Niantic, can you share anything about how Portal Scan will contribute to Ingress gameplay?
Niantic just released Scout Controller and the related new achievement this week. However, right now there are already two achievements (namely Scout and Scout Controller) but almost 0 new gameplay related to the feature Portal Scan. It gives me a feeling that Niantic is very anxious about getting more Portal Scan data from Ingress agents as soon as posible with least effort.
I personally don't mind contributing data to Ingress. I have submitted hundreds of portal (300 of which were approved) and did more than 20k review in Wayfarer since 2016. But my motivation is "If I contribute, agents like me can have more fun exploring places when playing Ingress", not "Oh, a place to contribute is here, I can get a shiny little badge if I contribute my labor!". I contribute beacuse how this data will improve Ingress gameplay is known to me, even though it may not take effect immediately (e.g. OPR in its earliest stage does not approve/reject portal submission).
But back to Portal Scan, I don't know either how data acquired from Portal Scan will improve Ingress gameplay in the future, or whether this data will be applied to Ingress at all. In addition, the level setting of Scout Controller just looks ridiculous...
I know this sounds "selfish", but I, as an Ingress agent, have little interest to contribute in Portal Scan if there is no planned new gameplay in Ingress related to data gathered from Portal Scan. In the contrary, if Niantic can share some vision about the future use of Portal Scan data in Ingress itself, I am very glad to help.
So, is there any thing interesting about Portal Scan you can share with us? I believe many agents are curious about this too.
Comments
Hopefully niantic will use it to determine portal quality and delete all not scanned POIs , removing all the fake pois and memorial benches that shouldn't be poi
Well, you can freely not contribute any portal scans lol
I believe the topic I am trying to discuss here is "If Niantic is willing to share future gameplay related to Portal Scan, I will be more interested to contribute" but not "Portal Scan is evil, Niantic is forcing us to do it, everybody please stop scanning". If I apply your logic here, I can reply you "Well, you can freely not comment here lol". No offense, but I think this is not constructive at all.
In the latter you are right, sorry for my the not quite correct reply.
We already asked in another topic why all these scans for. The topic was devoted to how to properly scan portals. If you understand why scans are needed, then you can understand how best to scan which portal, aren't you? We received the answer “how”, but did not receive the answer “why”. Perhaps someday the Niantic will come up with this answer. So far, it seems they have decided to give scans opportunity only because they can give it.
Yes I noticed the “how” thread appeared and I have already translated it to my local language to help promoting it in my local community.
I have the same feeling that they give the opportunity to scan only because they can (and maybe other games do need the data). Hope they can come up with the “why” as soon as possible. I don’t want to whim about so called free labor stuff anymore, but as long as they don’t answer “why”, it does look like that they are asking Ingress agents to contribute to other game but not Ingress.
Another thought that the scanning was one of the conditions for the purchase of 6D.ai (link). If you want to send everyone to the AR space world, you don’t have time to explain the orders to the soldiers. "Keep calm and scan portals".
Well, we have come to "Portal Scan is evil, Niantic is forcing us to do it" :-D
Has Niantic ever evaluate the requirements of different levels of Scout Controller? The onyx level requires Scout Controller designations on 15,000 unique portals. The requirement is just 25% less then onyx Pioneer medal, while getting a upc takes 1 sec but getting a Scout Controller takes at least 1min. 🤔
1 min if you're already walking, if you're on the bus or other vehicles you're gonna to stop it and walk to the portal.
I think Brian forgot that people don't aim just for onyx anymore, they're aiming for 2x it now. 15k is already unrealistic, now imagine 30k? And all of this work for something that is not gameplay and must willing do it just for a badge.
At least they said to the PoGo lot that there are some AR+ features that can be done, showing a Bulbasaur that would actively hide behind a tree.
Would love to know if there are plans of how this could be used to enhance Ingress. Perhaps that could incentivise the community to do free labour, rather than a badge with some outrageous requirements.
Its AR framework feature called `reality blending` or smth like that. We don't need to scan trees to have that...
What can be scanning used for is actually building 3D models of portals to show on map or allow people to
seethe portal thru AR camera. Similar to how they show pokemon in the camera viewfinder they can show us portals placed exactly where the real object is locatedI am so confused. If I can be where the real object is located, why do I need to see it in AR on the screen instead of through my eyes? The only reason I can think of is they want to integrate it into an AR navigation like google glass and highlighted portals/objects, which should require a real time rendered computer vision support, in which case the player need to keep the camera on and pointing straight ahead to enjoy the feature. Of course mobile gaming experience like this is not only possible but also inevitable. But I don't think it is in near future. And probably not even when someone gets the world's first Onyx Scout Controller badge.
Flash back to a vision 7yrs ago,, where xm is visibly emulating from portals
https://youtu.be/92rYjlxqypM
Try to scan as an example any wall paintings,or memorial deck(flat on flat,wow such a 3d model)...or smth big like Eiffel tower. Or smth located on the top of building which can easily be seen but to scan it's a bit hard.
I agree with TS,we have almost no interest to waste minimum 30 sec on rach POI(usually more),to waste lots of phone storage(there's a .webm video and ar stuff for each scanned POI),to waste traffic if there's no time to go to home/work wlan. It's long and boring job for now,and we have totally no info where that tons of "ar-scanned shoes" should be used in Ingress. I'm not a fan of HPWU(played to L18 and dropped),absolutely not a fan of PoGo(created char,played 2 minutes and dropped),CATAN is with blank map now too... I'm interested what it will bring to core Ingress(even not "3d Intel map"). If that scanning will give nothing to Ingress,why should i even start,if it will be used only in PoGo then give that tool to PoGo players,etc.
I won't scan until I see what scanning brings to Ingress. Simple as that.
I'm hoping it will be used to verify that an agent is physically present when they move at suspicious speeds or make/take down BAFs.
It would be so much better if only 3d objects where allowed.
That automatically make all guys with phones w/o AR+ as spoofers. Save us God from this!
Kann man über den scan auch fake portale entfernen lassen