Hopefully I picked the right topic for this. I’m curious as to what people think about graveyards as wayspots. I’ve been undertaking waypoint nomination as a hobby, and I started with local graveyards since they seemed to be a popular wayspot type. I’ve had a few declined though, despite clear pictures and descriptions. After going over the criteria again, graveyards seem to slide into a gray area. They are neither mentioned explicitly as an example, but they are not discouraged by the rejection criteria either. They could fall under historic location, and often feature historical gravestones, but almost all the wayspots I’ve seen at graveyards are simply for the graveyard itself, not a specific object or grave located there. This seems to suggest a strong split in the voting community. Are they something the rules allow but a significant portion of the community has a distaste for? It seems weird to suggest graveyards aren’t important to the local community and need extra criteria to be eligible when gated community and apartment building signs seemingly comprise half the nominations.
I feel like I should be appealing these but I don’t want to waste anyone’s time or keep investing myself in a lost cause. I can provide examples but I thought I’d ask if there’s a general disdain for them as a wayspot first.
Since you asked for the community’s opinion on graveyards as Wayspots, I hate them. I think it is completely disrespectful to have game locations at a sensitive area where folks come to mourn and pay their respects. But as much as I personally dislike them, I always went by the Niantic clarification when I got them to review. It really had to be convincingly demonstrated to me that the submission was important. If you feel your submissions do meet criteria, then I would encourage you to appeal them.
Bad. I tend to reject due to privacy & respect of person’s final resting place in accordance w Niantic standards. But, I believe military memorials (e.g. at Veterans Admin) are acceptable if done w/o have grave markers in photo submissions. Best
I doubt you will get an official company opinion. The best you can hope for is that someone who has been around for a long time can find quotes that have been made in the past. And then to hear the opinions of experienced Wayfinders.
I personally base my reviewing of cemeteries on the age and local cultural impact. If the cemetery is old and not taking any new burials, I am much more likely to approve something inside it. Or if you can prove that the locals consider the cemetery a place to explore - somewhere that walking around and looking at the graves won’t be considered weird or disrespectful.
Two examples I use:
Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta was the city’s first public park. It offers tours, including cycling tours. You can rent out a building inside for parties or even to get married. People walk through and take photos all the time. Locals plan picnics in the cemetery.
Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA is in such high demand as a photo shoot location, that you must register with the cemetery to be allowed to take photos there - this is despite it still being an active cemetery. My cousin’s bride snuck in with her photographer on her wedding day to take a few photos and thankfully wasn’t caught. I think there are other cemeteries in Savannah that are also considered tourist spots.
I have submitted and had approved a couple of graves of people who would be considered founders of their towns. One man was famous on the state level - his grave is a huge obelisk in the center of a historic cemetery in a small town.
I’m glad I asked. I was coming at it from the other side, assuming it was a good thing to have graveyards be an active part of the community, but I assumed a base level of respect for locations like this. That was probably naive of me. I’ll take down the other ones I’ve nominated and won’t nominate any more.
I’ll note again that most of the graveyards wayspots in my area aren’t for specific monuments or historical figures. Which is why I didn’t even think to research this before submitting any. Feels like the guidelines on this should be a little more black and white if people feel this way. I fully understand the issues with it but a big chunk of the community must not be clear on this if so many submissions are sneaking through.
Gonna be honest, never noticed before that there was a dropdown menu at the top of the “what makes a good waypoint” screen that has rejection criteria. It’s not a very user-friendly layout, at least not on mobile. Gonna assume I’m not alone based on how many get nominated and approved. It doesn’t clarify that when you actually review a submission (just says “sensitive location”).
Remember that their could be acceptable nomination in and around “Graveyards”
Our local graveyard as a Lychgate entrance which is a waypoint.
I myself had another located where the chapel was destroyed many years ago, it’s foundations and 1 wall have been adapted to create a seating area and memorials. It’s at the “old” end of the graveyard so would not disturb the later grave area. As long as players are respectful there should be no problem, I would not even enter if a funeral was talking place and that would be a couple of hundred yards away.
That is a problem that I also wish would be fixed, since there are a lot of rejections for private property/unsafe access from reviewers in my area that do not bother to read the info next to the rejection button.
I feel pretty stupid for never noticing it, but it’s also pretty small on the screen and just kinda looks like a header. Either that dropdown needs to be bigger/more clear or those two pages need to be combined to make it more likely someone reads through all of it.
Please don’t feel bad! I miss stuff all the time. You are definitely not the only one. That is why we will often give links to those pages directly when we give advice here. or even link to where they are listed here: Wayspot Criteria — Wayfarer Help Center
One cemetery near my area is PokeStop, which is a sensitive location and doesn’t meet the criteria. When I reported it, the staff informed me that it didn’t meet the criteria for taking it down. <3 I’m really confused.
right. you have to make the report first, then you can appeal the rejection of the report in Wayspot Appeals if you would like to. if you don’t want to bother, you don’t have to.
