So I know not all POIs are guaranteed to show up in Pokémon go and I think that’s the case I have here but looking for help/advice/guidance. I submitted a spot at my local park and was approved. I determined my new POI is not within an S2 cell of another POI and is more than 20 meters away from another POI. First pic is my approved “community contributed” POI. The second is its location circled in red. (In its own cell and more than 20 meters from the nearest POI) The white dots are other submitted POIs that have all become power spots. I’m building up my local park in hopes of getting a local gym. And need only one more POI to get one and this is frustrating. Also it’s worth mentioning that none of the dots from the contribution management page show up in ingress or iitc.
Welcome to the forums 
The 20 meter rule does not exist.
Many many years ago, when wayspots were created only via Ingress, this rule prevented some wayspots from even being added. This was relaxed a long time ago so that the 20m rule stopped existing completely for Pokemon Go (but was and is still used by Ingress).
All that matters for Pokemon Go is S2 cells (as determined by the community, never confirmed by Niantic).
If you post the coordinates, it will be easy to check the wayfarer map to see what the issue is.
They won’t. They are nothing to do with Ingress or IITC. Wayfarer has nothing to do with Ingress or IITC. In May 2025, Ingress and Pokemon Go parted ways, so OPR and Wayfarer inherited the same set of wayspots but treat them differently.
Pokemon Go has imported wayspots for powerspots and other purposes; these will not appear in Ingress.
It’s the one about 5 yards away. The existing wayspot has been located at a different spot to the focus of the photo.
The existing wayspot is this bench (zoom in!)
it is so weird when people reply to me on these posts instead of the op.
I suspect the op knew the answer but you didn’t, so it feels natural to reply to you
If I am pointing out something that looks suspicious, it is to give the OP a chance to address it.
Ah ok thanks for that information here in the coordinates for the accepted POI.
33.853878,-116.479749 (Rest area accepted submission not showing)
Here is the coordinates for the nearby showing POI in game I submitted maybe 6 months ago
33.853829,-116.479507 (Pocket park spot)
Generally, for something that covers an area (a park does, a bench doesn’t), the wayspot should be located at the same position as whatever is being used as the focus.
So since the pocket park wayspot uses a bench as its focus, that is where the pocket park wayspot should be.
@cyndiepooh I feel you and thanks for the reply but no the existing spot is the park itself and a different bench is in the focus for the park spot. The submission we’re referring to now is the only other seating area in the park just west of the spot. You said that 3 spots are in the same cell but aren’t l17 cells the ones that matter for spots and my pic if ok not mistaken shows the s2 cells not the more granular l17 cells. Also all other dots besides my submission and the current spot are power spots
I see. The bench focus with park in background was the best view to showcase the park.
L17 means a level 17 S2 cell. S2 cells come in all levels, with the higher numbers being smaller cells.
An L14 cell is the 8X8 grid of L17 cells that make up the area from which gyms are picked.
Pokemon spawns appear in L23 cells, or something like that. Wayspot reviews are taken from your L11 cell, or something like that.
All of these are S2 cells, as that is the system that has divided the globe into these cells.
@salixsorbus is there a way to see if my POI that was accepted is showing up in a different game rather than POGO? From what I can see I have the cells correct and the placement correct. I just want a dang gym at my park lol
The picture posted by @cyndiepooh highlights a single L17 S2 cell.
@salixsorbus oh ok then that makes a bit more sense as to what’s going on. I was under the assumption that an l17 cell was smaller than what @cyndiepooh had posted and that was an S2 cell. Then it appears I have multiple spots in one l17 cell and they are being blocked for that reason. I wish they explained this to us better.
In theory, other Niantic games can use new wayspots. In practice, none of them have synched for a long while.
Forget the “used in other games” narrative.
To get gyms, you need 2, 6 or 20 populated L17 cells in the L14 cell (8x8 grid) to get 1, 2 or 3 gyms.
Niantic will never explain this as they will not publicly acknowledge the use of S2 cells. Only the community can explain and this forum is probably the best place.
Reddit is not the best place to go as there is too mich misinformation.
@salixsorbus thanks for the help. It appears my local park is almost completely covered by one L17 cell and that is going to make it hard to get a gym there
I shall move this to nomination support as it doesn’t seem to be a bug.