It’s been three years since the launch of Niantic’s Pokemon GO app, a lifetime in the online world. After all this time, there remains a certain frustration and tension between Open Street Map (OSM) volunteer mappers and a subsection of Pokemon GO trainers who seek to edit the map in order to enhance or even cheat their game experience. At least in part, this is caused by a series of misunderstandings about the OSM project, Pokemon GO and the relationship between the two.

Several guides exist for budding Pokemon GO mappers, such as osm.wiki/Tips_for_new_(Pokemon_Go)_mappers. However, there are scarce resources aimed in the other direction, that is to say, guides to help mappers understand the motivations driving trainers to make changes to the map, and ways to understand what kinds of changes said trainers are likely to want to make.

Glossary

Some of the terms I will use here may be unfamiliar to mappers, so I will define them here.

EX Raid/EX Eligible:

EX Eligibility is a special characteristic of certain Gyms (see POI definition below) that allows that Gym to occasionally output invitations for a local event in which trainers can obtain a rare Pokemon. (See “EX Eligibility” sub-section below for more detail)

Biome:

A term used by the Pokemon GO community to describe locations where certain kinds of Pokemon might appear. For example, proximity to a water biome might result in more fish like Pokemon and forests might attract more bug-like and plant-like Pokemon. Niantic occasionally refers to biomes as “habitats”. (See “Biomes/Habitats” sub-section below for more detail)

Blocked Area:

An area where Pokemon are forced to stop appearing.

Nest:

A preset area on the map that has an increased occurrence of a particular kind of Pokemon. These change species of Pokemon on a two week cycle and also occasionally when in-game events start and end. (See “Nests” sub-section below for more detail)

POI:

… See full entry