People in OPR keep moving my locations...
My last batch of submissions, editors in OPR - sorry, Wayfarer - have moved the POI markers to unrealistic locations. Some were placed across the street, some on another building. I understand moving a couple feet if there's nothing else around, and perhaps the marker is down the road from where it should be (or in the case of a play ground, it is in the parking lot and not on the play ground itself).
I hesitate to play a conspiracy theorist and think that an opposing faction might be moving my POIs to get them automatically denied, or just to **** with me. But it is definitely very strange. I make sure my locations are very accurate before I submit my things.
What can I do about this? Must I only do location edits and hope sanity prevails?
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I think it would help if Niantic clarified which view we should use to finalize moving POIs. If I see a POI in the wrong spot, I'll have a different location between street view, 3D satellite view (where there is one), or regular satellite view. If all 3 are different locations, then obviously only 1 can be correct.
I've come to trust the standard satellite view the most. I'll use the others to help match up my points of reference, but I bet you somebody moved yours using the other views and that screwed up the locations.
I've had to move a lot of waypoints simple because they are nowhere close to their location based on the normal satellite map. Why the satellite map? It is because that is the only view the nominator has when they create their nomination or a regular player will have when they are "out in the field". I've seen the waypoints placed in the middle of streets. I've seen waypoints on the other side of the road from the object. I've seen waypoints placed in other unsafe locations when the object itself was a safe location. I've seen waypoints that are clearly on the wrong building. I've seen waypoints that were placed in the parking lot instead of on next to the sports field or on the sports field's sign. I've seen waypoints placed in the middle of the sports field and had to move them somewhere to the sideline.
I suspect many of these inaccurate locations are the result of three things. First, the submitter is attempting to put the portal in a location they can more easily reach without having to get out of their vehicle or wonder too far off of a particular path. In those cases, I am more than happy to thwart their attempted laziness. Second are PoGo players attempting to place the waypoint in a location that will either spawn a new PokeStop or Gym. In those cases, I believe that accuracy should take priority. The last group is players who may be in a low signal area and the satellite map does not load up for them to accurately place the waypoint. They have to depend on the "Locate Here" icon on their phones, which is only accurate to up to 16 feet. In those cases, their attempts to be accurate, but current technological limits prevent them.
These do make sense, and I am curious if it is your first two reasons. I would like to not think that a group is just screwing with people on purpose with no real aim, but you never know anymore.
I've found that satellite views will show objects in differing locations depending on the level of zoom. When I attempt to alter the location of a marker on Wayfarer it will sometimes load an entirely different satellite view. The initial view that I saw (which didn't match up) is replaced with a new view that does match the initial placement. Unfortunately there's no guarantee that the satellite view the player uses during submission matches the view that the reviewer sees.
It might just be a fact of life that the submission bounces round until it finds its proper resting place and people stop flagging an invalid location in Prime.
The 3d satellite view that you're seeing zoomed in isn't as accurate as the standard (you can toggle which is showing). Like street view, it helps pinpoint the POI, but if I'm checking/moving location I always finalize with standard satellite view.
My question is why are playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball courts getting moved to the center of the object when the pin is touching the submission. I mean niantic has said no to place the pin in the middle of the play field on athletic sports areas do people not read the guide or actually trust the submitter? It would be nice if we could just submit a trouble ticket and have these reversed without having to do an location edit which I feel is causing an undue edit.
This doesn't explain why people are randomly moving pins to the center of athletic courts when we submit the pin on the edge. Now that niantic is giving us our drop pin locations in wayfarer it shows us what we submit. If I am using no photosphere and place the pin properly but they still move it when both layers show it in the proper place. I also had fellow agents report the same issue locally.
I have the feeling a lot of people have compulsion to ensure pins are in the dead center of whatever the portal will be. This, or they are using a program that shows Pokemon Go cells, and moving it ensures a Pokestop.
Center of a court is slightly better than having the pin moved completely away from the subject though.
Ironically these moves forced portals to only go into ingress and they weren't fudging at all when submitting. I mean if the pin is on the side or edges of the submission I don't think it matters to be honest if they person it putting the pin in a proper place like niantic said.
I think a lot of people reviewing started reviewing when OPR first came out 2 years ago and the only guidelines were what was on the initial test. There's been no incentive from Niantic since to "brush up" on the updated guidelines. It's a bit like driving. You never have to retake the test (and there are some *terrible* drivers on the road...)
I feel like occasionally having to retake the test - or at least acknowledge changes since the previous test they did - would really help submissions.
A lot of programs have a "splash" screen with a "Did You Know ... ?" popup box containing a suggestion each time you start them up. I think Wayfarer's "Showcase" page is a good idea because it gives you the archetypal example of a good submission, but I also believe they could take it a step further. At the moment we see the same 2 or 3 examples which is fine but a bit limited. Adding a popup box which picks from a pool of helpful messages would ingrain good reviewing practices
They could just pull a sentence or two directly from here: https://niantic.helpshift.com/a/ingress/?s=portal-network&f=ingress-portal-criteria&l=en&p=web.