Helga Dis Isfold Sigurdardottir is a Norwegian game researcher, who works as an associate professor on the Nord University. Helga was recently saved by Pokémon GO’s in-game map, which proved to be a better alternative for outdoor navigation than Google Maps. Here’s what happened!
Saved by the Pokémon GO map
This summer, game researcher Helga Dis Isfold Sigurdardottir got lost in a mountain forest in Spain with her husband and a friend who accompanied them. The forest was full of small paths not visible on Google Maps, so they couldn’t find their way back.
There could be several reasons for this. Google Maps primarily uses cars and motorcycles to take pictures and record streets, often from regular roads and busy places. The small trails that are common in forests are harder to capture, and thus poorly mapped.
Luckily Pokémon GO is not based on Google Maps, rather it’s based on Open Street Map (OSM), where a lot of trails are correctly marked! After two hours of wandering in the woods, Sigurdardottir was frustrated. She opened Pokémon GO to play a bit but was surprised when she saw the map.
“It showed paths that weren’t on Google Maps, but that matched what we saw in the terrain,” she said.
Sigurdardottir and the group followed the paths on the Pokémon map and found their way back to the city. It took some time, but the group made it back!

Niantic has always used OSM data for map purposes, but they also based Pokémon spawns on different areas of land use in OSM. Helga’s experience matches what most Pokémon GO players know by heart – the in-game map shows way more than Google Maps do!
Curiously, this event spurred a completely different discussion – a discussion about how Niantic is using open-source and players’ data, especially in the light of the recent reveal that they are using it to train an AI model!
Our data, their Large Geospatial Model
Recently, Niantic has shared the details on how they are planning to use the data provided by Pokémon GO’s “Scan this PokéStop” feature: they are building a “Large Geospatial Model” trained on Pokémon GO player data.
The data that saved Helga and her group is not 3D scanned data yet, but it is also data that was provided by open source contributors, through the Open Street Map initiative. Like many other companies, Niantic is also resorting to crowd sourced data collection to build something which you, as a data collector, may not necessarily support.
Although this isn’t illegal in any way – you did accept the ToS – it doesn’t feel particularly good. The Norwegian news outlet NRK shared that they are tracking how Niantic is subtly changing the Terms of Service to allow for using “player-generated content indefinitely for advertising, marketing and development of their services”.
Niantic tells NRK that they only use images taken with the AR service to train their AI model. These images also contain GPS information,sensor dataand the camera’s position in relation to the objects.
“Scanning the map is completely voluntary. Just walking around and playing does not train an AI model,” says Jonny Thaw, head of communications and PR at Niantic.
However, what Thaw forgets to mention, is that if you don’t give Pokémon GO the ability to use your camera, and read your data, is that the game will give you constant alerts that you are missing permissions.
As it stands now, somewhere between August 2018 and October 2018, Niantic has gained more control over player data, cutting off any way of legally challenging use of the data.
Another Norwegian, Irene Kragh Eckell from Porsgrunn, a day-one player shared that she is deeply invested in the scanning mini game, and in contributing to the Pokémon map. Eckell shared that she is mostly motivated by the rewards the game offers for scans:
For example, there could be balls used to catch Pokémon. But what I like best is something called Poffin, which you use to feed your “buddy”. I take scanning seriously and make sure to scan properly. I’ve read in Facebook groups about people who just randomly moved the camera and filmed their legs. They said they lost the ability to scan afterwards.
Scan or no scan, the issue of using player provided data in any way is problematic at its core. As a user, you gave data away at a time when you were not made aware how that data will be used, and you may agree or disagree with how its being used right now.
Lawyer Vebjørn Søndersrød, a Norwegian lawyer, agrees with this sentiment. He believes that what Niantic is doing is problematic, but not necessarily illegal.
It is problematic that they will only provide this information in 2024, even though it applies back in time to photos taken in 2021.