How Did Certain Locations Become Important to PokemonGo

Ever wonder why certain spots are important to PokemonGo? Did someone from the Pokemon team drive all over town finding cool sites? Did they have a team on google earth dropping points willy nilly? How did they get all of the pictures? Wonder no more.

In case you haven't noticed ... everybody is playing PokemonGo. Well, almost everybody.

In a week's time it has almost as many users as Twitter! And that link is 2 days old as I write this, so it is possibly surpassed twitter.

But back to topic. How did this game get started. Oddly enough, on another app game that was produced by Niantic called Ingress.

What's ingress? Well, despite what this video says at the beginning it IS a game.

From what I can tell, it's basically a much more complicated PokemonGo. Instead of Pokestops you have Portals, and instead of wild pokemon you have energy beam locations ... things.

Crazy right? Here's their VERY complicated beginners guide.

Now all of that being said ... how are portals/pokestops being created? Well, they actually stopped creation of new portals in Ingress as of a year ago it seems.

Back why they could be created they were created. The requirements for portals(pokestops) was...

A LOCATION WITH A COOL STORY, A PLACE IN HISTORY OR EDUCATIONAL VALUE
Interesting story behind the location/object
Historical significance (apart from just being old)

A COOL PIECE OF ART OR UNIQUE ARCHITECTURE
Statues, paintings, mosaics, light installations, etc.
Venues that showcase fine art (e.g., performance art theaters and museums)

Buildings designed by renowned architects/structures famous specifically for their architecture
A HIDDEN GEM OR HYPER-LOCAL SPOT

Via ingress.com

So much for making a pokestop / portal close to your home or work.

But there is a cool trick you can use if you just want to find that elusive pikachu. According to a PokemonGo Reddit post ... you can actually log in both games at the same time to be able to pinpoint where the pokemon are with more accuracy. (Yay for using double the data and battery power?)

Hey all,
I'm a relatively experienced Ingress player (Lvl8) and playing Pokémon Go, I noticed the obvious similarities in the underlying game mechanics.

Now, these similarities are mostly well documented:
*Ingress Portals were mostly converted to PokeStops and Gyms.
*Pokemon Spawn points are linked to XM generation in Ingress.

However, I've been looking around and I don't believe anyone else has pointed out how this second one can be used to the advantage of the intrepid Pokemon hunter in order to quickly and easily find that elusive 3 footstep rare Pokemon you're looking for.

Now the game does include some indication of where nearby Pokemon may be; in the form of the “rustled leaves” image that appears on the map. As you can see, these are okay...but they're very vague, and it's not always clear what area you should be looking in.

However, if you run the Ingress App on your phone as well you can open it up and get a much clearer picture of where you should be looking.

The above image is an example of the Ingress App UI. Those white Dots are called XM, they mark areas of frequent cellular usage in an area and serve as the energy you must collect in that game in order to perform any actions. The above image is of a supermarket location. This is why Wal-Mart has TONS of Pokemon.

I've found consistently, that areas that have dense clusters of XM are where you are going to find Pokemon. As such, the Ingress app becomes invaluable to individuals like myself who do not live in a urban area. Glancing at the Ingress app allowed me to find a Squirtle with 3 footprints last night within ten minutes. Can you guess on that image where it was located?

Pulling up the Ingress App gives me a clear view of where I should be traveling in order to quickly and efficiently find the Pokemon on my radar.

I hope this helps everyone! Happy hunting!
(P.S. Go Team Valor)

Update: It should be noted if you move while the Ingress app is open you will collect the XM from the area immediately around you, and prevent yourself/other people from seeing the cloud until it regenerates.

SkyriderRJM via Reddit

The question is now ... how deep down the PokemonGo rabbit hole do you want to go?

Good luck. happy hunting, and be safe out there.