What is the consensus on scout camps? I saw on reddit an older post from Niantic that says to reject those. My son attends one frequently with his group and I recall seeing one pokestop there in the past, but never thought about it before. But we went again recently to camp and there are now 3 stops and a gym. I put a wayspot removal in through the tab above on the forum following what I read online. This is the response I received:
Are Scouts Canada camps allowed then? I did send a link to the camp website as well. I believe there was something on the older forum but when I attempted to go to the old forum it won’t work for me anymore.
First, the Scouting USA location where I live used to have a few Wayspots, including a gym in PoGo. Around 2018-2019, the gym disappeared, and the remaining stops couldn’t be spun anymore. Now, all of the Wayspots have been removed, but I don’t think any players are complaining, as there’s a YMCA branch and park across the street, and there are plenty of Waypots there to play at. This leads me to believe that the local Scouting USA adult leaders requested restrictions on the Wayspots, and later asked for them to be fully removed, especially since many were parking their cars there just to play, essentially trespassing on the property.
I believe children’s camps are supposed to be treated like schools, since they cater to children most of the time. I get nominations from children’s camps in the US from time to time, and if they are specifically set up for children, I will usually reject them. Most of them are scout camps, others are bible/religious camps, all offering overnight stays for kids without their parents/guardians.
There is an overnight bible camp not far from my hometown, and someone once tried to nominate the large cross at the top of the hill there. Being I went there as a kid, I know that campers hike up to this area often with leaders, who are often high schoolers. There were no Wayspots at this camp, even though the chapel and other places would be eligible, but since it’s an overnight camp for kids, I didn’t think it was the best place for any Wayspots.
I will say it is an area that needs some clarification, as these nominations will start to pick up now that it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And maybe Niantic will only remove these Wayspots if asked to by camp management, but I don’t know.
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if the area is public park and scout is only using that area. then it is 100% eligible. I remember when I was scout, we camp at state parks and other public parks.
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I don’t think that’s what’s being referred to here. There are many camps that are maintained and operated by scouting organizations, or are specifically for children. I myself was in a scouting program as a kid, and being there wasn’t a camp run by the organization in our area, we did have to go camping at state parks.
If an area is restricted solely to a group that only caters for children then it should probably be treated similar to a school. If there are areas that are public or shared with other groups that include adults then it’s probably fine.
Private Residences, Farmland & K-12 says “K-12 (schools or facilities primarily focused for persons under 18 years of age) are ineligible.”
I think that was the previous assumption on the old forums. This is another situation that comes up regularly where we really need proper official clarification from the team to avoid further confusion.
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This is a Scouts Canada camp and it clearly has signs when entering that it is private property. The gates are only open when the various scouting groups have booked and/or there are scouting events. It does indicate on the website that they may take third party groups but to make requests etc and preference is for scouts. But I am not sure that is used. I asked one of the higher up leaders in our main group and they had not heard of other groups using it. We have been attending this camp through various levels over the past 7 years.
One wayspot is a trail marker leading up to a a trail loop that is likely on public property. It was odd that there is not a marker submitted where it allows public access, instead the one I saw on intel is only on the scouting property. Reviews of trail users indicate they park elsewhere for using it as not allowed on scout property.
It technically isn’t a “school” and I didn’t report it when I was out there. Mostly as my service isn’t good, but also because when I used school for places that are for people under 18, but it isn’t a school it is denied.
This is the only Scouts camp on our island and is used by many groups. Not sure how to proceed with it.
Thanks for the reminder. I sent a link to this and screenshot and hopefully they consider it again as I replied to their response.
I just found out that the boy’s scout building near me is a pokestop and I have been using it since I started the game in 2021. I was not paying attention to what the building was.
I replied back to them with the information and they apologized and have removed the wayspots as they did not meet criteria.
While I was out that way I did nominate 11 new wayspots in a public park and trail area just down the road.
Of those:
9 were approved by team/AI
1 was a “duplicate” (although I need to wait for an appeal as it wasn’t)
1 more is in voting
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Yeah I would say they also fall under the primarily used for individuals under 18. If it is a dedicated scout building. My child does scouts out of the local rec centre. But there are a couple dedicated buildings around.
Removing them would require an appeal as the only category to pick would be “school”. This is why I wish there was a “does not meet criteria” option.
I did mark a solution for this post, but I was connecting with help chat about another wayspot out in this area and went to get the map link information and saw another wayspot that is new at this Scouts Camp. We had the final camp of the school year only two weeks ago and this wayspot was not there. It is located right by the camp my kids’ group was at. I do know another parent there who plays pokemon go and perhaps they nominated it. I assume they wouldn’t think about criteria seeing at the time there were 3 stops and a gym at the camp. I only wonder how many more will pop up in this area as there are so many typical eligible nominations.
However, my thought was that it would have been likely approved by ML due to how fast it is already showing up. I know they might have used an upgrade. I don’t normally speak to them as our kids only overlap every few years. They were present with the younger group. Plus, with my child older I don’t stay. Although, to be honest often when I have spoken in passing to people about nominations they don’t really worry about criteria and just let things get rejected or approved. 
I was not sure if perhaps the team reviewing Wayspot Removals will take note to see if ML approved it and how it can look at those things in the future.
Good point. Maybe ML could read Google maps, and if an area is marked as a camp (or school, or seems residential) - it could roll it on to human reviewers?
EDIT: Long ago (2017?) if a portal (wayspot) was removed, nothing could be nominated within ~100 meters of it. I DO NOT recommend going back to that! It was horrible in so many instances!
EDIT AGAIN: The most comprehensive thing would be for the national Scout group to contact Niantic saying they don’t want any game Wayspots in their camps. Then they can give Niantic the maps that they share with their insurance companies, etc.
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