EDIT: What I said in this comment probably is not true. While the changes I made were added to the map, only users can create pokestops via a review process, apparently. Must have been a coincidence.
Niantic uses Open Streetmaps to create their pokestops. Somebody probably created a P.O.I. on the island based on a real statue or structure which an algorithm then automatically turned into a pokestop.
Source: I sometimes contribute to OSM and the additions I make often turn into pokestops a couple of weeks after, especially in remote areas without other P.O.I.s nearby.
Ingress and PoGo use the same database of locations (portals, stops), and it was painstakingly built and added to by the (ingress) players, years before PoGo; location, name, description, reason for addition (art, historical significance, etc), pictures. Then they added the same ‘submit’ system for PoGo.
I was invited to ingress during it’s closed beta, 14 years ago, and was a very heavy player for the first two years, myself submitting several portals for review.
The (initial) financial reasons for these games? To map walking paths/navigation. Every player is supplying their GPS data while they play. The partnership with Pokémon was just an easy way to get extra players, and capture more of the market that wasn’t interested in the geeky lore of ingress. They have a whole microtransaction store now for both, but that was after they needed more cash.
EDIT: What I said in this comment probably is not true. While the changes I made were added to the map, only users can create pokestops via a review process, apparently. Must have been a coincidence.
Niantic uses Open Streetmaps to create their pokestops. Somebody probably created a P.O.I. on the island based on a real statue or structure which an algorithm then automatically turned into a pokestop.
Source: I sometimes contribute to OSM and the additions I make often turn into pokestops a couple of weeks after, especially in remote areas without other P.O.I.s nearby.
Ingress and PoGo use the same database of locations (portals, stops), and it was painstakingly built and added to by the (ingress) players, years before PoGo; location, name, description, reason for addition (art, historical significance, etc), pictures. Then they added the same ‘submit’ system for PoGo.
I was invited to ingress during it’s closed beta, 14 years ago, and was a very heavy player for the first two years, myself submitting several portals for review.
The (initial) financial reasons for these games? To map walking paths/navigation. Every player is supplying their GPS data while they play. The partnership with Pokémon was just an easy way to get extra players, and capture more of the market that wasn’t interested in the geeky lore of ingress. They have a whole microtransaction store now for both, but that was after they needed more cash.
Do you get anything for contributing to the Pokéstops?
He just said that Nintendo scraps data from Open Street Maps so, probably no
Wait so did they just delete user data from that stop, which may have included victims as well as abusers?
They don’t have to scrape it. They just use the nominatim API like everybody else.
No, I don’t play the game but am around people who do.
I’m not good with OSM; do you normally add pictures to the POI? Because you can’t have a pokestop without a picture I don’t think?
No, I’ve never done that. Starting to think that users must have created the pokestops after I added them to the map.