This week Chris and Jamal kick off Episode 218 of the Wayspotters Podcast with some personal updates, including Chris preparing to start a new job and celebrating his son making a lacrosse rep team. After the catch-up, they dive into the latest Wayfarer and Niantic news.

The big topic this week is the pause of Operation Portal Recon (OPR). Chris and Jamal discuss Niantic Spatial’s announcement that OPR has been temporarily shut down and share their speculation about why it happened. Reports surfaced showing large-scale cheating, bots, and automated portal submissions creating thousands of fake reviews and portals. They explore how the abuse may have overwhelmed Niantic’s ability to manage the system, why OPR may stay offline for a long time, and what the future could look like for Ingress mapping and community review.

They also talk about what this pause could mean for Ingress players and the long-term health of the portal network, including concerns that without new portals the game could feel stale and lose player engagement.

On the Wayfarer side, the hosts highlight a major quality-of-life improvement: web submission drafts. The new system allows Wayfinders to create and store multiple nomination drafts, review photos and descriptions at home, and submit them later once everything is polished. Chris and Jamal explain why this could improve nomination quality, reduce “coal” submissions, and help reviewers overall—while noting the limitation that submissions still require available nomination slots.

The episode wraps up with Wayspot of the Week, featuring a striking globe installation in Dublin and an abstract art installation in Rockford, Illinois, followed by Coal of the Week, showcasing a great nomination ruined by using a watermarked photo pulled from a website.

Overall, the episode explores the evolving future of Wayfarer, the challenges of community-driven mapping systems, and how new tools might improve the quality of Wayspot nominations going forward.

Stick around for:

✅ Spatial / Scopely News

✅ Tales From Canada

✅ Wayspots / Coal of the Week

✅ Dad Jokes (of course!)

Show Credits Hosts: Jamal Harvey & Chris Bell

Writer: Chris Bell

Producer: Jamal Harvey

Executive Producer: Kate Konz

Show Historian: Matty G

Recorded: 5 March 2026

Published:8 March 2026

Season 5, Episode 10

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Music CreditsIntro: “Game Over” – Danijel ZamboBreak: Heavy Trap Drum Loops – LoopmastersOutro: “Itty Bitty 8 Bit” – Kevin MacLeodAdditional: Spanish Hard Trap – Steve Oxen

Vocal Recordings © Pokémon Professor Network 2025

Pokémon and all respective names © Nintendo 1996–2025. Pokémon GO © Niantic, Inc. Wayspotters & Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic, The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, or Nintendo.

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