This gives players the opportunity to bring more PokéStops into their local area - particularly useful for rural players, or for those living in areas rich with trails and history. If you know of a special location or building that would make a great PokéStop - revealing new interesting points of interest for nearby players to explore, and giving them items when interacted with in-game - then provided it meets the criteria developer Niantic has outlined, it could very well become part of the game. Following the nomination guidelines will increase the chances of your nomination getting accepted, and help you avoid wasting time on an ineligible location. Volcanoes, for example, can’t become PokéStops. (We can’t possibly think why.) This will then be reviewed in Niantic Wayfarer, the new service across multiple Niantic games where players can help approve points of interest. On this page: You’ll have a set number of nominations you can submit per day during this period, so make sure you do your research and follow the criteria to help make your nominations as eligible as possible.
- Opening the nomination process Once you’ve found the perfect place for a PokéStop, it’s time to start the nomination process. To do this open up the Main Menu in the Pokémon Go app, then select Settings and find the option for New PokéStop under Player Nominations. Here you’ll also be able to find the Nomination Guidelines, how many nominations you can make and how many days it will be until your set number of nominations will reset. Remember - you need to be where you want the new PokéStop to be when you do the nomination!
- Setting the nominations location Selecting New PokéStop will open up a map. Your nomination will be marked with an orange PokéStop pin and any local PokéStops will be marked with a blue pin. Drag the orange PokéStop pin to most accurate location for your nomination. Make sure your nomination isn’t too any close to any existing PokeStops or it will be considered ineligible. If you want more information on what Niantic considers to be a great place for a PokéStop, either skip to the next section of this guide or check out the page Niantic wrote about high-quality PokéStops. Once it’s in the perfect place, tap Confirm.
- Take a photo of your nomination Next, you need to take a photo of your nomination. Try to make the photo as clear as possible, ideally with your nomination in the centre of the frame. Low-quality photos risk your nomination being made ineligible. Make sure the photo doesn’t include any people, body parts, live animals or copyrighted images or else it will be rejected. You must take the photo yourself too or, you guessed it, the photo will be ineligible.
- Take a photo of the surrounding area for context It’s time to take another picture! This time you’ll need to take a photo of the area surrounding your nomination. It will help the PokéStop reviewers decide whether your nomination is in a safe, easy to access, area. That means you can’t have a PokéStop on the edge of a cliff. This photo will not be used for PokéStop and will only be seen by the reviewers who will evaluate your nomination.
- Create a title and description for your nomination Now you need to write a title and description for your nomination. Ideally for the title you should enter the official name of the location or object you are nominating. If there isn’t one, try to be as creative and informative as possible. For the description think of what other players might find interesting about the location. This could be anything from the origin of the location to a small anecdote about your nomination. Just make sure that you don’t include any references to Pokémon Go or a HTML or URL. Titles and descriptions can be submitted in any language, but the official language of the country you’re located in is preferred.
- Previewing your nomination Here you can preview the photos you’ve taken of your nomination and both the title and description you’ve given it. This is your last chance to make any changes to your nomination, so make it count!
- Submitting your nomination
There is one final step before you can submit your PokéStop nomination - explaining why you think your nomination deserves to be a PokéStop.
This is your chance to explain why you think this will be an excellent place for people to visit as they play Pokémon Go. Is the location interesting? Does it have historical importance to the local area? Is it a nice place to come and sit for a while?
Whatever you say is up to you, just try to make your nomination sound as wonderful as possible to help increase its chances of being chosen.
This information will only be seen by the people reviewing the nominated PokéStops and will never appear in-game.
Once you’ve explained what makes your PokéStop unique, it’s time to hit Submit and finish your nomination.
Your nomination will then be reviewed by a community of nomination reviewers chosen by Niantic. At launch this was a dedicated team, but as time went on, this shifted to the official Niantic Wayfarer community to help process applications.
Niantic puts no guarantee on when you’ll hear about whether your nomination has been successful or not. Depending on the level of review required and the number of nominations they receive, it could be anything from several weeks to a couple of months.
If you’re nomination is accepted, then you will receive a congratulations email. It should be noted, however, that not all PokéStop nominations, even the eligible ones, will appear live in Pokémon Go. Your nomination could, however, appear in other Niantic games, such as Ingress and Harry Potter Wizards Unite.
In our experience, we’ve waited a week or two for a successful nomination, and sometimes don’t hear back if it was rejected - however, this might be because it is folded into a similar PokéStop nomination from another player that was either accepted or denied.
Also, it’s possible your nomination will be a Gym, or will transform an existing nearby PokéStop into a Gym when added to the game. The nominating player, nor those processing the applications, have control over this, as it is done automatically based on the density of Stops in a given area to ensure there is an even spread across the game.
Either way - it’s exciting to know you’re fleshing out the game and offering new points of interest for other players to explore. Fingers crossed your nomination is successful!
The Season of Mythical Wishes continues with the Winter Holiday event, which has brought Mega Glalie to Pokémon Go. Don’t forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season.
Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres.
This covers a wide range of possibilities, but in short, consider important points of interest, such as signs and notice boards or something of historic or local value, which can help those nearby navigate their way around. Also, make sure whatever you are nominating is permanent - so temporary events or signage won’t be allowed. For your nomination to be considered eligible, it must be one of the following:
A location with historic or education value A location or object with an interesting story Education signboards Buildings or objects with historical or cultural significance A unique artwork, piece of architecture or related building Venues that showcase fine art, such as a theatre or a museum Buildings that were designed by renowned architects Buildings that are famous because of their structural design Permanent pieces of public artwork, including statues, murals, paintings, mosaics, sculptures, light installations, among others A popular place in the local community Tourist spots that represent the local culture of a city or location Hard to find tourist spots - ones that only the locals might know about A popular spot where people gather, such as a popular cafe or small park A popular local spot where first time visitors should always visit, such as a well known shop or unique museum Public parks Does not include park benches or picnic tables Public libraries Includes free library locations Does not include mobile libraries
Public places of worship Does not include places of worship that host child care centres, preschools, primary or secondary schools Transit stations Can be anything from large famous station, like Liverpool Street Station in London, to a local bus stop Man-made points of interest near natural features Such as lookout towers, markers atop mountains peaks, trail signposts, among others Indoor nominations can be submitted if the nomination is accessible to the public Could be a famous painting in a museum for example Memorials that don’t contain burials Gravestones that belong to a famous or historical figure who has been dead for more than 50 years Popular locations on university campuses or other higher education institutions Bars and pubs
The following are ineligible locations for PokéStops:
Nominations on a private residential property This includes farms Any nomination that blocks the driveway or may interfere with the operation of an emergency service This includes fire stations, police stations, hospitals, military bases, industrial sites, power plants and air traffic control towers Nominations that don’t have a fixed location This includes mobile libraries, food trucks, operational boats or trains Natural features This includes lakes, rivers, streams, mountains, waterfalls, volcanoes (especially volcanoes), among others Adult-oriented stores or services This includes shooting ranges, firearm, stores, liquor stores, adult entertainment, among others
Locations that don’t have pedestrian access Buildings or objects that are on the grounds of primary (elementary) schools, secondary (high) schools, preschools, kindergartens or child care centres Non-permanent nominations, such as seasonal displays Avoid cemeteries, gravestones or burial grounds Mass produced art pieces or objects, such as road signs Local businesses that lack historical value Structures, like a sculpture for example, on roundabouts that lack safe pedestrian access
There are also a number of conditions that can prevent your nomination from becoming a PokéStop. To prevent your nomination from being considered ineligible, avoid:
Animals, people or body parts can’t be a PokéStop or in your nomination photographs Pictures that you don’t own the copyright to Low quality photographs, such as blurry photos
For more information and picture based examples of both eligible and ineligible PokéStop possibilities, visit the page about high-quality PokéStops on the support site for Pokémon Go.
