Hello! I have a question related to Archived Routes in Pokemon GO. Forgive me if this isn’t the proper place to post this, and I couldn’t find a similar thread.
If a route is archived due to its start or end point being removed, will the route be automatically republished if that exact same start or end point is reinstated into the game? Or is the archive permanent and you need to remake the route?
Thank you for your time.
I know this question seems like it should be marginally related to Wayfarer, but we mostly see this as a PGO question. And, TBH, I don’t know if anyone knows the answer for certain.
I can theorize, based on the way databases work, that each “object” has some kind of identifier. If the exact wayspot (with the same identifier) is reactivated, then it makes sense that it should be possible for the Route to be unarchived. However, we don’t know if the Route system has any kind of built-in refresh mechanism to check for such changes of status.
What I feel fairly confident theorizing is that if a replacement wayspot is approved that has a completely different identifier, there would be nothing tying that to the Route, even if it looks like the same wayspot to the player (name, photo, description, etc.).
You make many great points. I wouldn’t know whether or not it’s the exact same wayspot or a replacement. I suppose the best next action would be to check other routes to see if their stats updated, and then determine whether or not to make a new route if the other isn’t unarchived.
Thanks for your reply. Do you have any other recommended place to reach out to?
Unfortunately, there’s not a great place to reach PGO support to explain this level of detail. There are accounts on Twitter/X, but I think they are mostly run by Marketing people. I strongly suspect that they would see the word “pokestop” and send you back here.
In case you don’t know, the details we know about how gyms are added to PGO were all discovered by the community through observed behavior. Routes haven’t been around long enough for those kinds of observations to be firmed up.
If you ever have this situation happen, I would love to know the answer. I know that a restored Wayspot that used to be a gym doesn’t necessarily come back as a gym, and may not show in Pokemon Go at all, so in that situation it(the route) could not come back.
I have had this happen to routes of mine a few times.
The only way to get the route back is by having the exact removed wayspot restored. It also has to appear in Pokemon Go, so if some other wayspot popped up in that cell in the meantime, you’re out of luck.
One of the wayspots I got restored in this topic (Restoration request: Various painted power boxes by muugeherder) had a route of my making attached to it. The Pokestop had been gone from the game for a few months, but once it was restored, the route that was previously archived was also restored back to active duty.
Thanks for sharing your own story! This helps a lot. So it sounds like your same archived route indeed was restored. Was your route restored immediately or did it take a route update cycle (stats update every handful of days or week) to come back?
Don’t quote me on this as I didn’t check immediately and I don’t pay much attention to my routes’ stats so I have no idea when the update moment is, but the Pokestop has been back in the game for 3 days max and the route is already usable again. That’s all the info I can provide.
No worries, that’s all I needed. Thank you!
And thank you everyone for your replies. Unless there’s anyone else with a similar situation that wants to share, I think I’m all set.
