• QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    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.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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    5 months ago

    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.

    • orgrinrt@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Now hold on a moment, I think we need to at least discuss this whole removing France thing further…

    • abhibeckert@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      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.

      • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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        5 months ago

        “I stopped liking this thing, why doesn’t everyone else agree with me?!?!”

      • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        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.

  • sepiroth154@feddit.nl
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    5 months ago

    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)

    • amzd@kbin.social
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      5 months ago

      That doesn’t change the fact that it causes problems for openstreetmap

      • sepiroth154@feddit.nl
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        5 months ago

        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…

  • hahattpro@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    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.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    5 months ago

    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!