I’ve been getting a lot of nomination reviews for Water Towers. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t see how most of them would fit in any of the eligibility criteria. Then again, perhaps I’m getting only the bad ones, so might as well come here and ask for some much-needed advice to help evaluate these.
This is one of the “better” examples. I see it just as… a random structure? It’s not remarkable, it’s not something I see a person going out of their way to explore, it’s not exactly somewhere I would expect to socialize either. It’s just so generic.
I’ve been rejecting most of these. Am I missing something?
Hi,
Water Towers are not a common feature in the U.K. Afew are older Victorian ones so may have a historic value.
Personally the ones I see that are modern look like a utility to me and I would reject.
I think in some communities they are painted with something striking or are the key landmark, so I can see a case being made in some instances.
Historically, the thinking around water towers is that they serve as landmarks in town. If someone is lost, you could tell them to look for the water tower because it’s the tallest structure to help orient themselves. You might give directions by saying something like, “If you’re under the water tower, you’ve gone too far, turn around and …”
For me, this mostly only seems relevant in small towns. And since it’s often hard to find a lot of wayspots in small towns, they still get accepted.
Yes, the ones with large paintings, even just the town name, are better (in my opinion) because those help build a sense of the community and identity of a town.
We have a wayfinder who loves decorated water towers, so she always appreciates seeing them as wayspots.
ACCEPT if accessible without entering a restricted area, is uniquely decorated, or are otherwise a notable monument.
However, that is no longer current criteria, but may be why you see a lot of standard ones on the map. We have one semi-locally that I can see, but now I think about it, have no idea if you can access it at all. I will have to wander there next time I go to that part of town.
None that I have ever seen in the US would be accessible to anyone but a maintenance worker (who would not be going there to exercise, explore, or socialize). They are all blocked by fencing to keep people off of them. Unfortunately, they are magnets for graffiti, kids who don’t understand their danger, and sometimes people who wish to end it all.
In rural America these are frequent, often adorned with signs or murals, the name of the town, or the high school mascot. They tend to be major landmarks in those areas and are frequently located near major roads as a sort of boast, sort of “welcome” sign. People often give directions by them, “Then turn left at the water tower”. IMO, these are appropriate.
But I agree that in SUBurban America, they are often generic, relatively hidden away, largely inaccessible, and perhaps should not be encouraged.
There’s a fair amount of grey area in between as well. I captured one a few weeks ago that was fenced off to the point that it was difficult to reach the portal without trespassing. It was a small rural town and the tower was visible from all over town but it wasn’t decorated and it wasn’t near a major road. -shrug-
Thanks for all the feedback! I believe context is key for nominating most of the places that don’t stand out at first glance, and based on the responses, these towers can definitely be of more relevance to their communities than I originally gave them credit for.
I just wish people who were nominating such places would give a little more background in why they believe this wayspot would be a good addition.
Most of the time all I get is a photo and some bare-bones details like -
Name: Water Tower
Sup. Info: Tower Water
And all I can do is a relatively limited assessment via street-imagery and whatnot.
For what it’s worth, I live in a bigger city and we have at least 5 identical blue water towers with generic font stating the city name - all are seemingly identical.
I still use them to help orient myself at time. There are a few places I can see them and gives perspective of the city and I try and guess which tower it is or just appreciate seeing a “real world” “map pin.”
Contextually, their eligibility is different, but I don’t think they’re strictly ineligible for not being painted pretty.
This type is very common in Brazil, most people approve them. I think way way back it had some sort of understanding here that they should be accepted. Do I see them as eligible now? No.
Yep, that’s exactly where I’m from, São Paulo region. I usually don’t see them as eligible either, but I’m trying to be as charitable as possible since I got so many in a row.
At least they are better than the random graffitis that people have been spamming as well.
Yes. And in OPR days, NianticKrug was asked about accessibility. He answered that the pin could be at the fence, as long as it’s a reasonable distance, which we worked out to be around 35m. Water towers are the only things that ever got an exemption to the “be able to touch it” rule.
A lot of town images (murals, T-shirts, logos, etc) include their water tower. It would be most helpful if nominators would link to such images.
HOWEVER, the image @Johnz9 showed is a water tank. With no words or decoration. I’d have to examine it to decide if it’s just a utility at a business, or if it’s a public water service that could be iconic / directional / meaningful to the area.
Trivia! A water tower is elevated (basically, on legs). A water tank goes to the ground, with height greater than diameter so it provides pressure to the pipes. A cistern has diameter greater than height, and therefore is just for storage (doesn’t provide pressure).
If you see title edits on these points… it may or may not be me!
Many things are said by Niantic employees that are never in AMAs. Responses made in Niantic’s G+ community channel are lost to the wind, kind of like responses made in the community before this one.
Niantic doesn’t like to get nailed down with requirements. And they don’t realize we don’t know things they think are obvious.
Being 30m from a water tower is being there - looking up at it is very cool. And all the reasons above that many of them are iconic. Most have fences. And many of us agree that they’re fine.
The community doesnt forget things but they conveniently forgot this clarification despite there being 3 or 4 clarifications about water towers over the years all saying the same thing?
