PokeStops are a vital aspect of Pokemon GO. They allow players to spin them in order to get precious new items including revives, Poke Balls and berries to feed their Pokemon and motivate Gym defenders. But one prevailing complaint about PokeStops is that there just isn't enough of them or that they aren't in suitable locations. Thankfully though, developer Niantic now seems to be doing something about it.

Niantic has now opened up the PokeStop nomination process for some Pokemon GO players. PokeStop nominations allow players to suggest locations to turn into a PokeStop. Although there is no guarantee that Niantic will turn the nominated spots into PokeStops, the nominations go a long way towards making it happen, at least. It gives the developer a better idea of which areas need some PokeStop love.

At the moment, the current nomination process isn't open to all Pokemon GO players. It is currently limited to level 40 Pokemon GO players who are located in South Korea or Brazil, though Niantic does say it may be expanded to players in more regions in the future. Players also have a limit of five PokeStop nominations per day, meaning that players who get around a lot will really have to think carefully before they put a place forward.

When beginning a PokeStop nomination, players will need to select the location on the map before taking a photo of the location. Then, they'll have to take another photo of the area for context, add a title and description of the location (including interesting info about its origins). There is also an opportunity to share why the location is important - though this contextual info won't be displayed publicly and will only be shared with the team of community reviewers. In the past, PokeStop nominations have been done through Ingress portal submissions so in comparison, this is far more straightforward.

At the moment this is a relatively small-scale operation, but if Niantic rolls this out to more locations worldwide, this could be monumental. Rural Pokemon GO players, in particular, have complained about PokeStop locations saying that urban hubs and cities are catered to while they get totally left out. The ability to nomination new PokeStop locations will help Niantic to address that but only if the nomination program is opened up to even more countries and regions around the world.

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS devices.

Source: Niantic