Trainers who have reached Level 37 are eligible to participate in Niantic Wayfarer, a community mapping program that allows players of Niantic games to contribute to the Niantic real-world map, which is the foundation for all Niantic games!
Once you have reached Level 37, you are eligible to submit Wayspot nominations. A Wayspot is a unique place that exists in the real world, like objects, locations, or landmarks, that would make good additions to the Niantic real-world map.
Once submitted, your Wayspot nomination will be evaluated by Niantic’s player community. Highly rated nominations may be accepted and added to the Niantic real-world map. Keep in mind that not all accepted nominations will become a PokéStop or even a Gym, however, they may appear in other Niantic games.
For more in-depth information on what makes a high-quality nomination, view the complete Wayspot criteria.
Note: This feature is not available for users with child accounts.
Submitting a Nomination
1. Starting the nomination
First, go to an object or location that you think would make a good Wayspot.
Tap the Main Menu
button.
Tap the Settings button.
Tap Uploads
Tap the New PokéStop button to start the nomination.
2. Set the Location on the Map
On the map, you’ll see a pin that represents the location of your nomination. If there are already Wayspots in the surrounding areas, you’ll also see them displayed on the map with a blue marker even if they aren’t available in Pokémon GO.
Tap or drag the pin to the most accurate location representing the object for your nomination. Nominations that are too close to existing Wayspots or those with inaccurate locations will most likely be considered ineligible.
Tap Confirm when your pin is in the most accurate location.
3. Take a Photo of the Object
Take a clear photo that makes it easy to see the object/location that corresponds to your nomination. Low-quality photos (dark/blurry/taken from a car) may cause a nomination that otherwise meets the criteria to be considered ineligible.
Do not submit photos that you did not take yourself and avoid photos that contain people, body parts, live animals, or copyrighted objects/materials.
4. Take another photo for context of the surrounding area
Next, you’ll need to take an additional photo of the surrounding area around your nomination. These photos will help our community of reviewers determine if the location is safe and accessible. This surrounding area photo will not appear on the Wayspot or in the game and will only be shared with the community of players who are evaluating your nomination.
5. Add a Title and Description
Once you have an accurate location and a high-quality photo, you can enter a title and description that describes the object you are nominating. While titles and descriptions may be submitted in any language, the official local language is preferred.
Title: Enter in a detailed and unique title. If possible, please use the official name of the object or location.
Description: Information that other players might find interesting about the location such as the origin, history, or background of this place.
Do not include the following in the titles or descriptions:
HTML or URLs
References to usernames, nicknames, or game-specific terms (such as Raid or PokéStop)
6. Categorize this location
Add additional context by adding a category to your nomination. Select from a variety of possible Wayspot categories such as “library”, “Bookstore”, etc.
If none of the category options are accurate, you can click on the “Other” option and you will be prompted to add in your own category suggestion in the text box below. Adding your category suggestion is optional and not required to proceed.
7. Preview and Confirm
On the preview screen, you can view your nomination details one last time before you finalize and submit. Tap Confirm once you’ve verified everything looks good.
8. Show why your nomination is important
The final step helps give the nomination reviewers some more context as to why your nomination should be considered eligible. Here, you can specify what makes your nomination a high-quality candidate. These sections will not appear in-game and will only be shared with the community of reviewers who are evaluating your nomination.
When your nomination is complete, tap Upload Now to send your nomination for review. You can also select Upload Later if you want to save your nomination and upload it later. This option can be useful if you are in an area without a strong data signal or want to wait until you are connected to Wi-Fi.
9. Review by Community
When you have completed your nomination, you’ll receive a confirmation email and it will be sent for review by our community of nomination reviewers. We strive to process your nomination as soon as possible but, depending on the level of review needed, it may take several weeks or months. Once the community has made a decision regarding your Wayspot nomination, you’ll receive an update via email.
If your nomination was deemed eligible: Congrats, you’ve helped contribute to the real-world map! Please keep in mind that not all eligible Wayspot nominations will appear in Pokémon GO. However, they may appear in other Niantic games.
If your nomination was deemed ineligible: Please review the Wayspot eligibility and acceptance criteria to make sure your nomination is high quality. We receive a large number of nominations and not all of them are guaranteed to be added to the game.
Note about user-submitted content and ownership
When you submit a Wayspot nomination to Niantic, we don’t claim ownership of that content. You still retain your rights to the content as the creator. But you do grant Niantic a license to use the content in any way we see fit. This means, for example, that we have your permission to use the images and descriptions to create new in-game locations in Pokémon GO, but we also have your permission to use them to create locations across different games. This is just a brief summary of how we use user-submitted content. For the full details, please review the Pokémon GO Terms of Service.