Question about recent Wayspot location changes

General Discussion
1

Hello everyone,

I have noticed several PokéStops disappear in my area recently, and I am curious about what is causing these changes.

In the most recent case, a Wayspot was moved, causing two Wayspots to end up in the same S2 Level 17 cell and resulting in one PokéStop disappearing from Pokémon GO.

The example involves the following Wayspots, which are currently located at:

横浜市社会教育コーナー:
35.401482, 139.618447

横浜市社会教育コーナー掲示板:
35.401529, 139.618514

The Wayspot 横浜市社会教育コーナー appears to have been moved, and both Wayspots are now located within the same S2 Level 17 cell. As a result, 横浜市社会教育コーナー disappeared from Pokémon GO.

According to the Player-Sourced Maps website, 横浜市社会教育コーナー was previously located at 35.401494, 139.618396 before being moved to its current location.

Since the previous location and the current location are only a short distance apart, I think it would be difficult to determine which location is actually the more accurate one.

I also checked both locations on Google Maps, but because of the pedestrian overpass in the area, I found it difficult to determine the exact placement of the Wayspot.

These two PokéStops had coexisted for nearly five years before one of them disappeared recently. As far as I know, 横浜市社会教育コーナー掲示板 was added later than 横浜市社会教育コーナー.

My question is: When location adjustments like these occur, are they typically the result of player-submitted location edit requests that were approved, or are they more commonly initiated by Niantic through their own review and map-quality processes, or something else?

I understand that either may be possible, but I would appreciate hearing from knowledgeable community members who may be able to provide some insight into how these changes are typically handled.

I am not disputing the accuracy of the current locations; I am just curious about the process behind these recent changes. Since PokéStops seem to disappear every now and then in this area, I became interested in understanding how these changes are typically handled.

As English is not my native language, I may take some time to read and respond to replies. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you in advance for any insights.

2

I don’t know that we can answer this specifically. I know that I have reported Wayspots for correction. Sometimes after reporting one, I get an answer that staff have “taken action” on more than that. So I think it is a little bit of both.

I should also note that it does not have to be a local player to submit corrections. With the Wayfarer Map, and help chat, any Wayfinder anywhere in the world can report an issue.

3

Thank you for your reply.

As you mentioned, both scenarios seem possible, so it may be difficult to determine what happened in any specific case.

About a month ago, I noticed a similar situation involving the following PokéStops, where one of them disappeared:

波の形のオブジェ
35.399513, 139.616690

ISOGO ライオンズ ステーション プラザ
35.399460, 139.616650

Even though these Wayspots were located in the same S2 Level 17 cell, both PokéStops somehow coexisted for quite some time before 波の形のオブジェ disappeared recently.

If I remember correctly, 波の形のオブジェ appeared first. Later, ISOGO ライオンズ ステーション プラザ was added in a neighboring cell and was subsequently moved into the same cell. Despite that, both PokéStops continued to coexist for a considerable period of time.

Shortly after one of those PokéStops disappeared, the PokéStop discussed in this thread also disappeared. That sequence of events is what made me curious and led me to ask this question.

4

That looks like a density recalculation. Sometimes people will ask for those, and sometimes Niantic will just do them, especially if abuse has been detected in the area.

5

Thank you, that’s interesting.

I wasn’t familiar with density recalculations. Are those recalculations something that affects only a specific Wayspot, or can they affect multiple Wayspots within an area at the same time?

Also, out of curiosity, when you mention abuse being detected in an area, what kinds of abuse are you referring to?

6

If you scroll through the Bug Reports & Technical Support you will see some posts about the recalculations, or reinforcing the density rules. I only know what Niantic staff choose to share there. I don’t have any insight into what they do on the back end.

7

From observation of instances that have been reported here -
Typically if there has malicious manipulation of the game board by creating a lot of fakes and/or false location edits to create areas that break the normal density rules of Pokémon Go identified then as you might expect a reset and imposition of the normal rules is applied.

8

Thank you, @cyndiepooh and @elijustrying, for taking the time to explain.

In my hometown and around my workplace, I have never seen Gyms or PokéStops disappear. However, in this particular area, I have observed several unusual cases over the years, including PokéStops being moved and Gyms disappearing and reappearing elsewhere.

Because I do not see this kind of thing in other areas I am familiar with, I found it rather curious and wanted to better understand what might be behind these changes.

I appreciate the additional context regarding density recalculations and the kinds of situations that can lead to them.