I have been doing a little review each day, hoping to contribute to Wayfarer. Recently, however, many problems have arisen with location edit.
For example, many reviews ask for a choice of either inside or entrance locations for parks, city hall buildings, community centers, temples, etc. Whether the original Wayspot position was at the entrance or inside, it is already in the “correct” location, so this is an abuse of location edit. However, many users do not seem to know that this is an abuse.
It’s easy to file an abuse report, but users see the Wayspot image and think it’s the right thing to do to move it to that location. And yet, if they receive a warning or suspension, that will worsen the relationship between the user and Wayfarer and Niantic.
The recent approval of a location edit turned a gym at “Abeno Harukas,” a famous 300-meter tall building, into a Pokéstop. This was also a minor modification that moved the Wayspot, which was slightly inside from the entrance, to near the entrance. The building that decorated the center of the location card for Pokémon GoFest 2025 Osaka is this Abeno Harukas, but ignorant location editing resulted in one less gym. I want to reduce this kind of result that benefits no one.
How can we let more users know that they should not move a way spot that is already in the correct location?
It is unclear whether all of these should be considered location edit violations, and it is likely that the difference in the level of location accuracy required by the two games is the cause.
PoGo has an access distance of 80m, and even if you are far from a PokeStop, there is no decrease in Pokemon attack power or item count, so no one really cares about accurate location data as long as it is within the S2 cell.
Therefore, opinions such as yours, that it is correct whether you are at the entrance or the center of a building, are valid.
On the other hand, Ingress has a 40m access distance, and the attack power of the Buster decreases depending on the distance from the center.
Therefore, users prefer more accurate location data.
For this reason, some users edit the location data to be more accurate, even if it is already correct in general terms.
However, your request will soon be fulfilled in general terms.
Niantic Games has been split into Scopely and Spatial.
Wayfarer, like PoGo, is now owned by Scopely.
On the other hand, Ingress is owned by Spatial.
If only PoGo trainers remain, such trivial reports will inevitably decrease.
I don’t know how it looks in all other games now, but from PoGo there is a difference in information on the main area for what you aim to do:
Nominating a new wayspot
Big button - New Pokéstop (not wayspot as is should be stated)
Info - Number of available nomination(s) left & additional available for the next day
Link - Nomination guidelines
Contributing to existing wayspot (Edit, Add, Scan or Report different things regarding the Pokéstop!)
List of the alternatives you could do
** When entering any of the options - Info of number of available edits, additions or scans shows
** The only alternative showing any kind of guideline is for adding photos - but no link
So there is of course a lot of things that could be done with ease from the development team to make the information available to the contributor of a wayspot.
It seems that this issue is not limited to the location you mentioned, but similar downgrades from pokemon gyms to pokestops have occurred in other locations as well.
Therefore, it is speculated that this was implemented by the PoGo organizers for some reason, rather than Wayfarer.
For example, if there is a pokemon gym sponsored by a company in that area and there was a request to make it more prominent, they would implement the downgrade.
Or it may be a downgrade due to requests from the local community or businesses.
This has occurred in various locations in the past.
I too think it is important to warn people when sending from the app. It now says “Move the maker to the most accurate location”, I believe another reminder should be added when specifying the location or a link to the criteria involved in editing the location should be provided.
My other suggestion is to further enhance the orientation that Wayfinfer receives when qualifying and make it retakeable at any time. It should also be mandatory to retake the course periodically if necessary. The team should actively educate users on the fact that they can be violated by editing images, titles, etc., as well as locations. This will reduce the number of violations due to ignorance.
Many users are unaware that relocating a pin from inside the facility to the entrance can be viewed as an attempt to move it to a location that is “Locations that are intentionally and strategically placed to provide advantage to a single player or collective group”
As for “Abeno Harukas,” I have confirmed that its location has been changed. It has been moved from the previous location “34.646281,135.513158” to the new location “34.646417,135.513163”. This was a move over the line used in the rules by which Pokéstops are generated.
There were already several gyms inside the line used in the rules for generating gyms, created through a partnership between the FamilyMart convenience store and the ItoEn beverage vending machine company. Therefore, the change in location should have resulted in a redetermination of the gym generation and a downgrade to a PokéStop.
I have always taken criteria that the pin should be at the natural entry to the waypoint.
Some waypoints have several entries so the nominator is able to choose.
Others only have 1 natural entry for example: A church should be pinned at the main doors. Moving from the center to here would not be considered abuse (it’s something I have done many times during reviews and never had a warning).