Please make all POI (Portals) Pokestops/whatever in PoGo

All Ingress Portals / POI should be Pokestops or Gyms.

Pokestop density is limited by S2 cell. There are currently more portals than pokestops & gyms.

This has created several perverse incentives.

People are moving POI to get more Pokestops. If they can move a portal a few meters, they wind up in another cell and become a new pokestop. There are even IITC plugins which show the cell boundaries to help players know when and where to move things. This degrades Niantic's database, because it no longer reflects reality. These edits are difficult to review, because without strong knowledge of the local area, it is difficult to determine exact placement, and it is difficult to tell the difference between a legitimate edit and a PoGo influenced edit. Making all POI stops/gyms would remove the incentive to submit false move edits.

Because stop/gym density is not very high, there is a feeling that there "aren't enough", and an incentive to submit dubious locations in the hopes that they will become stops/gyms. The silliness is extreme; one submitter argued that a pawn shop was not a "generic business", but actually "a cherished part of the community". While some may argue these are "easy reject agreements" for wayfarer reviewers, they are a waste of time. Making all POI stops/gyms would reduce the incentive to submit dubious candidates.

Because stop/gym density is not high, there is also an incentive to accept all nominations. As more PoGo players get access to Wayfarer, we're seeing a rise in acceptance of dubious candidates. Making all POI stops/gyms would reduce the incentive to accept dubious candidates.

There are other problems.

PoGo players are making duplicate submissions at a higher rate. Because they cannot see all POI, they submit portal-worthy locations not realizing they already exist in the database. This wastes submitter's time, as well as reviewer's time.

Niantic should seriously consider making all POI into PoGo stops/gyms.

I imagine a similar problem will occur with HPWU if/when that community gains traction and access to nominations (directly or indirectly via Ingress/PoGo).

Comments

  • I would imagine that there is a very good reason Niantic chose to implement different criteria to pull through pokestops/gyms, else yes, all portals would have been gyms/stops already.

    But I do understand the frustration of submitting something that isn't in Pogo, just to find out it exists on Ingress.

  • Lets play "Follow the money":

    Ingress saw/see very little item sale partly because the abundance of portals. They learned that before the next game, and implemented one way to limit pokestops - the S2 model - while introducing other mechanics to ensure item sale. Naturally, they could not go back and change Ingress to the S2 model - instead, they went about improving the "item handling". It's not an accident that the newest game, HPWU, has mechanics for distribution of Inns, fortresses and greenhouses, that are not yet clearly understood by the community.

    Do not hold your breath expecting the "Ingress way" to be spread to other games.

  • They did it in Chester (UK) for an event then never took the stops away, Its one of the best places to play PoGo in the country. I've always said that if PoGo had everything that Ingress had players probably wouldn't even want the option to submit/review in a lot of places.

    In one of my play areas there is 12 portals and only 5 pokestops. If all 12 portals were in Pogo it would be an amazing place to play.

  • I understand your stance, but I don't see what your beef is with edits that aren't being done abusively. MANY people play multiple Niantic games, and MANY objects occupy 2-4 size 17 S2 cells. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of how these work when nominating, or new portals come up that would make it better for the other games to have an object moved from one cell to the other.

    People doing this (when still accurate), are just trying to help the Niantic community. Things like IITC plugins showing s2 cells just help people from needing to make edits in the first place.

  • harkonnnenharkonnnen ✭✭✭✭

    What gets forgotten in this argument is everything in Ingress is to do with portals, all your game play involved interacting with them, they don't only serve as a means to acquire more gear. Also they can burn out for several hours.

    In Pogo stops are primarily simply there to restock gear, yes they have expanded that first with quests and most recently with rocket battles. The fact remains what your mainly after in that games is the mons.

    I think it was a comprise that when they went with the S2 requirements they made the stops spin unlimited.

    It is stupid and everyone has said agreed on it that pogo People waste there submission and Wayfarer time submitting an already valid POI because they can't see it but atm it is what it is.

    As for the edits, since everyone can now review I don't much care myself if a POI is moved to the side of the real world location and not right in the centre. So long as the pin remains actually on the POI.

  • RyuuVanDracoRyuuVanDraco ✭✭
    edited December 2019

    Making everything a Gym/Stop would be a mess on the map. You wouldn't be able to click what you want partially because too much stuff around,

    But PoGo/WU Users definitely need access to a map which shows all the locations, just without the Ingress stuff on it.

    Those who complain about low PKMN stuff density simply don't know how easy it could be to simply add more through own effort.

    Examples:

    In germany Telekom allows all of their friggin Multifunction Boxes to be painted or a foil put on. All you've got to do is: 1. Ask and provide a motive - 2. Wait. - 3. Get the materials they allow you to use. Same often goes for power boxes. The POIs of some towns could be easy tripled and more by that, people just have to spend a bit of money on paint or said foil. You don't have to be a great artist, Easy motives will do.

    You also could decorate your fence from the outside, put wallart on wall of your house if it's right at the street (There are people you can hire for doing this if you can't :P), ask the town if you are allowed to put art on boring walls, bus stops, fences, ask if you can replace stones in a pavement with some with mosaics on them. Srsly, get up from your sofa and do something, it's not witchcraft to get more POIs in your town.

  • I agree it would stop so many edits. I'm only guessing but I think it's a visual thing.

  • KliffingtonKliffington ✭✭✭✭✭

    While some of your ideas work, anything on your personal property should be rejected.

  • Just give them what they want and then nerf spawn and output again, as has been done with the last rebalance. Give them the 4 spin timeout.

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