So much for anonymity…the software wanted permission to know where I was.  It then wanted my date of birth. No problem… I put down March 21, 1990. Yeah… I have been told that I look a little older for my 25 years on this earth. Lastly, the software wanted me to login using my Google account.  It seems that so many apps want authorization to every part of our digital self these days, right?

After signing my digital life away, I was ready to play.  Upon opening, there is a distinguished looking gentleman named Professor Willow that guides one through the initial setup phases (although the Professor didn’t seem to adhere to the Design, Develop, and Deploy Methodology).  I first had to choose/design a character that looks just like me.  After some effort, I produced a character that is the splitting image of me (see Figure 1 at right).

What is most interesting is that two of my three children are extremely interested in the process and offering to help.  I have been unsuccessfully trying to teach them about GIS for years, and this “Study” has them hovering over my desk.  Maybe after this post, they won’t think their pop is such a nerd anymore, and I will get that invitation to career day at school.  Of course, they are in college (or close) now, and I suspect they still won’t bring the old man to class to talk about Enterprise Geodatabases.

Anyway…I then had to choose which Pokemon to catch (Figure 2 at left).  My options were:

• Bulbasur
• Squirtle
• Charmander

I choose a Squirtle because I like turtles.  I immediately noticed the background raster image of my block and house.  After doing a precious little research, it was learned that the software was developed by Niantic, Inc.  Niantic spun out of Google in October 2015.  So it is concluded (hopefully correctly) that the raster was a Google background.

The second thing I noticed was the circle around my character.  My first thought was this is the error in the physical location.  Hey… now I have a blog post related to GIS.

I have a desk in my basement which is the location where I am currently playing on the company dime. The reason this is stated is that there is no way to receive a satellite GPS signal from my desk. GPS signals from satellites are line of sight and easily blocked by the ceiling and walls around me.

This situation (lack of GPS signal) could also occur when trying to find a Squirtle in an area of tall buildings or “Urban Canyon” (Figure 3 below).  This could also happen if trying to find the little guy under thick tree cover.  To get a decent location, at least four satellites are required.  This can not happen if several of the satallites’ signals are blocked by obstacles.

So if my GPS signals were blocked, how did I get a location on the map?  Simply put, a less accurate location can be achieved using triangulation with cell towers. Best accuracy we can achieve with this technique is about 150 feet.  For those that read a past post, the best accuracy we can achieve using the cell phone’s GPS technology is about 10 feet.

Why is accuracy important?  To quickly find a Squirtle, we want the best accuracy possible.  For example, if we are relying on triangulation with cell towers, the little turtle could be in an area of about 70,650 square feet or 1.6 acres.  To compare, a football field with the end zones is 1.32 acres (Figure 4 below).

I think I prefer the GPS technology which results in 314 square feet or about 0.007 acres. It should be noted that this not only relates to Pokemon Go, but this error discussion relates to any other cell phone app that leverages GPS technology (i.e. Esri Collector).

Now back to my Pokemon Go adventure.  I was then asked to give permission for application to use my camera.  Again… Not thrilled by this, but agreed.  At this point, a little dinosaur appeared in my basement.  My kids told me that I had to throw Pokeballs at the dinosaur.

I think I used my entire arsenal because I kept missing, but I protected my family from the reptile.  My kids then told me that I had to go get more Pokeballs to restock.  I got mad because how am I supposed to throw Pokeballs at something that can be anywhere within the area the size of a football field?

Road trip!

Have to get more Pokeballs to protect my family from another potential reptile attack. My kids told me that there as a Pokestop at a nearby church. Took off, and immediately noticed when outside (with access to GPS satellite signals) that the circle around my guy had nothing to do with accuracy. Just animation.

When I got to the church, I noticed that the cross had something on it. I swiped across my phone (as my children previously instructed), and released the balls (Figure 5 at right). When back home, and my kids asked about the egg. I guess I also got one at the church, although I have no idea what I am to do with it (more later).

Need More Ammo!

This morning I got to thinking that I did expend my entire arsenal of Pokeballs on a single little dinosaur. What if there are more uninvited guest in my house? GIS to the rescue. For those that don’t know, I currently live outside Philadelphia. Got on ArcGIS Online, and did a search for Pokemon GO layers in my area. I got results of three potential sources of this valuable information. After adding all three layers to my Pokemap, only one appeared useful (Pokemon GO Locator).

Only problem is these stops are in Maryland, which is about 140 miles from my house. My kids told me that I get more Pokeballs if I walk. Image how many balls I would get if I walk the entire distance!!!! Going to require a U-Haul to bring them all back home. The truck would also provide a means to get back home. Even though I am only 25, 140 miles is a long way to walk.

Brief fast forward ahead… I asked my daughter to proof this post because she is one of my resident experts on Pokemon Go.  She told me that one doesn’t get more Pokeballs for walking. One has to walk 5 km to hatch their egg. I think I can accomplish the hatching of my one egg with the 140 mile (225 km). Heck I can knock out 45 of them, but why would I want to do that? Last thing I want is another dinosaur in my house. I think I will just make an omelet with that egg.

I went ahead and saved my Pokemap to SSP’s ArcGIS Online account (there may be other employees that need to protect their family). It is also a good idea to go mobile to assist in my walking. I quickly realized that I haven’t downloaded the Esri Apps (except Survey123) on my new cell phone (lost my old phone in an unfortunate kayak mishap). Downloaded, logged into my ArcGIS online account, and acquired my Pokemap. Off I go.

Not entirely, but I’m not their demographic, plus I’m not a gamer to begin with. I do like that people are getting off their butts and getting out and about, which is a very good thing. I also like the fact that my children are actually for the first time interested in one of the blog posts that I am writing as well.

My preference is geocaching, where reality doesn’t require augmenting with little critters that I have to hurl balls at and incubate their eggs.

Does anyone want me to keep playing and learning new strategies to share out to the world? We’ll see. For now, even if just for a brief moment, I’m just happy that because of my Director of Marketing, I was on the forefront of popular culture for the first time in 20+ years. Maybe that’s enough though, time to go back under that rock…