Are all portals on hospital grounds invalid portals?
in General
I recently came across some portals on hospital grounds. There are a couple near the entrance of the hospital and one that can be accessed near the back of the hospital. While on foot, I could access the portals without blocking any entrance ways, although I'm uncertain if those in a vehicle can do the same.
It makes me ask: Do portals "block or interfere with emergency services" if they are on hospital grounds, or do the portals need to be near an entrance of a hospital to qualify as such?
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If they weren’t valid then there wouldn’t be a category for hospitals/health services literally in Wayfarer.
also, considering this relates to Waypoints the better place for this is in the Wayfarer forum.
Buuuut I’ll still throw my opinion out. This also goes back to the Safe Pedestrian Access rating. Even if the Waypoint itself is in front of an emergency entrance/entryway (why this would even be I have no clue) you still have a radius of range around the portal you CAN be at. This is similar to Fire Stations which are also valid Waypoint categories. Just because the Waypoint itself is on the fire station doesn’t mean you can’t safely stand on the sidewalk away from the driveway (usually).
The “blocks emergency services” reasoning would be valid reason if there is absolutely NO WHERE ELSE you can be to access the Waypoint except in the way of emergency services. And in (I’d guess) 95% of cases this isn’t an issue.
Not sure what the latest update says but I don't think anything actually inside a hospital should be approved. Statue outside, maybe in a courtyard etc sure. What's been going on the last year should emphasise that to, shouldn't be any temptation to try and wander inside and find the mural or plaque POI
I agree wrong forum for this, but I disagree on the fact if you can't safely go stand on top the the POI without blocking access or risking getting in the way of emergency services or medical personnel as you play on your phone that the POI is invalid.
This being an ingress forum, it's sometime highly necessary to be right on top of the POI not just reach it from a distance (Also eg pogo the range of a POI is currently increased)
If they dont block emergency Wayspots on hospital accept critera or follow critera. I see lots of Wayspots on hospital follow criteria.
It is ok to play in cortison or entrens when they dont block emergency.
If they weren’t valid then there wouldn’t be a category for hospitals/health services literally in Wayfarer.Having it in the category drop-down does not imply it's valid. They literally have schools listed there as well. You shouldn't be using that as a reference to determine validity.
"If they weren’t valid then there wouldn’t be a category for hospitals/health services literally in Wayfarer."
A category in Wayfarer is just for describing the POI. It doesn't mean it's an allowable item to submit. I know natural feature is in there but of course that's not permitted.
We have portals on the hospital grounds where even the closest resonator is a safe enough distance from the emergency department. I submitted portals of a Research building on a hospital campus that was far from emergency that was approved. But a medical student residence building portal nomination was rejected probably because a resonator would have been in the near by ambulance only entrance road. Statues, institute buildings, all have portals and even one indoor plaque at one of our hospitals. I think that last one should not be valid. As someone noted each resonator should be accessible for ultra striking (ideally).
Officially, there aren't meant to be portals on hospital grounds.
My view is that this rule should be much clearer, as long as the wayspot does not obstruct emergency services, it should be accepted.
There are deliberate courtyards setup, and areas with artistic flair, to enable those unfortunate enough to be in hospital, some respite in a low stress area.
It's hilarious the anime starts with the characters going to a portal located at a hospital
It's a difficult one, the rules say so long as driest block emergency services, so technically hospital/things in them shouldn't be allowed, but niantic have said that certain things can be OK if it's places the public would go, so for example, a statue in the public entrance would be OK
This discussion really belongs over at the Wayfarer forums https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/ but meh.
But to be brief: yes, wayspot locations CAN be located on hospital grounds. But they also CANNOT be in any location that interferes with the "emergency services" access. Some specific examples that have been cited as allowable include gardens and playgrounds.
Do not mistake the "interaction radius" as meaning that you're able to stand some distance away from the location and still do in-game actions. The "safe pedestrian access" rules are explicitly intended to mean that you can literally stand directly at the POI's location and physically interact with that, without putting yourself or others in danger. And indeed, the rules as written are normally interpreted the other way around. Roughly, "if you can interact with the POI while you're standing at the ambulance entrance, even if the POI itself is some dozen meters away or more, then it is a bad location."
Personally, I've seen museum-quality artifacts and displays in my local hospital... that I wouldn't feel comfortable submitting. But I've also submitted gardens and gazebos and other things OUTSIDE a different hospital that I'm perfectly fine with. The first one's location was too close to the emergency department, and the other hospital was more of a "convalescence/recovery" hospital run by nuns.
Ok so having spent far too long in childrens' Hospital as a mother of a patient .... Don't you dare take hospital portals away! Hacking has kept me sane during some pretty horrible days at the hospital.
The emergency entrance and emergency departments at royal Melbourne children s hospital and Queensland childrens Hospital are on the ground floor and a publically accessible commercial food court is located directly above.
The fancy art in these hospitals is just great. Got quite a few portals outside of Queensland Childrens Hospital through opt/wayfarer. But alas not the fabulous 4 foot scale model of the hospital done in Lego bricks. Because it's in the foyer.
There should be allowed. Think of the patients who are admitted playing the game. Employees play the game too.
When I played PoGo more often, I would lure the pokestops at the local childrens hospital anytime I drove by, especially when they had 4 hour lures, etc. Or anytime we know an agent is in the hospital, we make an effort to mod and build up any portals we know they can reach.
Having been in the same situation, I completely agree. I even submitted several POI in our local Children's' Hospital. Families spend A LOT of time in these facilities and catching some Pokémon or hacking some portals is a welcome distraction.
Sorry about posting in the wrong forum. I saw that the wayfarer board on these forums was archived, and I didn't see any other place on this forum to post wayfarer questions, so I posted here...
In the future, I'll post wayfarer questions in the wayfarer forums.
A suggestion I would make is to include a link to the wayfarer forums in the Ingress forums. If possible, the link would look like a sub-board on the Ingress forums, but clicking on it would redirect to the wayfarer forums. That will redirect people to the appropriate place.
Something similar could be done at the Pokemon Go forums too, if it hasn't been done already.