. Afterall a lot of people can replicate the sticker.
Trail markers are generally hit and miss - much more likely away from a road - but that trail sticker is going to be harder than most. (I submit a lot of trail markers and UK PROW markers.)
The problem is that although the arrow is distinctive, the other markers you have shown look official but this one won’t - to a lot of people. The lack of text, compared to the others, and the location on the back of a sign are both problems. (I’ve had a trail marker accepted on a waste bin, so the location alone isn’t a blocker.)
OK, so I saw the first photo and I have to say it looked like something someone had made themselves. It’s much clearer from the other photos that this is how the trail markers look. You can use the supporting photo to give examples of the other trail markers, but of course that makes it difficult to show the proposed wayspot in context especially as there’s no StreetView or photospheres that I can see at this location.
The link you give in the supporting text does show the route going through the location you specified, but it’s hard to find. Often these routes can be found on OpenStreetMap which allows deeplinks like this - Relation: Devils PunchBowl Loop (8534511) | OpenStreetMap - but I can’t find one for this particular biking trail.
Strictly speaking, people should be voting on the trail and not the marker. But you have to prove that the trail exists, so it’s better for the marker to have the name of the trail or at least something recognisable. That having been said, it’s much harder to get sticker trail markers accepted than metal or plastic ones.
I think there’s enough evidence in the thread to show that this is not a fake wayspot, it would be good if Niantic could remove the strike against your account. Whether or not you can get it over the line to an accepted wayspot is perhaps a different matter.
yeah I 100% understand why it would get rejected. Might give the other photo a go if this warning gets repealed thanks.
The first photo I linked also got rejected on appeal saying “this sticker trail marker is ineligible” so does feel like an tough one.
