Niantic Needs a Geography Lesson -- Yesterday

[MizEileen]

It's no secret. If you live in certain parts of the world (Eastern United States) Pokemon Go needs a lesson in geography. It creates nonexistent cities. It doesn't know where real city limits end. It creates Poke deserts in vibrant artistic districts and turns phantom murals and statues into Pokestops. Been there done that, but lets talk about it here.

Share your Poke geography bloopers here. Also while we are at it, let's get our terminology straight. What is urban, rural, and suburban? I've never had a geography course and neither have most people on this board. I bet we can learn faster than Niantic and teach them a thing or too.

 

[MizEileen]

OK, none of what I saw in beautiful Hartsdale, NY surprised me. My mother lives in Hartsdale, near where it borders White Plains. White Plains is the county seat of Westchester County which borders New York City. The one close by Pokestop near my mother's apartment was labeled White Plains, NY NOT Hartsdale. I kind of expected that. This is a case of very low expectations.

Then the fun really began. The entire north side of Battle Hill, the neighborhood where Hartsdale ends and White Plains begins is a Poke Desert as is the shopping center below my mother's apartment. This doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of old stone walls, a testament to Westchester's rural past (Less than one hundred years ago!) and two iconic businesses (Frontera Taqueria and Ruth's Jamaican Deli) on Battle HIll. Why Niantic choose a mural above the Christmas Tree Shops (a chain junk store) is beyond me. Happily the south side of Battle HIll, which overlooks the city of White Plains has four Pokestops in a row.

I wish there were a way for Niantic to clean up its maps, both correctly labeling areas and adding Pokestops and possibly removing a few to distribute them more evenly. My neighborhood here in Georgia is a good model, though of course Niantic calls it Druid Hills, GA, a nonexistent jurisdiction.

Also, for all you fans of terminology out there, I learned that I mainly hunt Pokes in urban areas. Both DeKalb County and Westchester County fall inside the blood red blotches on the map. The map is based on the US Census definition of urban area which means:

(an area with) a population density of at least 1,000/sq mi (390/km2) with any census block groups around this core having a density of at least 500/sq mi

Clinton, NY might not fit this description, but Utica probably would. Decatur and Hartsdale (also Avondale Estates and Scottdale and Tucker, GA) would all fit this description. I suspect very few of us hunt Pokes in areas that are actually rural.