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What are POI Submissions?
What are POI Submissions?
POI = Point of Interest, in Pokemon Go an accepted POI submission will become a Pokestop, eventually leading to a gym when enough Pokestops come though to the game (more on this later) So for all intents and purposes we are talking about Pokestop submissions when POI is mentioned.
Why do I need to plan my POI submissions when trying to create Pokestops or Gyms?
Why do I need to plan my POI submissions when trying to create Pokestops or Gyms?
When submitting a Point of Interest (POI) on Ingress / Pokemon Go a bit of planning can be required if you wish to have this submission sync though to Pokemon Go as a Pokestop.
You could just randomly submit a suitable POI in an area with nothing much else in the game and have it accepted, however if you are trying to build up an area with a existing Pokestops and Gyms then a little bit of planning could benefit you and the local community in the long term, rather than just randomly submitting something and hoping for the best. In some countries it can take months for a POI submission to be reviewed and either accepted or rejected. In the UK this seems to be taking on average 10-14 days at the moment.
Once you understand how the system works you can gain quite a bit of control over what becomes a Pokestop and eventually a gym in the area you are trying to build up in Pokemon Go.
You could just randomly submit a suitable POI in an area with nothing much else in the game and have it accepted, however if you are trying to build up an area with a existing Pokestops and Gyms then a little bit of planning could benefit you and the local community in the long term, rather than just randomly submitting something and hoping for the best. In some countries it can take months for a POI submission to be reviewed and either accepted or rejected. In the UK this seems to be taking on average 10-14 days at the moment.
Once you understand how the system works you can gain quite a bit of control over what becomes a Pokestop and eventually a gym in the area you are trying to build up in Pokemon Go.
So how does Pokemon Go decide what becomes a Pokestop in the game?
So how does Pokemon Go decide what becomes a Pokestop in the game?
Pokemon uses S2 L14 cells, these are essentially are a system of geographic markers used to map the Earth's surface.
Although you can't normally see these on many map apps, we can use third party apps to overlay S2 L14 cells on Google Maps. For example below is a village in the UK called Alton with S2 L14 Cells overlaid, however we now need to also view the S2 L14 cell we are interested in at Level 17. These are S2 L17 cells:
The reason we need to see S2 L17 cells is because only one Pokestop can exist in an S2 L17 cell, if anything else is submitted in that cell it will simply be ignored on Pokemon Go (however could still be accepted and used in other games such as Ingress).
Although you can't normally see these on many map apps, we can use third party apps to overlay S2 L14 cells on Google Maps. For example below is a village in the UK called Alton with S2 L14 Cells overlaid, however we now need to also view the S2 L14 cell we are interested in at Level 17. These are S2 L17 cells:
The reason we need to see S2 L17 cells is because only one Pokestop can exist in an S2 L17 cell, if anything else is submitted in that cell it will simply be ignored on Pokemon Go (however could still be accepted and used in other games such as Ingress).
So how does Pokemon Go decide what becomes a Gym in the game?
So how does Pokemon Go decide what becomes a Gym in the game?
To create a Gym we need two POI submissions to be approved in the same S2 L14 cell, however in different L17 cells within the S2 L14 cell. If 2x POI's exist in the same L17 cell, only one of these will be in Pokemon Go.
For example there may be 6 POIs in a S2 L14 cell in Ingress, however if two share a S2 L17 cell then that’s only 5 Pokemon Go POIs, meaning you still only have one gym.
Keep in mind you can however have more than one Gym in a S2 L14 cell.
Gym creation rules are as follows:
However If another POI submission got approved in this S2 L14 cell then we would have 2x gyms and 4x Pokestops. Something else to keep in mind is if POIs are moved, they do not abide cell rules when moving. This means you can end up with two Pokemon Go POIs in a single S2 L17 cell, both will count for gym POI count.
For example there may be 6 POIs in a S2 L14 cell in Ingress, however if two share a S2 L17 cell then that’s only 5 Pokemon Go POIs, meaning you still only have one gym.
Keep in mind you can however have more than one Gym in a S2 L14 cell.
Gym creation rules are as follows:
- 2x POI in an S2 L14 cell = 1x gym
- 6x POI in an S2 L14 cell = 2x gyms
- 20x POI in an S2 L14 cell = 3x gyms
However If another POI submission got approved in this S2 L14 cell then we would have 2x gyms and 4x Pokestops. Something else to keep in mind is if POIs are moved, they do not abide cell rules when moving. This means you can end up with two Pokemon Go POIs in a single S2 L17 cell, both will count for gym POI count.
Can I control which Pokestop becomes a gym?
Can I control which Pokestop becomes a gym?
Yes, however this depending on the cooperation of other Ingress players. Ingress players can upvote a POI. Currently Pokemon Go players don't have access to the tools required to do this. However you can do this with a Level 1 Ingress account.
The POI with the most upvotes in an S2 L14 cell that isn't already a gym, will become the next gym when the next criteria is met in that S2 L14 cell, for example 6x POI to make a second gym.
At the sync time each day (approx 9am-9:30am UTC), the POI data gets copied from Ingress. About 10 hours after that, it goes live in Pokemon Go.
If your POI submission gets accepted at 8am UTC, it will make the daily sync and will go live in Pokemon Go after about 12 hours.
If your POI submission gets accepted at 11am UTC, you’ve missed the daily sync so would need to wait until the next day before it goes live.
The sync not only counts for what POI submissions are live, but also their current photo votes. So if it goes live a 10 minutes before the cut-off sync time, that would mean you only have 10 minutes to see the email and vote on the photo if you want it to be the gym. If it needs multiple votes (i.e. multiple people) then it might not be possible to coordinate in such a limited amount of time.
So now you hopefully understand why a little planning will easily help you get the desired end result. In the case of your town or city center this is even more relevant as you might find you only have a few empty S2 L17 cells to create a new Pokestop in.
Having this knowledge will allow you to identity and prioritise these empty S2 L17 cells. Although you can submit something else in an L17 cell as that will benefit Ingress players, even though it won't Pokemon players.
The POI with the most upvotes in an S2 L14 cell that isn't already a gym, will become the next gym when the next criteria is met in that S2 L14 cell, for example 6x POI to make a second gym.
At the sync time each day (approx 9am-9:30am UTC), the POI data gets copied from Ingress. About 10 hours after that, it goes live in Pokemon Go.
If your POI submission gets accepted at 8am UTC, it will make the daily sync and will go live in Pokemon Go after about 12 hours.
If your POI submission gets accepted at 11am UTC, you’ve missed the daily sync so would need to wait until the next day before it goes live.
The sync not only counts for what POI submissions are live, but also their current photo votes. So if it goes live a 10 minutes before the cut-off sync time, that would mean you only have 10 minutes to see the email and vote on the photo if you want it to be the gym. If it needs multiple votes (i.e. multiple people) then it might not be possible to coordinate in such a limited amount of time.
So now you hopefully understand why a little planning will easily help you get the desired end result. In the case of your town or city center this is even more relevant as you might find you only have a few empty S2 L17 cells to create a new Pokestop in.
Having this knowledge will allow you to identity and prioritise these empty S2 L17 cells. Although you can submit something else in an L17 cell as that will benefit Ingress players, even though it won't Pokemon players.
Thank you to Insane Nutter for creating the above guide please click the following link for full guide.
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