"The Berlin Mega-Nest: Analysis from Afar."

#PokemonGO: The huge nest that covers much of South Western Berlin is perhaps one of the most undeservingly under-discussed topics when it comes to the hidden mechanics of Pokémon Go.One traveller posted about the phenomenon two months ago:It was Diglett first, then Paras, but on the second migration it disappeared. We got to find actual nests, I reported every one i found to the nest atlas and was excited to visit nearby parks and not having to travel through the whole city to catch some different Pokemon. Then Halloween happened. After it was over we got two more weeks of Cubone. All the nests have disappeared again and we were back to the original state - except we now knew how it actually was supposed to be and... well, it was Cubone. Next migration brought Weedle, then Kabuto and now Paras again.- /u/jt44 from A huge part of Berlin is a single nestThe nest has since experienced migrations to Diglett, Nidoran Male, Rhyhorn, Venonat, Vulpix and is currently home to countless Gastly at the time of writing (Silph Nest: #131918 (52.48681,13.33556), Silph Nest: #186146 ( 52.49186, 13.41641)).The bounds of the South Western Berlin NestFollowing up on the reports of this nest and knowing the strong observed correlation between many nests and areas on Open Street Map (OSM), I actively sought to find if there was a potential link between OSM and the Berlin Nest. It did not take very long to find the mapped area of the Teltow Plateau. The area of the Teltow Plateau follows the same curve as shown in a scanner screenshot of the nest posted on the /r/pokemongo subreddit*.This Graphic shows the OSM mapped area overlayed over the scanner screenshot as a bright cyan and blue line.Known OSM Landuse TagsThe presence of the following OSM landuse tags in the Pokemon Go APK has been community knowledge for some time. Landuse tags found in the APK are as follows:APK Landuse and Other Associated TagsBASIN. CANAL. CEMETERY. CINEMA. COLLEGE. COMMERCIAL. COMMON. DAM. DITCH. DOCK. DRAIN. FARM. FARMLAND. FARMYARD. FOOTWAY. FOREST. GARDEN. GLACIER. GOLF_COURSE. GRASS. HIGHWAY. HOSPITAL. HOTEL. INDUSTRIAL. LAKE. LAND. LIBRARY. MAJOR_ROAD. MEADOW. MINOR_ROAD. NATURE_RESERVE. OCEAN.PARK. PARKING. PATH. PEDESTRIAN. PITCH. PLACE_OF_WORSHIP. PLAYA. PLAYGROUND. QUARRY. RAILWAY. RECREATION_AREA. RESERVOIR. RESIDENTIAL. RETAIL. RIVER. RIVERBANK. RUNWAY. SCHOOL. SPORTS_CENTER. STADIUM. STREAM. TAXIWAY. THEATRE. UNIVERSITY. URBAN_AREA. WETLAND. WOOD. DEBUG_TILE_OUTLINE. DEBUG_TILE_SURFACE. OTHER. ANY.Not all of these landuses are associated with nests. For example, landuses including School and Wetlands (amoung others) actually appear to have the effect of blocking spawns.While some of these tags being present would possibly result in an easy answer, reviewing the tags associated with the Teltow Plateau in OSM, we do not seem to find any of them.Implications and DiscussionIt is often put forward that the landuse tags seen in Pokémon Go are those that primarily contribute to biomes and nests. What we see in the case of the Teltow in Berlin however, is that while the nest is indeed closely correlated with an OSM marked area, it does not carry any of the generally recognised tags associated with nests such as Park, Golf Course, Pitch or Playground (amoung others), in fact, it doesn’t seem to carry any of the landuse tags found in the Pokemon Go APK at all.Further, South Western Berlin appears to have maintained its nest more or less consistently since launch, including through January, 2017 when we saw a mass of OSM related updates occuring in Pokémon Go meaning that it is unlikely that a bad edit which has since been reverted is the cause of the initial nest.I would propose at least four possible causes of the nest in South Western Berlin.1) The nest boundaries have been drawn from another source that contains an error. This is not observably Google Maps or OSM.2) There are additional OSM tags now in use on the Pokémon Go server outside of those found in the APK. The tags in the APK have been present since beta and before biomes were fully implemented. This could be something as simple as the “natural=plateau” tag or the “place=natural_region” tag having been added to the list on the server.3) Any mapped area, regardless of landuse tags, can have a nest, perhaps with various weightings of chance.4) A bug has occurred on the server and incorrectly assigned the area as a nest.As a final note, as always, I would ask that those editing Open Street Map please show respect for the OSM community and their great work. Please see this post for information on how to get started and remember that you are acting as a representative of the Pokemon Go community.* Disclaimer: I did not actively request or solicit the scanner screenshot graphic, it and other similar screenshots have been actively posted on the pokemongo subreddit multiple times and I happened to stumble across one. Please respect the relevant sub’s rules and also remain aware that Niantic has actively attempted to close down 3rd party services that attempt to access their API and consequently violate their TOS. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2mBAhR8