I live in a mostly rural/ forested area with a lot of housing as well. From my home im Pokemon Go i can see one stop and a gym. In ingress its just one portal. The gym is out of range. If i was to ‘walk the block’ it would take an hour of solid walking, cover 5kms and only hit 5 POIs. If you took a detour youd hit another two in ingress through a walking track but then you’d miss one of the other 5 out.
We have a number of POIs that gave made it into the game. But not enough. All the reserves churchs and playgrounds and sports clubs are in the game. There are generic plastic mailboxes and road signs left. Nothing else! I submitted a private road in a corner but that got rejected.
It’s there anything else i can do to make the game more interesting without having to get in the car and travel?
Do some research see if there is any interesting history about the are. Talk to local council and see if there is any interest installing information boards about local places of interest. Are the council interested in improving health by providing some walking /running routes to encourage exercise.
Being an active citizen and trying to get these things will benefit whole community and with a fair wind wayfarer too.
For Ingress I’ve travelled all over my country and have been to Australia also. Ive sepnt many days, many hours travelling around my town and my province playing these games.
Many hours walking around the park inntown playing Ingress and then Pokemon Go. Its expensive to travel. And driving aint fun. not when you do it for hours on end traversing your town from end to end smashing links and portals.
But it would be nice if the “Get out and move” didnt start after a drive in the car first.
The scenery in my area is far superior to that in town. Its quiet, its peaceful qhereas town is loud and full of cars. Its just too long a walk to do anything substantial AP wise in Ingress. And not enough stops for items or research in pokemon go.
I think it’s very area dependent on if you have to drive to explore further.
In the UK, I can walk to the next village in under half an hour and the nearest town in a little over an hour.
If I want to go further without driving myself there’s always public transport here which is generally reliable, and can get me to nature reserves and forested areas.
I have a friend who lives in a forest area, very rural. They made some signs to highlight local ruins in the forest, with quite detailled history included, and created some permanent artwork in the forest too, and were able to nominate those items to become waypoints. They are a proficient woodworker though.
Bug hotels are often nominated as waypoints in the UK, and are things that can be created relatively simply and are good for encouraging biodiversity. A park in a nearby town to me made kind of a wildlife educational walking trail with numbered wooden markers and different constructions to encourage wildlife at different locations around the park
Depends how rural things are for you as to whether there is a council with a budget to ask for things, so in some places people just do it themselves I guess.
In the absence of making things, maybe you could check for walking/biking/running/horseriding trails in the local area, and submit any signs or markers? Benches or other items marking scenic viewpoints are also possible (albeit difficult) nominations.
Please note: I’m not suggesting making fake stuff to use for waypoints.
Bug hotels can be great however most that I see are not fit for purpose.
They have to be maintained and checked regularly otherwise they are prone to one species becoming invasive.
They also have to be cleaned and checked for mold otherwise they can harbor disease.
They usually need to be placed in a certain position with specific types of holes, crevices for specific types of insects or bees.
Most that I see whether bought from from a shop or homemade have been left for two plus years without the wood being changed and are pretty dilapidated and dirty and are probably doing more harm than good.
Yeah I havent made one myself before, but have seen them popping up in places. I’m limited for bird and bug box stuff because my house faces due south, so the front is completely baking hot when the weather is dry. I’ve been focussing on encouraging wildflowers and leaving stuff a bit wild. Sadly from a wayfarer perspective that kind of activity doesn’t give the opportunity for a wayspot unless theres a sign
