It’s worth pointing out that once Pokémon Go players found out about OSM, we saw a massive increase in new users as well as those contributing to OSM so that the maps would better reflect the areas they played in.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334378297_How_an_augmented_reality_game_Pokemon_GO_affected_volunteer_contributions_to_OpenStreetMap
Unfortunately there are always a few that will try to game any system. In this case they’re essentially vandalizing OSM for their own selfish reasons.
I was not aware of this used to open street maps at all. I thought it was based on Google Maps. Still.
For anyone else that didn’t read the article (or can’t hear words in parentheses because they are too quiet):
According to a report from 404 Media, some of those players have been adding fake beaches to OpenStreetMap so they could have easier access to the beach biome in Pokémon Go (though the game Go initially used Google Maps data, it apparently switched to OpenStreetMap at some point in 2017).
It blows my mind people still play this game. It was great, in 2017.
Also doubt this game will be the only source of bad data. We need better safe guards and checks so that some person can’t just delete France.
Now hold on a moment, I think we need to at least discuss this whole removing France thing further…
It would be easy to accidentally wipe some other country instead of France. That’s why we need to verify data
I can now see the importance of safeguards!
Yeah we need backup systems that automatically wipe out France
It was great, in 2017
It hasn’t stopped being great. In fact it’s better than it ever was.
We need better safe guards and checks so that some person can’t just delete France.
The map is updated millions of times per day. There are checks in place, but minor edits don’t get much review especially if it’s something simple like “this street has a bus stop”. Deleting France, yeah someone would notice that change and block it. Most software doesn’t use the realtime map state - they use a slightly older version of the map in part to avoid using a version of the map that has been compromised.
You really only see the current map state if you are editing the map.
“I stopped liking this thing, why doesn’t everyone else agree with me?!?!”
They never really dealt with the games biggest issue though and that was the massive battery drain. Once they hype died down it was just a way to kill my phone faster when I’m out and about and will more likely need it before I can charge it again.
More pokemon makes the game objectively better, especially if you care about newer generations for any reason at all
and even if the game hasn’t evolved much, a cute game that encourages me and my partner to go on more walks together is a net positive in my life lol
What’s France? All I see on the map is Spain, Germany, and Belgium.
What’s France?
“Wester Germany”
It’s a game where you walk around and catch pokemon… why where there suddenly cease to be demand for that the premise is great. Not my thing but I get why people are into it.
Let’s be real, it was mid even back then.
Hard disagree. It got me walking around and exploring my town. It got me in contact with other Pokemon fans. It’s added an extra layer of reality on top of everywhere I go - vacations become rare opportunities for indiginous species hunting, which in turn become valuable trade offers.
Exercise is now a game, and I would otherwise be in front of a PC screen.
Why does every article fail to mention that the ingame map only updates once every 3 years or so? And that this griefing is most likely done once per person, until they find out that the game isn’t updated? (Because it’s not sensational)
That doesn’t change the fact that it causes problems for openstreetmap
It does not. But it means they are trying to limit the damage caused by griefers, and moreso than just displaying a popup message with “please don’t grief openstreetmaps” or something. Imagine how bad it would be if changes to openstreetmaps actually were immediately imported into the game…
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Nothing new. People doing this for years.
I know my neighbour who take photo of the god altar in his house and put as location on google map.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The game is currently in the process of adding monsters from Scarlet and Violet, and that’s where this story begins.
Two of the latest additions to the Pokémon Go roster are Wiglett and Wugtrio, riffs on the designs of Diglett and Dugtrio, who live on beaches and look kind of like garden eels.
OpenStreetMap contributors have discovered “beaches” that were actually located in residential backyards, golf courses, and sports fields.
Entire blog posts, wiki entries, and presentations from OSM mappers exist to bridge the knowledge gap, explaining the purpose of OpenStreetMap data to Pokémon Go users and breaking down Pokémon Go game mechanics for frustrated OSM contributors.
As that OSM blog post implies, not every user who discovers the OpenStreetMap project via Pokémon Go ends up messing with the data.
Though many users are “truth-stretching” vandals who create nonexistent parks, beaches, and footways to encourage specific Pokémon to spawn, others become “very careful, trustworthy” OSM users who “make many worthy additions to the map” by accurately mapping out places where OSM’s data is patchy or outdated.
The original article contains 406 words, the summary contains 172 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
