Wayspot Removal Appeal: Oakbourne Park Walking Trail - Private Residence

When submitting a Wayspot Appeal, make sure to include as much of the following information as possible:

  • Wayspot Title: Oakbourne Park Walking Trail
  • Location (lat/lon): 39.938292,-75.569878
  • City: West Chester, PA
  • Country: US
  • Screenshot of the Rejection Email (do not include your personal information):

  • Additional Information (if any): This wayspot is in the driveway of a private residence on the opposite side of the road from where the park is actually located. Another wayspot (“Stonewalled”) previously existed at the intersection of this driveway and the road but has since been removed. Additionally, there is a “Posted: No Trespassing” sign on a pole at the end of the driveway next to the mailbox present at the road (I submitted an updated wayspot photo taken from the park, but that was rejected as well).

If the Wayspot exists but is misplaced, you can use help chat to do a location edit that you cannot do in game. Go to the Help menu on the Wayfarer site Niantic Wayfarer and a chat bubble will pop up in the lower right corner.
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I’ve walked through the park recently and have not seen a sign matching the wayspot photo. I suspect the park signs have been replaced and/or re-located since the wayspot was initially approved.

2 Likes

Thanks for the appeal, @padalabra. We took another look at the Wayspots in question and decided that they do not meet our criteria for removal at this time.

@padalabra is obviously perfectly capable of responding, but @NianticAtlas I can’t believe
you all left a wayspot on someone’s SFPRP.

It’s obviously in the driveway of the house that sits back. There are three houses on that side of the road and three driveways each with its own mailbox.

The way spot is obviously across the street from the actual park.

And there is a No Trespassing sign at the entrance to the driveway, as the OP said. @padalabra , did you submit these streeview screen shots with your request? Just curious.

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Would it keel you to report the basis for your finding? Is there a legitimate trail there? Or will we be ‘short’ attempting to traverse it?

The Wayfarer system only functions when there is transparency.

Why should explorers keep giving so much, when Niantic keeps secrets?

Kind of strange how this wayspot did not meet the criteria for removal, but the “Stonewalled” waypoint that previously existed (at least in Ingress) somehow met the criteria for removal & that one was at the end of the driveway with the “Posted No Trespassing” sign.

The waypoint in question here is beyond the No Trespassing sign and on a private residential property, which is the second bullet point in the “Ineligible location, place, or object” section of the rejection criteria.

Please provide a rationale for keeping this wayspot in the system.

@NianticAtlas could you please provide the reason this was not removed? This is clearly along a private driveway:

The regular Google Maps view shows this goes to “1025”:

There is a mailbox with “1025” at the main road entry to the driveway, and a “Posted” sign:

There is a sign up that is impossible to read in this street view but in an older one shows it says “Stonewalled”. In searching for what that was, I found that they used to host a Christmas light show, but did not last year. The Facebook posts make clear that this is a “home” and the profile says it is “Closed”

Mapquest also shows the light show and gives a link which goes nowhere:


http://www.christmasatstonewalled.com

What more evidence would you need from @padalabra in order to retire this Wayspot that they can give the team without trespassing?

The driveway appears to be an easement through property owned by Western Township to a landlocked SFPRP lot. The location is not SFPRP:

E: note, that doesn’t mean the sign is accurately placed, only that the location it is placed is not invalid as SFPRP.

Do you suppose the general public has unhindered access to walk up the driveway to the pinned location?

Is there something worthwhile (or its proxy) at that location?

I have not searched for the actual description of the plot, but it is likely that it explicitly grants the owner access through the municipally owned land. It is therefore up to the municipality whether anyone else has the right to access it.

If there is actually a trail there, then it would seem likely that the municipality has granted rights to others and the homeowners at the end of the driveway would not be able to prevent people from using it to access the trail.

Per my edit, I cannot speak to the validity of where the sign has been located in game. If the marker is not there, the wayspot should definitely be moved to the correct location.

My point was that the path this is along is a DRIVEWAY to a home as the original post says, not a “trail” as the Wayspot title indicates. I never said SFPRP. Thank you for making me make my point clear if it was not.

Yes, there are driveways that have public easements that provide access to trails. I do not have proof this is one of them. I do not have proof this is not one of them. I’m not going to go looking for that proof because I don’t care enough.

If there is a public easement here for trail access and the sign is accurately located, then I see no issue with the wayspot.

There is no trail there. You can see that from the main road. Where would the trail start and cross the street to the park on the other side of the main road. Why are you arguing the other side?

There are trails locally that literally go down people’s driveways.


There is no trail there. There is no indication of a trail there. The park is on the other side of the main road.

There is no indication that an Oakbourne Park trail crosses that road. Here is a website with trail information: Parks & Trails - Westtown Township

And here is the masterplan link showing that Oakbourne Park Trails are within the park on the other side of the road:

I will stop replying now.

Ok. Here’s the map which shows that a trail does go up the driveway and around the property:

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Huh! They even have maps of it in the park!

Alright, well that is something I have not seen before & I guess I did not pay attention to the detail in the trail map. I’ve just been discouraged by the “No Trespassing” sign at the end of that driveway. I’ll investigate further when the weather is better.

1 Like

They should really fix that. Because if it’s posted, no trespassing anyone goes down there they could be arrested.

Actually, if you blow that picture up a bit on the trails, the trail goes along side, but clearly not on the persons property. That is probably why the property owner put up the new trespassing sign to keep people off the driveway.

Now the question is is the way spot on private property or not?