I think it would be safer to identify the offenders and take action accordingly, as that doesn’t rely on assuming they stay in one area and doesn’t impact other people. Also, it should be quite straightforward to see who is submitting the blatantly stolen wayspots and then see if there are consistent repeat reviewers approving them.
There’s enough wayspots created from stolen pictures around Scunthorpe - these and the ones identified last week (different thread) - that a data trawl would be reliable if Scopely wanted to do it.
Was just brainstorming possible sollutions that could help with clearing up a known problem area, even after this thread was posted which made me look closer at any in the area I had a fair number that I reported.
What we don’t know is how big a job it would be to geo-fence / duplicate image search and wether Niantic / Scopely would even want to put in those resources.
Maybe a Rallying Call to the locals to get these reported. You are being tarred with the same brush.
I am hoping the original submitters are all immediately banned (either permanently or temporarily), this wasn’t just a cheeky 1 or 2 lame attempts at a couch stop, given the amount that was approved and appeared on the map, this was clear cut intended abuse, they knew what they were doing if they’re using photos from other portals around the country.
Whoever else is left trying to put the abuse back on the gameboard (The King Richard plaque) should also be deserving of a ban, as it’s clearly the same people again using alt accounts.
I very much doubt Scopely are interested in clearing the database of fakes and punishing cheaters who are doing this, I’ll hold my hands up if I’m wrong here, but… once Scopely take control, they’ll just see the $$$ from the remote raiders, and having more gyms on the gameboard (whether fake or real POIs) at the end of the day leaves them in a position to rake in the moola.
The locals who are doing things properly are the ones who are the ones being punished, now people know/have seen the Scunthorpe abuse, any submissions from this area are likely gonna be viewed with a lot more caution and skepticism and are potentially more likely to end in rejection if reviewers feel they can’t trust what they’re seeing.
Scotter Woods Trail Marker Post #1 [FAKE]
53.566683, -0.682499
taken from
Allestree Park ‘Big Wood’ Nature Trail #1 [REAL]
52.95994,-1.493422
Scotter Road Trail Post #2 [FAKE]
53.567338, -0.682449
taken from
Allestree Park ‘Big Wood’ Nature Trail #2 [REAL]
52.96046,-1.493302
Scotter Road Trail Post #3 [FAKE]
53.567076, -0.6828449999999999
taken from
Allestree Park ‘Big Wood’ Nature Trail #3 [REAL]
52.960806999999996, -1.493153
Scotter Road Trail Post #4 [FAKE]
53.566491, -0.683719
taken from
Allestree Park ‘Big Wood’ Nature Trail #4 [REAL]
52.961985999999996, -1.4929569999999999
Scotter Road Trail Post #5 [FAKE]
53.56648, -0.684337
taken from
Allestree Park ‘Big Wood’ Nature Trail #5 [REAL]
52.962320999999996, -1.490972
Can confirm, the 5 fake trail markers, along with that King Richard III plaque is gone too, hopefully that’s the end of it if the accounts have all been banned.
Hi Aaron, please could you clarify, in-game won’t do any good, I don’t play Pokemons, and I don’t know when the last Ingress sync was since the recent update a few days ago.
Also I’m looking at the GSB (which should update instantly and no sync is required?), not whichever in-game map your referring to.
