Additional Information (if any):
I don’t understand the rejection here. It’s a public place, like a roundabout. It’s made to let people gather and seat on public bench. Why does they talk about “natural feature”. Yes there are trees but it’s a public square…
I’m struggling to see how this would be a great place to socialise and exercise. There’s not really many places to sit down in a group, and just looks like a green patch of land.
Just been pointed out to me where this located. I should have looked at the Streetview before my previous comment. Whilst the distance between the pavement and the island is short, there’s no dedicated right of way to allow people to cross safely. The same rules apply as if this was a roundabout. Whilst there may be safe access on the central area, there is no safe access to get to the island (i.e. dedicated crossing). If I saw this and did a proper analysis during my review, I would struggle to vote positively for this one.
Even It’s a slow-speed neighbourhood and only inhabitants come here by car? Also, the whole crossing is an elevated speed bump used as pedestrian space.
It’s irrelevant as to how fast the cars are travelling. Niantic rules state that it has to be safe access. I would interpret that as to include some form of marked crossing that gives pedestrians the right of way to access the location in question.
Given that there are parking spots against the island, I would be less concerned about it not having pedestrian access given you can park your car and walk over to the benches without crossing the road.
It looks like it was already appealed, there’s a paragraph in the screenshot with the appeal rejection.
I think this nomination, on its face, is decent but I think your picture didn’t do it the justice it deserves and the view from streetview isn’t doing you any favours as it looks very overgrown and not maintained.
I would suggest you take a picture that focuses more on the benches in the middle. Can you share your description and supporting information?
I would go by what Niantic would tell us as being acceptable rather than whether we think it’s safe. You and I would not have a problem crossing the road to the island, but if an accident were to happen (no matter how unlikely it may happen) because someone was looking at their phone whilst playing Pokemon Go, it will be on Niantic. Erring on the side of caution is required here.
How about not everyone has a car that they can use to park up on the island in order to get out and land on the island? There will be some people who will want to get there by foot. My point is about “Pedestrian Access” not “Drivers and Car Users Access”. If you can’t see my point, there’s not much more for me to add to the conversation.
I’ll let Niantic provide a response to your point. If you beieve pedestrian access to mean “Get out of a car and onto the island”, that’s fine. I don’t agree with your point… and if you believe your point to be more right than mine, that’s fine.
I think you get one of two positions, but not both.
Either the car-parking is for the island, and some sub-set of the population has direct access to it via automobile, or all of those car-drivers are walking away, demonstrating the pedestrian access.
Niantic is leery of roundabouts, and will not accept the notion that Public Works officials who may park in the roadway to tend the landscaping are an appropriate sub-set. However, everybody has pedestrian access to a 15 km/h area with dedicated on-street parking.
It depends on the POI on the island and has a different set of guidelines. I could argue that if the POI on the Island doesn’t have safe access, it should be rejected.
If, for example, you look at the Statue of Liberty, one way to get to it is via boat, but once you get there, you can freely walk around and walk up to it. If, for example, you look at the lighthouse on an island that doesn’t have safe pedestrian access, I would question the safety, but doesn’t mean I am right in that situation.
Which is why it should be down to Niantic to decide in this case. I couldn’t in good concience accept the nomination as I don’t believe it would be safe for non-car drivers, in my view. It may be deemed safe by Niantic, and would need to adjust my viewpoint if Niantic says it’s safe.
