Rather than a “submit everything in sight” approach, might I request everything nominated have some modicum of research? The why’s and wherefore’s of what makes a point (of) interesting. Not just cool photos of the subject, but text as well.
In Ingress, as I’m scrolling through my keys to recharge, I’ll often pause to read the description for a portal. Often, they are interesting and informative.
Similarly, I often (granted, not always, but often) spend quite a few hours researching something before nominating it (or updating an existing spot). When I come across something that says “art bruh!” or “painted by an artist”, I do cringe a little.
While I generally don’t disagree with this concept, I think it’s a little too restrictive for the kind of work I’m talking about. If you’ve ever tried to submit 20 - 30 POI in one day, you know that it is too time consuming to write really thorough information while also out finding the POI.
Yes, prep work will help with an effort like this. But you find a lot of things while in the field that can’t be seen on satellite or street view. Basic info that is adequate for approval can be entered while on site and then later updated at the end of the day. But I would hate for good POI to be skipped because people don’t have time to do the research you’re talking about.
I almost never nominate in the field. I take photos (usually I remember to also take supporting photos but… oops). Then I do research and nominate from home. There I can write up the title and descriptions using a real keyboard to reduce grammar and spelling errors and do the research I’m suggesting.
I think by gathering the evidence out in the field and nominating during down time can actually get more, higher-quality spots into play.
Right, but what I’m talking about here is nominating in a place that is too far away from home to nominate there. I’ve driven 2 hours away to nominate in a small town. I certainly couldn’t take those photos and nominate from home, even though I did drive there and back home on the same day.
I also see these trips as an opportunity to work with others and help show them the whole process to nominate. I am planning an outing in a couple of weeks with someone who still struggles a little bit to locate things on the map. It would be pointless for us to gather together to take photos and then nominate from home. They would miss that knowledge transfer. A trip like this requires us to do things in ways we normally wouldn’t.
10 km in PGO, 20 km in Ingress. I don’t submit through Ingress so I am restricted by that 10 km limit. Many of the places I’ve got planned in parts of my city don’t even fall within 10 km of my work.
Hi @seaprincesshnb
I thought a long while about your topic and have now an opinion.
I think, that instead of taking away many current and following nominations from the local communities, theire have to be a way to give them better chances for nominations.
I think about:
Marking rural nominations as such and
deal it like upgraded (faster, wider spreaded)
upgraded noms get decisions in 24h
Let rurals talk about what rurals do. Where they meet to socialize? What makes art or history in a rural area? How do they exercise/ explore?
And out of this outcoming make (or someone who is allowed to do ) a special rural category which never would work in the suburbs.
I think @AliceWonder1511 is saying it would be a shame if a bunch of outsiders swooped in and nominated all the low-hanging fruit all at once.
Could a means be devised that would make it a little bit easier for the locals to do something from a grass-roots basis, instead?
Suppose Niantic used their heat-map in reverse, and allowed looser guidelines for stuff that is really in the sticks? That way, locals could do a day-hike in their section of the Appalachian Trail and nominate e.g.: scenic overlooks, which would be shot down in more populated areas.
If they could start the work themselves, and then expand upon it, they would experience the joy of rural Wayfaring, rather than just getting a few spots with easy access.
While i understand the concern behind this, my response is that some version of Wayfarer has been around for 10 years. PGO players have been able to nominate since 2019. If locals were going to nominate, they would have done so by now.
Now, you could also argue that if there are no nominations, then there are no players. I see that. But using the Field of Dreams logic “if you build it, they will come,” I’d like to fill in the map and help build a community. Then those locals can level up, learn about Wayfarer, and maintain their own POI.
In some of the towns and village over here though the problem is getting things through. Shops get rejected as generic businesses, buildings that have hidden history get rejected because there isn’t a plaque or anchor point etc. I know a lot of long term players in the games that did try wayfarer and just got fed up with realistic poi being rejected for ridiculous reasons.
Before I was high enough to nominate a long term pogo player from the town used to submit for me. Everything they submitted was rejected for various reasons (None of them making any sense) I resubmitted them when I got to the right level and they are now passed. To be honest I did very little with them that they didn’t do but I got lucky and got reviewers that decided to pass them.
The delay in getting stuff through and the lack of feedback is part of the problem. Also a lot of the players submitting believe that what they have submitted is legit, for instance the Name signs on estates which I explained in another post are classed as “The head of the road” which is a local meeting spot for most youngsters and that follows through with them as they get older. To reviewers not familiar with that concept it may look plain or boring even though it is the complete opposite to people living in the locality.
Obviously there is the other side that, they believe it is suitable for the game because the wayfarer program is alien to a lot of players. They believe they are submitting a pokestop, portal etc. even though we look at it through the guise of a wayspot.
That’s why a lot of people just give up on it and either get bored of whatever game they are playing or they just go to bigger towns if that is possible. If I had my way here I would cover the entire town so that local players could do the opposite and attract players from bigger towns and cities to come explore here instead.
Thats a very good idea, but I also think it might be a good idea to look over the cities current wayspots. Where I live there are many wayspots that doesnt exist anymore or that have been re-locate to wrong places.
Its always good to find new places, but also important to maintain existent poi.
Yes. Fully agree with that. Around here I’ve done some of the existing ones already, like put descriptions, maybe brighter, clearer photos etc. Had to get one relocated because somehow it went from it’s correct position to the about 500m from that position. But I am probably 1 of a few that actually bother with maintaining existing.
I know one other player from the town that has made 3 submissions in the past year. 1 took 6 months to finally get rejected. The other got approved about a month after that and one of them took about 12 weeks. He doesn’t bother anymore.
I think a lot of the problem is the way wayfarer is standalone and players in all the games don’t realise that.
I’ve never been a fan of the bru I’ve got to say. Tried it a few times and it just never sat right. Wouldn’t mind trying a deep-fried mars bar though if it’s on offer.
) a special rural category which never would work in the suburbs.
They that bad?