- Wayspot Title: Cabezón Compostelano
- Location (lat/lon): 42.8881960, -8.5381841
- City: Santiago de Compostela
- Country: Spain
- Additional Information (if any):
Niantic’s new policy of automatically removing wayspots deemed vandalism seems very interesting to me, but it’s clearly not working properly. This is the second street art mural removed in the area (or at least the one we’re aware of). There are hundreds of murals by this author that are present throughout the cities in the area that try to add a little more fun to less crowded areas of the cities and are even used to prevent empty spaces from being filled with graffiti that is simply vandalism. The murals may be old, darkened and even surrounded by simple spray paint, but it must be remembered that this is on the street, unguarded and exposed to the weather and acts of vandalism. The first image is of the removed wayspot.
The others are examples of the many murals that the author has spread throughout the geography.
Hello @policlates
Does this artist have a website or social media presence that you can reference? That would help the Niantic team determine if this is something that is sanctioned in the neighborhood.
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I don’t know who the author is or if he has a presence on social media. I’m not a fan of murals. I only know that the author has hundreds like this one spread across dozens of cities and towns, each one different from the rest, each one with a different expression and colors.
I don’t know if they have any meaning… but that doesn’t mean they are vandalism. I’m sure that if any of us asked our parents or grandparents what they think of this other mural, none of them would guess that they were looking at a work by one of the world’s greatest urban artists and would say that some vandal had ruined a magnificent cement wall.
I understand that this street artist is prevalent and I assuming appreciated in your community. Many artists have social media to get added recognition.
Banksy as you have shown in your last post is somewhat of an anomaly. Though even if they don’t actively promote themselves they are known worldwide.
My recommendation to you is to find: the artists name, something in a local newspaper/government announcement/travel guide etc about this artist if they don’t publicly advertise for themselves it will be difficult for Niantic to vote in favor of restoration of the wayspots.
That said the art represented in your photos does match better with street art that is positively identified by Niantic:
Please note if any of these murals are on Singke Family Private Property (SFPRP), they will be removed even if they are otherwise eligible.
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Hola buenas!
El tipo de graffiti que estás compartiendo es producto del vandalismo. Es un dibujo realizado sin calidad o propósito y no es comisionado por los negocios en los que se encuentran. El hecho de que existan muchos más en la ciudad es solo una prueba de que quien los realiza es de la zona y es su “marca personal”. He tratado de buscar, por si acaso, si estos graffitis fueron realizados con permiso y alguna red social del autor pero no he sido capaz. Realmente dudo que sean válidos y Niantic ha estado eliminando este tipo de arte en tiempos recientes, no me sorprendería que el resto sean eliminados en un futuro.
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Just want to contextualize a little why people are suggesting including any sort of relevant external information in appeal threads.
The case of Banksy works precisely because it’s possible to retroactively link back to their authorship and to document community impact. At the end of the day when we’re appealing on here we’re not referring to what our grandmother would recognize, but to some external evidence, otherwise we would drown in subjectivity. There are many articles about the Banksy piece you show. To support appeals it’s generally useful to provide information about the community importance of your pieces, if available, as the team reviewing your appeals will not necessarily be from your area and will not always take only words as evidence.
Thanks for the appeal, @policlates. We have taken another look but stand by our decision to retire this Wayspot.
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