Collocated Portals - to be or not to be
Here I want to bring up the topic of "collocated" portals and get to know NIANTIC's official position on this matter.
The current state of affairs is as follows:
There are a small number of portals around the world that are "multiple" - that is, two or more portals have identical geographic coordinates and occupy the exact same place on Intel.
Most probably these portals were nominated via Google+ when you only needed title, type of object, geographical coordinates and photo and most important there was no 20 m away rule.
These portals represent real objects being close to each other (but not in the same place), and the identity of their coordinates in the game is probably due to coincidence.
These special portals even got their own unique name. The Ingress community calls them "Collocated."
Such portals have quite special properties in Ingress Gameplay due to their special position - they can be used, for example, to create imposing but not crossing links and then to build homogeneous fields with level higher than 6 (which is not possible in a "normal" way).
Examples of HCF6+ fields implemented on collocated portals can be found here:
Looking also from another side - maybe “collocated” portals have some meaning for the plot, some special properties? Who knows...
And now the question (with thesis):
According to NIANTIC, should such portals - as curiosities, "special cases", and small "anomalies" which make the game more interesting - remain in the game, or not? And - are they „legal” or „illegal”?
Please note that new "collocated" portals cannot be created - with the current rules for creating and editing portals it is impossible.
I know there are players who consider such portals as „illegal” and report them to "decolocation" - to become ordinary portals.
This is what happened a few days ago with three collocated portals in Poland - they were pulled apart.
An agent who himself was using "triple" portals near Krosno to do HCF9 and described it in the sitrep, submitted these portals for removal / tearing apart:
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/18910/invalid-wayspot-appeal#latest
The "fivefold" and "double" portals in Poland were also pulled apart at about the same time:
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=54.528617,16.952547 (5 portals)
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=54.528563,16.952049 (2 portals)
These portals were used in the construction of the tiny HCF7 field (there is no sitrep for this, there is only a note on Enlightened Polska: https://t.me/ENLPolska/1807 )
So I ask officially: does Niantic consider such "collocated" portals "legal"?
If "" Yes "- then maybe they would not be moved away (if all objects physically exist in close proximity of course) so that they would remain as local curiosities.
And if "NO" then ... the Niantic developer can do the job with one query to the database ... and there won't be any "collocated" any more.
Personally, I am in favor of the "keep them as curiosities and not separate them" option. But the decision is up to you.
@NianticThia - I think you are the most appropriate person to answer this question clearly.
I am waiting for an answer with great curiosity.
Comments
If the locations are false, they should be corrected, otherwise they can stay.
This would remove most colocated portals.
I'm the guy who for the first time in the world created a link plan and led an operation in which 4 agents in one car built an L7 cHCF (HCF using a collocated portal). I helped come up with this whole idea, although the main credit for that undoubtedly belongs to @57Cell, I was just an enthusiastic padawan, perhaps a sparring partner, who helped him bring this idea to the ingress world. World record, breaking the cap of HCF ... you know (if not, here is a video report and a written three-part sitrep).
What I mean: it was a fantastic adventure! It was something amazing, from the beginning to the grand final. An amazing experience, an amazing story that we could share with the whole community, blue and green.
As Mike and I sat over it, throwing ideas and suggestions at each other, that creative enthusiasm cannot be described in words.
When I understood what was going on and we had a clear methodology on how to build it theoretically, I started searching my whole republic and understood how difficult a task it was. I found a friend who was willing to devote lots and lots of work to it, to help me to achieve this goal. .. again, great feeling (at least I'm not the only fool who really wants to do that crazy theory in practice). Thank you for your trust in my "folly" @TajnejHajnej.
We did not find a collocated portal in our country. But we found one a little beyond our borders. After the failure, a wave of enthusiasm came - it is possible, we are lucky, we can try! That night, 4 agents in one car in a neighboring country built a miracle - something impossible until then. Everyone knew it was impossible, because even the Japanese paid tribute to this fact with their pseudo L7 HCF - a fantastic operation that built all the links (although not all the fields, it just doesn't work in the classic way) of the classic L7 HCF!
And we did it! An incredible, fantastic experience ... that we kept in deep secrecy. We didn't say a word to anyone. We felt tremendous pressure, we shared the desire with the whole world, but we kept our mouths shut. Guess why.
Because we were scared. We knew that there could be someone who would want to destroy this amazing anomaly, which we were able to use in such a fantastic way and thus enormously enrich our gaming experience. And we didn't want that, not least because we had more plans with it.
I immediately started organizing an even bolder plan, 8 layers! The principle was clear, but this could no longer be built by one car. This must have been international cooperation and dozens of agents must participate in it. I'll cut it short. It was a big operation, many Czech and German agents met in it. If the L7 was a fantastic experience, then this operation surpassed it many times over. To overcome your own world record in the international cooperation of dozens of agents after 1.5 months of preparations while keeping the former record a secret, ... there is probably nothing that can match these feelings easily!
An idea born in the Australian and Czech head, realized first by Czech agents in Germany and for the second time by dozens of German and Czech agents under the leadership of a Czech and German operator ...
... I ask you: isn't exactly this what this game is about?
Please NIA, consider maintaining these unique relics - collocated portals. Put them in the game officially, or at least let them survive in it, tolerate it. There may be, in the world, maybe ... a few dozens/hundred of them. Allow agents to experience similar stories so that they can search for these exceptional miracles in their neighborhood and try to do what we once did.
I know, it's always about people. There are people who can follow the same path as we, the Australian-Czech-German team, who enjoyed our fantastic adventure. And there are people who are not able or willing to look at it this way. :-/
I don't understand the motivation of a Polish agent. I do not question his motives, I would not go that far. But I also ask you, @panfolek to reconsider your request at least once again. Of course, according to the currently valid rules, your request is completely in accordance with the current conditions of creating portals. But there is also Andrew Krug's statement in the AMA in the past, where he said that portals that were created earlier under conditions that no longer apply today are still legitimate (link).
I am absolutely convinced that these portals have helped revive interest in the hidden miracles in this game. About the really hidden ones. Not the ones you can buy. Not the ones you can accomplish if you play by some game guide. These are the ones you have to try for, which are not free. Those who require effort, interest, enthusiasm and faith in the success of something we may not even fully understand until we can finally do it!
In the Czech Republic, we have a telegram group in the RES community called CZRES XM Research - associating players who are interested in HCF, crosslinks, null fields and all other phenomena. At RESCAMP, our annual meeting of blue players from all over the country, I have lectures on various of these topics (RESCAMP 2020 sitrep). We research, we test, we look for ways where we can go, what we can achieve. And we really enjoy it!
As for me, that's why I still play. And not just for me. I would have given up on it a long time ago if I just had to walk around the house with my dog through a couple portals. This is what fills and motivates me. And thanks not only to me, but really to our common efforts, from time to time we enrich our community with some fantastic experiments. Our agents are into it with the knowledge that it may not work out at all, maybe will not even work at all ... but that's what it's about! The discovery spirit that is encouraged by such miracles as collocated portals. There aren't many others like that. They are part of the game and they are a great part of it!
I plead for collocated portals to be accepted as part of the game. And for not only to preserve them in the future, but also for officially accepting crossed links as an integral part of the game. After all, you also need cooperation for their creation, it supports community thinking (even cross faction if there is enough will for it in the local/regional ingress community), the experience of a common journey for something which is not an entirely easy goal.
You can't buy this at the supermarket. You have to go through this and for it! Don't take this opportunity from us.
I believe that I speak not only for RES, but that a lot of ENL agents see it the same way. Blue or green, in terms of game experiences, it doesn't matter! Please, if you see it similarly, it doesn't matter which faction you are affiliated with, don't hesitate and put LIKE here. I wonder if I'm crazy or if it is also worth it for other agents too and not only for me, one guy from Central Europe.