Possible targeted waypoint removals in Cantley Park, Doncaster, UK

[tylae]

Hi everyone,

I’m the Pokémon GO Community Ambassador for Doncaster, UK , and I wanted to raise a concern that’s directly affecting our local player base and the wayfarers in our community.

We were due to host a community meetup in Cantley Park in collaboration with the local Council. However, a large number of PokéStops (roughly 16) have suddenly disappeared, including the Pitch & Putt area and even a nearby pocket park, both of which were long-standing and legitimate locations.

Cantley Park has always been an active and well-used space for golfers, dog walkers, joggers, and families, and the Council has been openly supportive of players using the park for events. These removals will now make it more difficult for us to run gatherings there, despite the park being one of our most reliable event hubs and the park itself being one of our local council’s main focuses at the moment.

I’m particularly concerned that these removals may not be coincidence. Recently, I led an initiative across Doncaster with our admin team to remove fake waypoints and fix incorrect information citywide. Since then, several areas tied to our team members’ local play have been disproportionately affected, with legitimate waypoints removed. This looks and feels like a deliberate attempt to target our community and abuse the Wayfarer system.

For the sake of fair play and the health of our community, I believe it’s vital that:

• The removed waypoints are reviewed and reinstated where appropriate.

• Any cases of misuse or abuse of the reporting system are properly investigated. I am willing to help with these investigations.

Our events, partnerships with the Council, and the strength of our community depend on the integrity of the Wayfarer system. I hope this can be looked into as a matter of priority. I’m happy to discuss the matter with any local wayfarer ambassadors also or whoever is able to help us out.

Thank you,

— Tylae (Community Ambassador, Doncaster, UK)

[tylae]

Location: Cantley Park, Doncaster, England

Pitch & Putt Stops

REMOVED:

Hole 2 Waymarker - 53.5183119, -1.0780911

Hole 3 Waymarker - 53.5187296, -1.0782594

Hole 4 Waymarker - 53.5189040, -1.0794071

Hole 6 Waymarker - 53.5210385, -1.0800682

Cantley Park Hole 7 Map - 53.5218824, -1.0785810

Hole 8 Waymarker - 53.5217461, -1.0770437

Hole 9 Waymarker - 53.5211696, -1.0765740

Hole 10 - 53.5216582, -1.0748114

Cantley Park Hole 11 Map - 53.5212021, -1.0734982

Hole 12 - 53.5210783, -1.0754183

Hole 13 Waymarker - 53.5209382, -1.0773391

Hole 14 Waymarker - 53.5208206, -1.0778376

Hole 15 Waymarker - 53.5207712, -1.0798413

Hole 16 Waymarker - 53.5203847, -1.0788810

Hole 17 Waymarker - 53.5204475, -1.0770068

Hole 18 Waymarker - 53.5199393, -1.0787922

STILL IN GAME:

Hole 1 Waymarker - 53.5191653, -1.0767839

Hole 5 Waymarker - 53.5196142, -1.0802734

Myself and the co-CA for Doncaster @mir1377 will provide evidence for any potential concerns in this thread

[tylae]

Here is an image taken from today’s meet up where the pitch and putt is and the waypoints are located. You can also see a dog walking family in the background. Excuse the sticker I used to protect one of our players anonymity!

[tylae]

Quick screenshot from the council website to prove the locations exist and is a part of the open space park in a safe area. See website here: https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/culture-leisure-tourism/cantley-park

[elijustrying]

I suspect they have been reported for removal as it’s a golf course

Golf & Disc Golf Courses

Both sports are great ways to exercise and socialize. Wayfarer regards the whole course/play area in each sport as one field of play. This means there should be one Wayspot, which could be the first tee or a marker at the start to represent the whole course. The individual start and end points of each section of the course should not be submitted. There is potential that other qualifying objects exist within the large area of a course. If individually eligible these may be submitted for consider…

You can only have 1 point for the course.

So my view is they won’t be reinstated.

The team will review but I think that is the issue

[tylae]

It’s not a golf course, it’s a pitch and putt area. Aimed for being multi-use. The council recently sent out a postcard of people riding bicycles on it.

[tylae]

Postcard in question

[elijustrying]

As you see in the link it’s more about it being 1 area of play, that is split into sections, it is the whole that is eligible not each part.

[tylae]

Would they not be considered separate as this is a pitch and putt zone, not a golf course, with each hole being separate from each other and spread out across the entire park. From playing there I’d say it’s more akin to a trail than it is a sports ground.

[tylae]

I believe these POIs were in the game before the ruling you mentioned. There’s 2 left in the game however - so I don’t think that’s why they were targeted for removal.

My main concern is more on the targeted wayfarer abuse and harassment.

[elijustrying]

Ok this is only my interpretation from applying the principles….

But we don’t talk about a pitch n putt area, it’s still a course. You set out to do the course. More rarely someone might bring own clubs and do a group of holes. But if you go to a pitch and putt hut you pay to do the full course.
They are not a trail that you walk.

I absolutely get how frustrating this must feel to have a regular play area for meet ups suddenly turned upside down.

[elijustrying]

If you believe that this is “revenge” for legitimate clean up then please carefully gather evidence and report the malicious actions

Reporting Abuse in Wayfarer — Wayfarer Help Center

You will need to be clear that any removals are ones that shouldn’t be carried out or any malicious are wrong.

Geotagged photos are helpful GPSmapcamera is a free app tgat can help.

[tylae]

This isn’t a paid course, there’s no hub or store to get any queues from, I don’t believe there’s a map specifically for it. It’s simply just hole markers around the park for the sake of it being multi purpose.

I appreciate what you’re saying but yeah, out of all the times I’ve been there I’ve seen two people have a game of golf once.

Yeah it’s totally counterproductive and is frustrating you’re right!

[elijustrying]

They will remove golf courses even if they have been there for years.
1 can represent the whole course.

[elijustrying]

You can try that line of argument and you are welcome to either edit or add to this topic.

It does sound as though this is not a great situation. And if wayfarer is being used as a method of attack then it will be acted upon.

[tylae]

I understand and appreciate what you’re saying, but I believe the pitch and putt course is intended to be a walkable trail around cantley park as it’s suggested to be on the Doncaster Council site

[tylae]

Thanks Eli I appreciate your help. Yeah totally I want to squash any attempt at targeting specific locations and players immediately. I think it’s undermining to the work we do on the CA side, to you guys as avid wayfarers and to the games community as a whole.

This comes after one of the pocket parks in this area was reported, removed, reinstated and then removed by a player who took time out of their day (and usual play area) to target the POI. This player is one that multiple community members were reporting to me due to false POIs and location jerrymandering, which resulted in report and removals of their false POIs. But it just seems real fishy this happening only a couple of weeks after the pocket park removal. So I’ll definitely be raising it, thankyou!

[hankwolfman]

Remember that anyone can report a wayspot (or a group of them). They don’t have to be local. For example, if someone was reviewing wayspots and they happened to be reviewing a new wayspot in this area and they saw the course had multiple wayspots when they know that only one should exist, they could have sent a report through the invalid wayspots form listing all of the wayspots and explaining why they were reporting them. So it doesn’t have to have been someone in your community who has done this, it could literally be anyone who has their wayfarer review area set to encompass your area.

At any rate, as @elijustrying has said, these removals do seem to be valid. Pitch & Putt is a form of golf, so just like regular golf courses and disc golf courses, the area as a whole should be represented by one wayspot, rather than each individual hole on the course having one.

[SlimboyFat71]

I have tried to take a look at the evidence you supplied, unfortunately the “Walking in Doncaster” page no longer exists.

Checking Google Maps, this is definitely a “Pitch and Putt Course” with paths connecting each hole to the next tee so is definitely meant to be played as such.

Cyclist may ride on there but this does not look like it is meant to be the case (as Kids we used to sneak on to a proper golf course and ride bikes down the fairway with golfers chasing after us ).

With the evidence I see (mainly google maps) I believe these to be a legitimate removal request.

It seems like a massive park, time to get the community searching for eligible alternatives.

Good luck.

[tylae]

There’s no sneaking on to anything at cantley park. I’m going to ask the local council for clarification at our next meeting with them on whether it’s supposed to act as a part of the park and woods trail due to the trail-like markers next to each hole and suggestion on their website that it is, or not.

the park itself is a big open field — to get to the woods at the top of the park, you have to walk through the markers and putts, also no walkways between them as like I said it’s a big open space .