Residents of the Croatian city of Split have missed out on Pokémon GO raid day because Niantic was relying on incorrect map data.
The hiccup was spotted by Reddit user jaleCro (thanks, VG247):
Apparently Niantic thinks that Split belongs to Italy like it did during WW2, and we got our raid day canceled without notification. Jokes aside, they seem to be using cells that are too big, since Split is 200km away from Italy. I guess this was the cell, based on reports.
The map cell in question clearly covers the east coast of Italy as well as Croatia's second-largest city, which, during World War 2, was captured and annexed by Italy. While it's highly unlikely that Niantic is relying on map data from that period, it is a rather embarrassing mistake to make, given the history.
Another Redditor called BananApocalypse added to the conversation, saying that Newfoundland is often missed from Pokémon GO events because the game doesn't think it's part of North America:
Kind of related, but I’m in Newfoundland, and apparently we’re not part of North America. There has never been a Tauros seen here and we don’t get any of the regional exclusives.
Redditor Samerz360 confirmed this, stating:
Saskatoon here, we’re too far north for Tauros. At least we got Pachirisu. I think Newfoundland is one of the last parts of the world without a dedicated regional.
It would seem that Niantic needs to tighten up its regional boundaries in future to avoid annoying its fanbase. Have you noticed any inconsistencies where you live?
[source vg247.com, via reddit.com]
Comments 11
Gotta catch most of em
This "news" is ridiculous. We already know that the S2 cells is what determines if an event is active or not. Italy's event was disabled: they can't have it active any part of the country if they intend to follow through. These players unfortunately just were too ignorant to even research their area. I knew the divides of the S2 cells in my area within a week of us finding this data out to avoid situations like this.
I understand they're a bit bummed, but I also understand that people are dying over a major health hazard. Being petty like this over a video game is ridiculous in such a severe situation.
To be fair to jaleCro, WW2 had plenty of raids too. Just not the ones Pokémon Trainers deal with.
Black humor aside, though, it can be mostly dialed up to whoever is in charge of mapping stuff in data infrastructures. Facebook still thinks the Italian town I live in is in the Lombardy region, but I'm actually from Piedmont.
Google Maps.
Providing inaccurate directions way faster than Rand McNally.
I don’t find anything wrong with these things. Tauros is only available in certain regions, it’s not necessarily supposed to be North America. Meanwhile, several regions have their in-game events suspended due to the deadly coronavirus. I wouldn’t complain about that no matter what country I lived in (although I do find it a bit odd that this appears to be the only region in Croatia affected in-game)
@TechaNinja gotta catch a sensible amount of them based on your capabilities and circumstances
I play Pokemon Go pretty regularly and have for a while, but... Niantic really isn't/wasn't ready for the monstrous game they unleashed on the world. Before PoGo, they were a rather small company and it seems like they still haven't really hired enough additional staff to handle such a large, internationally played game.
That's why instead of pokemon you can find ww2 alliance bombs
This news gives me enormous joy.
@LordGeovanni hey, im the OP from the reddit post. im perfectly aware of how s2 cells work (my bachelor's dissertation was related to the hilbert curve, the s2 curve and it's applications in database managment, and geolocation managment), and the title was meant to be amusing and to help draw attention to the issue. we're also very likely to miss all the march events because of this too, which is why it was important to raise awareness of it.
@jaleCro
I actually did read your Reddit response before anything else. You conducted yourself completely proper with making a joke on the internet. Since I initially read your Reddit message, I have seen the story pop up on three different major internet news sites all suggesting that Niantic is not knowing what they are doing whatsoever. They completely misses the joke and are stirring up angry people to be upset with Niantic.
As I said before I am completely in agreement with how you went about reporting it, however I've been hearing so many people complaining lately about how Niantic is utilizing seventy-year-old data, about how nobody is sick in that area and this is unacceptable, and understanding just how badly this disease can spread has me so frustrated people are that self-centered. If a message came off insulting to you in any way I do heavily apologize.
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