Pokémon Go

[ceptimus]

The younger kids in my extended family have talked me into playing this game, as that's what they do now when walking around outside.

I tried to get them to play Ingress instead, but their attention spans are too short for them to play the game long enough for it to become interesting to them.

So now some of the tasks I've been assigned in the Pokémon Go game are making new friends. Friends in Pokémon Go can't do much - there's no way (as far as I can see) of even sending messages - but you can swap 'presents' that contain a few game items if you wish. You can also battle or trade your Pokémon, but for those last two you have to be at the same location. If any of you also play the game, here's my trainer code: 2953 5102 4921

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

but their attention spans are too short for them to play the game long enough for it to become interesting to them.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Dang it, Bobby.

1999 7127 0795

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Dang it, Bobby.

1999 7127 0795

Thanks! I sent you a present. I see you are level 36, while I'm still only 22.

For our Ingress players, the top level in Pokémon Go is 40 - that's analogous to level 16 in Ingress. I've got to Pokémon Go level 22 after about three weeks of occasional playing - that's similar to Ingress level 6 I guess.

[Limoncello]

I've been level 40 since March 2018 - wish they would open up the levels.

I have 55 friends and clearly cannot send gifts every day to everyone. You can only hold 10 at a time and there are not that many pokestops around me.

[ceptimus]

There are about 15 PokéStops plus at least another seven gyms within five minutes walk for me. I think they're all Ingress portals too now - plus there is one extra new Ingress portal that for some reason isn't a PokéStop.

It's actually spoilt Ingress a little for me - when there were fewer portals I used to carefully link them together in the optimum way to produce as many layers as possible, but now that would involve lots of pre-calculation and key collecting and take too much time and effort - there must be about 40 portals altogether now in the village. There are a few outliers but here's the centre part of the village now.



You can see that neither I nor the local smurfs have been very active lately. I blame Pokémon Go.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

I think they're all Ingress portals too now - plus there is one extra new Ingress portal that for some reason isn't a PokéStop.

They have a common source, scraping Google Maps I think.

In the case of Pokestops sometimes people request the stop gets removed for various reason. Grave sites, and I think schools are disallowed by default.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I suppose I should mention that gifts show their recipient the location of the pokestop.

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

They have a common source, scraping Google Maps I think.

In the case of Pokestops sometimes people request the stop gets removed for various reason. Grave sites, and I think schools are disallowed by default.

The oddball in Studley is a Victorian post box - it's an Ingress portal ( a fairly new one ) but not a Pokestop (yet, anyway). It's very close to both another Pokestop and a gym, both of which are also Ingress portals. There are other closely-spaced stops in the village but perhaps not quite as close as those, so maybe there is a minimum separation requirement that applies in Pokémon but not Ingress?

Thinking about it more, I think that's the answer - there are two even-closer spaced Ingress portals (opposite sides of the road - you can see them at the end of Castle Road in the map I posted above) that have been there for years - before Pokémon Go was invented - but only one of those became a Pokestop. I think maybe the rule is that it's impossible to stand in a spot that can spin two or more Pokestops without moving - the same restriction doesn't apply to Ingress portals.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Distance between, i doubt as well. In major cities with lots of landmarks the stops are very dense. Athens was almost more stops than empty space.

New stops appear, others disappear (for some reason). I suspect Niantic batches up new stops and rolls them out on a schedule not terribly different from Ingress.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

They have a common source, scraping Google Maps I think.

They have a common source in literally being the same company. Which was a part of Google until 2015.

Before Ingress, Niantic had a product called "Field Trip", which was like a tour guide. Many of the locations in Field Trip, and their detailed descriptions, became Ingress portals (although not a huge number in total).

When PoGo was created, Niantic used the Ingress portal set - plus the knowledge they'd gained of which ones got visited the most and general game play - to create the initial set of Pokestops.

I assume new Pokestops and new Ingress portals don't automatically get copied into the other game, but the player bases are big and active enough to handle that.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

You can see that neither I nor the local smurfs have been very active lately. I blame Pokémon Go.

I blame the new scanner. [/petty mode]

Also in my case the need to get a phone with a good GPS. My current phones are getting worse and worse.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Field Trip, huh. I've actually used Pokemon Go that way, checking what a stop is in the distance to see if I should amble over.

[ceptimus]

An internet search found that pokestops have to be in unique level 17 S2 cells, but portals have to be in unique level 19 S2 cells.

https://s2geometry.io/devguide/s2cell_hierarchy.html

You can have 4 pokestops very close to each other when they sit near the common boundaries of four level 17 S2 cells - it's like having four people standing right next to each other, but in four different states at Four Corners in the USA. But the density of portals can be greater still, because there are many level 19 cells within each level 17 cell. There are 16 times as many: 103 billion possible pokestop locations, but 1649 billion possible portal locations. Level 17 cells are roughly 72 yards square and level 19 cells roughly 18 yards square.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Athens

[Limoncello]

Tonight - 6 to 7pm - Onix everywhere - get yourself a shiny!