Sudden emergence of illegitimate PokeStops in my town

Question

I live in a town that has been neglected by Pokémon Go since the very launch of the game. Yes because there is nothing so significant in my town to nominate as a PokeStop.

I had almost left the game but don't know why today, when I returned back to Pokémon Go and literally got myself surprised. My town which literally had not more than 5 locations each area (2x2 km) is now full of PokeStop and Gyms.

And most of the PokeStops seem to be illegitimate. The pokestops and gyms are named after some small groceries and stores in the town. And as per my knowledge, groceries and stores don't come under the criteria to be accepted as a valid nomination. The PokeStops don't have a proper photo disc either.

Although more pokestops have appeared, Pokémons don't seem to be spawning around them. The old and legit pokestops with proper photo disc are mostly spawning the ones.

I don't think that these are any user nominated stops, I think these stops have been automatically generated by the Pokémon Go system, Because of my town has been pokestopless for more than a decades and to balance the game. Maybe?

And I still remember last time when I opened Pokémon Go almost one and a half month ago, these pokestops weren't there but today, they are literally flooded everywhere in my town.

I am attaching some screenshots below

Ladies Beauty parlour isn't an eligible location. And this stop does not have photo on the disc.

Only a few illegitimate pokestops spawn pokemons.

PokeStops with rings are the new illegitimate ones. Other pokestops without rings are the older ones which have been there since almost a year or two.

So, is this a system generated glitch? Will these illegitimate stops randomly disappear? Or are they permanent? I would also like to know about the background of this phenomenon if anybody knows.

Answer 1

I can contribute some information: there really isn't any pattern to what can be accepted as a Pokéstop. Some of the stops I've wondered at have been a mass-produced sign inside a chain restaurant, a disused concrete birdbath outside a closed-down restaurant, ordinary signs at the entrance to parks, and, like you said, just occasional nonsense like small grocery stores and even chain stores.

Even those locations, however, have photos. It seems like a long way to go to cheat at a game that had MUCH more lucrative cheats in its prime. I would report this to Niantic as a bug and see what happens.