This is a general guide to Portal & Pokestop submissions, which Niantic now calls "Wayspots". It includes the official guidelines, my personal experience with how those guidelines get interpreted, and my opinions about what makes a good submission. (Note: this is a living document; it will be edited as time goes on. 😅)
First, here are the official rules for what can and can't be a Wayspot, as well as the guide for how Wayfarer reviewers should adjudicate submissions. In Ingress, nominations and reviews are open from level 10; in Pokemon Go, you can submit nominations from level 40, and reviews from level 38. In any case, if you know what reviewers are looking for, you're more likely to make submissions that will be approved.
Generalities
If you read into the backstory of Ingress, Niantic's original game, Portals are places tied to humanity and the qualities that make us human. This means they should be locations associated with strong expressions of creativity, emotion, community, exploration, accomplishment, spirituality, and so forth.
That said, in practical terms, here are the kinds of things you're looking for, sorted roughly into three tiers of how quickly I find they get approved.
Slam-dunk accepts:
- Parks & playgrounds.
- Churches and other places of worship.
- Cenotaphs and similar memorials.
- Public & government buildings: libraries, town halls, museums, art galleries, post offices.
- University or College campuses. These usually have lots of additional candidates as well.
Almost as strong:
- Sports facilities: recreation centers, public pools, arenas, rinks, sports fields, tennis / bocce courts, etc.
- Designated natural areas: provincial, state, and federal parks; conservation areas; nature reserves, etc.
- As well, their associated infrastructure: trailheads, ranger cabins, gazebos, picnic shelters, etc.
- High art: sculptures, statues, fountains.
- Government-issued historical markers or plaques.
- Legally designated historical buildings or sites.
- Public gardens, including decorative and community gardens.
- Transit hubs: airports, train stations, large bus terminals, public marinas, docks, and boat launches.
- Charitable or social clubs: Legion branches, VFW, Masonic halls, Moose, Oddfellows, etc.
- Educational or historical signs & plaques. These vary in quality from great to garbage, but for better or worse, they generally get approved easily.
Still valid, but less likely to be approved quickly or at all:
- Low art: murals including graffiti murals; artistically painted utility boxes, fire hydrants, or similar street furniture.
- Manmade features not having a named single focal point. It's very hard to get something like a picnic area approved without a sign saying "XYZ Picnic Area". The same goes for parks that are simply open green spaces, with no visible signage or playground equipment.
- Special local businesses. These generally need to have some kind of story or standout feature to be accepted, and even then they still often get turned down. Better candidates include businesses that encourage community or gathering (cafes, brewpubs, etc), historic businesses (family run for generations, etc), artistic businesses, businesses that are pillars of the community.
These lists are far from exhaustive. If you know of something cool that meets the requirements below, submit it!
Requirements
Wayspots also have several hard & fast requirements.
- They must include some man-made feature. It doesn't have to be a sign or writing, but something like a nature scene with no man-made objects isn't acceptable.
- They must have safe pedestrian access. I take this to mean that someone has to be able safely stand at the Wayspot. You don't necessarily need to be able to walk all the way there (eg, if it's on an island), but imho a Wayspot that can only be accessed directly from a car, boat, helicopter, etc, isn't valid.
- They must be accessible to the public. However places that charge admission or have limited hours are acceptable.
- They can't be on private residential property. This includes historical homes, lighthouses, etc, that are being used as private residences.
- As of the Wayfarer rollout, Niantic has added that:
- Submissions should also be rejected if they might encourage people to go onto private property (eg, is at the end of a private driveway), and
- Any location within 40 meters (yards) of a private residence should be reviewed extra closely.
- They have to be permanent and they have to be stationary. That means no seasonal displays, no plaques on board ferries, etc.
- They can't impede the safe operation of fire halls, emergency services, hospitals, airports, power plants, military bases, etc.
- In particular, almost all of the fire hall nominations that were accepted in the past, are not acceptable now.
- The same goes for nominations on military bases. They were accepted in the past; they are not acceptable now.
- With some rare exceptions, headstones and grave sites are no longer acceptable; nor are cemeteries, graveyards, or anything within them.
- You know the deal: these were accepted in the past, but are not acceptable now.
- They can't be on the grounds of primary or secondary schools, preschools, daycares, and other such childcare facilities. Seriously, no. Just don't.
Location Tips
- Please please PLEASE for the love of ghod make sure the LOCATION of your submission is correct.
- In the satellite view, you can pinch-zoom in to make sure your Wayspot nomination is exactly where you want it.
- I have lost count of how many times I have rejected a submission because I couldn't find the object in Google Maps, only to later stumble across it 100+ meters away from the submitted location.
- Reviewers rarely have local knowledge; usually they are working from Google Maps Street View & Satellite View. If they can't find the object in one of those two sources they will probably reject the submission.
- I strongly recommend checking Street View before submitting if you have even the slightest doubt whether your nomination shows up.
- There are still many, many areas without Street View coverage (including many good-sized towns in Northen Ontario & Michigan). There are many more where the images are 10 years or more out of date (eg Cologne, Germany).
- Objects that are indoors rarely show up in Street View, let alone Satellite View.
If your candidate doesn't show up in Street View, I'd highly recommend adding a Street View photosphere. Download the Google Street View app to do this. Fair warning, doing this with an ordinary smartphone camera is time consuming and requires practice, and the app isn't particularly intuitive, either. One major tip: I find taking your photos in landscape mode makes them stitch together much MUCH better than in portrait.
Title, Description, and Reviewer Note Tips
- Title & Description will appear in-game; they can't include URLs. Notes are shown only reviewers, they can include URLs.
- All three are key to making your case for why something deserves to be a Wayspot.
- For instance, if you're submitting a local business, use the Description & Reviewer Notes to explain its significance. If your nomination looks like it is on private residential property, show how it is open to the public.
- URLs in the Reviewer Notes are a powerful way to show that your nomination is legit, especially if it's an object that doesn't show up in Street View. Historical sites, churches, etc, often have websites; definitely include that in your submission if available.
- For longer bits of text, it's easier to compose them in a Notepad app or similar, then copy-paste them into your game client.
- Don't oversell. Promotional text (eg "best ribs in Texas!") will likely get your nomination rejected.
- And please don't just make stuff up. Better to give a generic description than to manufacture some crap like "Community Gathering Run-down Motel" or "Important Historic Dive Bar". Reviewers can smell bullshit, and stretching the truth will get an otherwise valid submission rejected.
Photo Tips
- Photos need to be well lit. For a smartphone camera this almost certainly means "not at night".
- For the Wayspot photo itself:
- No cars, no people, and no body parts. This includes your own vehicle's mirror or windows, or your thumb visible in the edge of the picture.
- Consider taking a pic that will make the object easy to identify, and shows it as being a suitable Wayspot. For instance, for an historic building, it makes sense to submit a pic of the plaque saying "Historical Building XYZ", instead of a shot of the whole building.
- Remember, once your nomination is accepted, you can upload more pictures later. (Already available in Ingress; coming soon™ in PoGo.)
- For the Surrounding Area photo:
- Show the Wayspot object in relation to other landmarks around the area, especially if it's something that doesn't show up clearly in Google Maps.
- If there are existing Wayspots nearby, definitely consider including them in the shot, to make your nomination easier to find and to show that it's distinct from the others.
Other Considerations
- How close Portals/Pokestops can be to one another is governed by which S2 cells they lie in.
- Very briefly: S2 is a way of drawing grids over the surface of the Earth. Higher level S2 grids have smaller grid cells, lower level grids have larger cells. More on S2 here and here.
- Ingress Portals are limited to one per every level 19 cell (about 15m x 15m). Pokestops are limited to one per level 17 cell (about 60m x 60m). It's not clear yet what the deal is with Inns in Wizards Unite, but they may be somewhere between these two levels.
- You can view the S2 grid lines using a tool like PoGoMap. Click "Settings > Visual > S2 Cells". In most places it doesn't show portal/Pokestop locations, but you can cross compare with the Ingress Intel Map if you have access to it.
- How long it takes for nominations to be reviewed isn't clear; however, areas with fewer Wayspots seem to go faster.
- Niantic has previously stated that submissions very close to existing Wayspots (within 40 meters) will take longer to review. Presumably these have lower priority.
- The question of whether multiple Wayspots are warranted for one site (eg one park, church grounds, university campus) is a judgement call. I'm not quite sure how to verbalize my thinking, but it has to do with whether or not I'd consider each of the items to be a separate and independent feature.
- yes: a Church with a significant shrine or statue outside.
- yes: a museum with a fountain in front of it, significant large sculptures outside, etc.
- yes: a large park spanning multiple acres with many playgrounds & features. In this case it makes sense to have one Wayspot for the park as a whole, and then another for each major feature in it (bandstand, historical marker, playground area, memorial garden, etc). A good example of this is Bellevue Park in Sault Ste Marie.
- An ordinary park with playground equipment: the emerging consensus in OPR / Wayfarer seems to be one Wayspot for the park itself, and one for the playground. This at least has the advantage that it gives a PoGo gym in a suitable place, and is especially helpful for places that have few Wayspots.
- A monument, then a sign describing it: I would say no, but Niantic now says these are may be eligible if there is significant distance between the two.
Finding Wayspot candidates; Commonly-overlooked candidates to consider
- Number 1 tip: just keep your eyes open as you go about your gameplay and daily life. You'll often find historical markers & stuff that's not in the game yet, even in areas already having several Wayspots.
- Do your research, Part 1: In may cities, you can easily find out online what all the Official Heritage Buildings and Designated Historical Sites are. Go through the list and see which eligible ones aren't Wayspots yet.
- Do your research, Part 2: If a building -- or a group of people associated with it -- has an interesting history, it doesn't have to have an Official Historical Sign at all.
- Look up! Many epic old buildings have had boring storefronts slapped on the front of them, which makes it hard to notice their historic character from ground level. Also, the pediment panel near the roofline sometimes has information about the provenance of the building that you can Google. A great example of this is the Hussey Block in Sault Ste Marie.
- Churches (yes, seriously). The epic cathedrals have long since been submitted, but less visually impressive ones are often overlooked. Simply search for "church" in Google Maps and see what comes up. Example: Gateway Community Church.
- Tourist maps. Smaller towns often have tourist maps (either online or paper) outlining interesting features of the area. These can save you a lot of time and research.
- Survey markers. These can be legit submissions if they have an interesting backstory, or are a reference point to help you explore an outdoor area.
Pet Peeves and Personal Pleadings
- Please please PLEASE give your nomination a title that's unique in the surrounding area. Some of the worst offenders I've seen:
- "US Post Office". There are 31,324 of them. Which one is this?
- "North Country Trail". The trail spans 4,600 miles and seven states. Please be more specific about which trailhead you mean.
- "United Church". Hint: "United Church of Canada" doesn't narrow it down much either.
- "Totem Pole". There are untold numbers of totem poles in the Pacific Northwest, amongst the traditional lands of the First Nations who carve them. There are untold more ersatz imitations outside of these lands and around the world. Regardless, if you submit one, please give it a name more specific than just "Totem Pole".
- "Anchor". Landlubbers have a weird romantic fascination with anchors, even though they're just a piece of a boat. Absent any backstory, they are about as Wayspot-worthy as a tractor tire. That said...if you submit an historic anchor, please make the title reflect that (eg "Anchor from HMS Antelope"). If you submit a purely decorative anchor, please give it a unique title -- possibly based on its location ("Bob's Bait Shop Anchor"), appearance ("Rainbow Painted Anchor") or shape ("Navy Stockless Anchor").
- Please please PLEASE give some thought to the safety of nominations you review, and especially of the ones you submit.
- Submitting an historical plaque next to a high-speed road with no real shoulders is a bad idea.
- Submitting a biker clubhouse is a very bad idea. Submitting a neo-nazi biker clubhouse is a very very bad idea.
- Submitting a water tower located upon a prison site, complete with signs saying "PRISON PROPERTY DO NOT APPROACH FENCE", is an exquisitely bad idea.
- Yes, I have seen all of these things and more, either as submissions or as live Wayspots in-game.
Final words
- If you are submitting many longer descriptions, consider composing them on a computer with a proper keyboard. Then get it onto your phone by emailing it to yourself or some such.
- If you have the time, picking out possible candidates and researching them before submitting can be very rewarding. You can learn a great deal about the place you live and the history of it.
- You might be surprised at what you find in your own community, that you didn't even know was there. =)
Initially posted to Google Plus: 2018-05-02 Republished on Google Sites: 2019-04-24Last Updated: 2020-06-11: Niantic update to level requirements for both Ingress and PoGo.