I’ve noticed this is a recurring issue, and I’m curious if someone official can confirm this. A few days ago, a PokéStop (in Pokémon Go, of course) appeared within a private area. Here are some screenshots to verify this:
Not only that, but the photo of the location was also taken from a house, as the height of the photo suggests it was taken from a window/terrace of one of the apartments:
The guidelines clearly state that private areas cannot be Wayspots, and even the Wayfarer Team has rejected such locations. This leads me to believe that if this was done by a person, these employees do not know their own rules, or if it was done by an AI, it is not trained correctly (apologies if I don’t know exactly how the validation is done after reporting):
Personally, I don’t think it’s fair since I can’t reach the location as such; I remain outside the private residential area. Is there anything else I can do?
Looks like a community pool at an apartment block? Which would be eligible as some people have access to it - more than just 1 family.
We would only have to reject a pool that is inside a house’s garden, where only 1 family have access, or if it were at a school or similar. Other pools can usually be accepted.
Niantic eligibility can be a little confusing at times. So let me try and break this down.
There are different types of residential Private Property:
Single Family Private Residential Property (SFPRP) is a house/farm where one family lives. Nothing of this type of property is eligible.
Communities - Apartment buildings, Condominiums, gated neighborhoods all can have amenities like gyms, pools, fountains, art that are eligible as long as it is in a common area.
So it appears that the pool in your example is eligible. It does not need to be accessible to everyone it is perfectly fine that it is only accessible to the people that live in that community.
This is not 100% true. It is nuanced depending on where you are
It all depends on the country you live in, subject to the the rules and regulations of the land an object is on.
And Niantic does not trump local laws. In fact Niantic T&Cs clearly state you have to abide by the laws/rules of where you are. So what is acceptable in one place sometimes is not in another.
Nor does Niantic in its main criteria section on eligibility, acceptance, rejection and content guidelines explicitly say one way or another. Because Niantic has a community element to it - it often lets the community suss it out.
And what constitutes a single private residence is a construct that is perhaps US centric and that is not global. In many countries an apartment is very much a single private residential residence. While the whole block may have communial facilities they are not open to the public, and even the residents are constrained by caveats placed on what they (residents) can and cannot do.
So unfortunately a yes / no situation subject to where you are. If unsure don’t nominate, if reviewing skip or say I don’t know (don’t reject it). I err on the side of caution. Because there is often a local community of local people who probably know better than I about their local thing just as I know more (generally) about my local thing.
As for not reaching things. IT must be some way away from you. As the circle of accessing a waypoint is quite large.
You raise an interesting point @Asrhan22 - there are fair few waypoints on land that is only accessible during certain hours. If you were passing through outside of those hours does that lack of access equal something like your pool scenario you can never have access to.
My main problem with pools, regardless of public status, is that they are, by and large, highly season dependent. At least in the northern part of the US, many pools are only open from the end of May to the first week in September. They are then closed and considered unsafe to enter due to the absence of a lifeguard, insurance status (in the US these kinds of locations-public and private- require the holding and maintaining of certain kinds of liability insurance in the event that someone is injured-these policies often are only in effect during normal hours of operation; ie not during the off season), condition of the pool, saftey equipment being locked up, etc. I have trouble considering a location that’s illegal to enter 8-9m out of the year as meeting any of the guidelines. (It’s not safe, accessible, good for excersise/socializing, etc).
There’s also the fact that, and this is certainly a me thing and not a wayfarer guidelines thing, that many community pools being nominated are also frequented by children under the age of 18 who are typically less than fully clothed and I don’t wholly trust the intentions of the submitters to be purely innocent and game related. Most are defintely made with good intentions, but there are enough creeps out there that I, personally, have to consider that when reviewing a nomination. There’s a reason k-12 schools and adjecent lots are ineligible after.
The country doesn’t matter; what matters is the Wayfarer criteria. These pools at apartment complexes are eligible per the criteria. While the criteria on swimming pools was posted previously, I will provide it again.
@wenzelsays As long as the pool is permanent and place marks the area, it does not need to be in use for all seasons. I live in an area where public outdoor pools are usually open from the end of May to the beginning of Septmber, but they are permanent, in-ground pools; the water is just drained but the pool still remains.
No. Sorry Dtrain. I disagree. What matters is the Niantic terms and conditions you/we agree to operate under. First and foremost. After that comes the game criteria.
If we don’t agree to operate under the National/Federal/state legal, regulatory or local building rules for the place of the nomination you breach the Niantic TndCs…
Interesting view. Many pools that are open air will operate in a similar way. Particularly government/council ones. Heating them is a key reason and low customer usage. Not a US issue that one!
Balancing act right. Meet criteria of X potentially fail on Y.
Following your instincts is not a bad thing. I hear you. And as I said earlier your local community of reviewers will balance reviews out. Interesting view point thanks for sharing.
I find it odd that the people who have access to a pool legally would be breaking the law by nominating it to be a Wayspot.
Yes, we have to play by the laws, but even if a place is limited to certain people, i.e. paying customers or those that live in the apartment building, they can lawfully access the area and are welcome to nominate.
If someone has issue with a Wayspot and believe it’s there illegally, there are ways to remove it. There’s a Wayspot Removal link at the top of the forums that anyone is welcome to use.
I find ot odd that you find a thread where the OP’s question was answered awhile ago, and decided to jump in with something that has nothing to do with what the OP asked. If you want to talk about following the laws of different areas of the world, that should be done in a separate thread than this one.
Not every outdoor pool in the US is heated. Don’t know where you got this idea from. I’m in a northern US area, and all our public outdoor pools closed by the 1st weekend in September, some a couple weeks sooner.
Many public outdoor pools at public parks aren’t heated, as that costs extra money to operate, thus the price to swim would have to increase. Hence why many of these pools in the northern parts of the US are only filled with water in the summer; the summer heat is used to heat many of these pools. If the temperature drops below what is recommended to keep the pool warm enough, the pool will close or not open until the outdoor temp is at or above the minimum to be open.
Basically, there are a lot of thermal physics at play with unheated pools, even including what’s the best color for the pool bed to retrain heat.
This really has nothing to do with Wayfarer, and some may find your comments off-putting, even offensive. It’s best not to stereotype certain groups off of a comment you may have heard or read without looking into it a little more, or even asking yourself if it’s fully a fact.
I think you missed my point. I was saying why people read private residence differently can be based on how they see the law of the country they are in.
That other people think Niantic Criteria trumps everything including those rules/regulations/laws. And actually no even if you live there you cannot nominate something that breaches the rules of their building. I know weird. But the rules of the building / apartment block you live in have some weird rules. I am happy to sit in a court on you on building laws on that one. Really…
And that local communities view things differently.
Combined it means things can be reviewed differently.
If having that view makes me odd then sure. I am odd…
Just because I express a different view to yours. Seriously…
