Niantic changed the tracker in Pokémon GO again last night: “Nearby” and “Sighted” now share the space.
It’s an endless story with the tracker in Pokémon GO. This is the display with which trainers locate Pokémon while they walk around with their smartphones. Trainers were satisfied with the first version, but it caused server issues and had to be completely removed.
The endless story with the tracker in Pokémon GO: “Nearby” and “Sighted”
The new “San Francisco” tracker, which was tested for a long time and has just arrived in Germany, normally only displayed Pokémon that were “nearby.” This means: They are near a Pokéstop. “Sightings” of Pokémon only occurred when the player was far away from any Pokéstop, i.e., completely in the wilderness. Then Pokémon were displayed to them that were within a radius of 200 meters around them.
The problem with it: There are so many Pokéstops in the city that trainers could hunt well here. Pokéstops are based on “landmarks.” In rural areas, however, there is often only one such stop nearby, and it is quickly exhausted. Sightings were not displayed to the trainer in rural areas because there was a Pokéstop nearby.
New tracker in Pokémon GO is a compromise
Since last night, there is now a compromise: “Nearby” and “Sighted” share the space on the tracker. However, this is not always the case, as it depends on how many Pokéstops are near the trainer. This can be concluded from initial reports. Trainers with many Pokéstops nearby should not notice a difference – this specifically concerns trainers who can access “few stops” in their surroundings.
With this, Niantic has responded to the feedback from players. They had called for exactly, or at least very close to, such a change. However, many would have preferred that players could freely choose between “Nearby” and “Sighted” by “swiping” – at the moment, the new tracker decides for the players.
Our Poké expert Leya has dealt with the plight of the “rural trainers”:
Pokémon GO: Niantic pls – Why can’t city and rural trainers use both trackers?
