I get this photos a lot when reviewing photo selection. Is this normal?
That’s a placeholder image for when the existing wayspot or powerspot doesn’t have a photo.
This can happen for old wayspots that never had one, but it’s rare. [Edited to add: This is one of those rare situations, as Turkey had the Foursquare imports]
It can happen when people try to add photos to powerspots, but a good response is to reject the photo, because not-having-a-photo helps to make it easier to differentiate between powerspots and wayspots when submitting new things.
It can happen for the imported “street corner” pokestops, but I think Niantic have realised the edits and added photos for these are not wanted, so are actively removing them and turning off the edits.
3 Likes
Almost every photo review has a photo like this for me. Perhaps my region has poor quality initial submissions.
Maybe you are in a area that Niantic have added pokestops to - have a look at Testing New Wayspots in Pokémon GO
This is why I am not happy about the instruction here.
It is hard to know which are photo adds that you should accept or ones that you should skip or reject.
As already explained, there can be times when it is appropriate to add a photo to a Wayspot that does not have one, and times when it is not. If it is a good quality photo that matches the Title that does not seem to be part of the recent experiment, I would accept the new photo. It doesn’t matter afaik how you mark the placeholder, but if I were to review, I would reject that one. Or we do have plenty of skips if you don’t want to deal with the review - 100 each on a 24 hour counter.
2 Likes
Nope not in these 3 countries. Most of the ones i get are from Turkey
I just did a non-scientific test by randomly selecting a town in NW Turkey and clicking on 20 or so portals in Ingress - they all had photos. On this basis, the reviews are either from people adding photos to powerspots (I would reject, as above) or some other test/pokestop splurge from Niantic (as these should be clearly identifiable so as to avoid people thinking they are eligible, I would also reject photos for these). Basically, I would reject the photos! ymmv
Edited: Foursquare imports into Turkey are legitimate wayspots, so photos being added is normal. In other situations, the wayfarer experience is improved by not having photos added to powerspots and street corners.
I understand your personal reasoning, but how is that in line with criteria? There’s nothing that says “reject Powerspot photos so you can more easily identify them.”
Additionally, you’re still choosing to make an assumption about the origin of the Wayspot that may not be accurate.
Turkey was the location of mass imports from a 3rd party database many years ago - I believe the community assumed from Foursquare. These are “legitimate” Wayspots that became PokéStops and Gyms.
1 Like
True. It’s just an attempt to workaround a problem created by Niantic for people who use the submission map to identify what is already in the game and what might conflict with their submission. This doesn’t make this approach official.
Thanks for the reminder about Turkey. I had something in the back of my mind but couldn’t find it. I will edit my earlier comment.
1 Like
I think it’s fair to help explain these situations to people asking for clarification about the background of these locations and encourage them to submit photos to your preference (I know I’m not adding photos to many Powerspots but I am adding them to some), but keep in mind that it’s a different situation for reviewing.
Happy to suggest being more critical of accepting photos, though 
they still need to meet the photo guidelines.
Southest edge of Turkey the only ones I get since I live in Cyprus.
Similar to the suggestions for the “Bus Stop” imports maybe instead of the Generic place holder the Max Imports could carry the Max Logo. Any image added gets the Max Logo added to it?
Ask them to be added to the suggestion box. It looks an awful lot like my paper shredder, though.
1 Like
We’ve gotten a little off topic, and I’m sorry.
These are likely a third party import that Niantic used at one time to help emerging markets. This has included Turkey. At this time, I’m unable to find more information about the other counties included and any official announcements except for this post:
For Wayfarer and Pokémon GO purposes, photos in map and in game will look like the onea you’re encountering. Review them per guidelines linked above. It’s likely people just trying to add a more distinct image. Several friends of mine have worked on adding legitimate photos to these locations to make it easier to understand.
You can, of course, report locations while reviewing photos if you feel the location does not meet criteria.
1 Like
Thanks for understanding and editing! I must say, I was a little shaky on remembering this morning, too, and didn’t remember how to rationalize this detail:
See my above post. They were actually removed from Ingress, hence not appearing on IITC. We can get into the problems that created for Ingress elsewhere 
1 Like
Where’s the best place to post?
I think at this time the best thing is to review the AMA questions and find any that best align with your current ideas.
Make posts, ask for community feedback and engagement. We know some staff is active but it takes more than that and just those who are posting here. Wayfarer Ambassadors (I am Alumni, not active) also are very tenacious at relaying ideas to staff.
1 Like