There are several problems with this Wayspot that contradict the current guidelines and which motivated me to report. Here are some:
No pedestrian access: The wayspot in question is located inside a private company building. Although the company was open for historical tours back in 2008, this doesn’t seem the case anymore and only authorized personnal enters it.
Not a gated community: It should not be considered a gated community anymore because it is no longer a company and they no longer promote tours there. Currently, the building is historically protected/listed, and civilians aren’t allowed inside. If one would, for instance, get an AR scanning task for this POI, that would be impossible to accomplish.
Safety concerns: As mentioned, the building belonged to a natural gas distributor. As such, it is expected to find dangerous equipment and structure around the place, even if one would be allowed in.
Low quality: Since the wayspot can’t be visited by civilians anymore, most of the associated photos of it are from outside the building, from a train station that overlooks it. The wayspot’s own location seems wrong exactly because of that too: Since the submitting player couldn’t access the structure in-person, they skewed the location pin away from the actual spot and closer to the sidewalks, where it would be interactable in games but not immediately visible from the neighboring streets unless you climb the outer walls to look at it, which is why most of photos are taken from the raised train station.
Furthermore, the POI is tagged as a train station, which is clearly not: It is just a metal structure that used to hold the old gas container back when the place was still a gas company. That by itself is already aggravating considering it has no artistic value, and its historical value is no longer verifiable since access is restricted.
I do believe these points present enough contradictions with the current Wayfarer guidelines, specially as it makes this place dangerous to play around and inconsistent with the current quality of the gameboard. Thank you for your time.
A location does not have to be publicly accessible to be eligible to be a wayspot. Gated communities also arent the only example of acceptable restricted locations. Wayspots inside of businesses that only employees are allowed in are still eligible since some people can still access it. Niantic has made it clear that just because you cant access the wayspot doesnt mean it isnt accessible and that it is up to us players to know better than to trespass in restricted areas. See the tool-tip for appropriate during review(click the i symbol):
Also, removal criteria is different from acceptance criteria. Even if something accepted didnt meet criteria in the first place sadly doesnt mean it meets removal criteria. This can definitely be a point of frustration as many others have pointed on on the forums. It is unfortunate that you are unable to access this location but that doesnt mean it meets the removal criteria because of that.
Being just a private company and downright a restricted space where civilians need government approval to visit are two very different things. I understand private companies are eligible but as I said this place doesn’t function as a company nor as a historical landmark anymore, it’s just a government protected area with hardly any access, public or private.
I know that acceptance and removal criteria are unfortunately different things and makes caring for the game board even more of a hell than it already is, but this situation where something can NOT be reached by normal means regardless of public or private status and circumstances clearly support the “inacessible spot” removal reason.
I’d like to remind you once again that this spot was submitted back when the place was still open for public visit due to its historical significance, which hasn’t happened anytime recently and is no longer the case as it has been permanently closed for tours at least ever since the 2020 outbreak.
Providing evidence that the location is closed will help the appeals team properly handle this. At the moment you’ve only provided your word and an article showing this location was converted into a museum. If it is as restricted as you claim it is then it shouldnt be hard to find something regarding it being closed for tours etc so thay staff can handle it. My point was that this being bot accessable to purly the public and not being a “Gated Community” isnt grounds for removal. If it is truly inaccessible by all then yes, that is grounds for removal but for appeals you will need to provide evidence of this claim. But best of luck
Hello @Drezus64
If people with the correct permissions can go there then that is fine. Non-operational military bases are fine and they can be very restricted.
You seem to have presented no evidence about the safety of the area where the wayspot is as what you have presented are assumptions.
It would be helpful if you could provide evidence to back up the safety concerns.
Yeah, I’m trying to find some. It’s more about how the wayspot is being approached by the current community rather than its dangerousness for authorized people in its vicinities. The fact that people can only actually glimpse it from a overpassing train station is one of them.
I’m also trying to gather data on how the place doesn’t even operate anymore by private personnel (I assume it’s abandoned by how it looks in person) but it is difficult to find a reliable source that’s not unsourced wikipedia claims. At least I can confirm the place has no markers in any major online map service, and the past owner company’s website doesn’t even mention the place anymore anywhere, much less promote it as a museum (as some unsourced claims seem to support).
If it was still a gas history museum as we’re all led to presume from the latest (2008) news, then it should be easily searchable on online maps or the company website.
If it is still a temporary base of operations for the gas company as some wikipedia claims say, then it should be possible to at least find contact info on it on their website or phone, which as far as I can tell, it is not.
Thanks for the appeal, @Drezus64. We took another look at the Wayspot in question and decided that it does not meet our criteria for removal at this time.
