Common Questions and Answers

Should I use this as a way to make money?

No, it is gross to charge people for maps when the information should be provided by Niantic! We do not endorse paid maps, which is why this platform is opensource.

All Pokemon are set as ultra rare, what is going on?

We now use a dynamic rarity system to determine the rarity of pokemon, the rarity is calculated by what you scan so it unique to your area. The rarity is updated every hour so when you start an initial scan everything will probably say it is ultra rare for the first hour and then will adjust itself.

Does dynamic rarity mean that all future pokemon will get a rarity automatically?

Yes.

What do the spawn point colors mean?

  • A grey dot represents a spawn point that is more than 5 minutes from spawning.
  • A light blue dot represents a spawn point that will spawn in 5 minutes. Light blue changes to dark blue and finally into purple just before spawn time.
  • A green dot represents a fresh spawn. This will transition to yellow, through orange and finally red (like a stop light) as it is about to despawn.

All I see are numbers! Where are the pokemon?

You are missing the sprite files. Please consult #faq on the RocketMap Discord.

Lures are 6 hours right now! Why is it saying they have already expired?

You need to add -ldur 360 to change the lure assumption to 6 hours (360 minutes.)

Can I sign in with Google?

Yes you can! Pass the flag -a google (replacing -a ptc) to use Google authentication.

If you happen to have 2-step verification enabled for your Google account you will need to supply an app password for your password instead of your normal login password.

Which is the best scan option to use to find pokemon?

SpeedScan (-speed) is the most used scheduler: it’s the only scheduler that currently supports finding the proper spawnpoint time and duration, and it also features a built-in speed limiter to avoid speed violations (i.e. softbans).

More information can be found here : Speed Scheduler

But I was happy using the default Hex or -ss...

Speed Scheduler combines both and is more efficient, -ss is not being actively maintained and doesn’t work unless you already have spawnpoints and timers exported.

All pokemon disappear after only 1 minute, the map is broken!

One of Niantic’s updates removed spawn timers from Pokémon (until there’s little time left until they despawn). SpeedScan does an initial scan to determine all spawn points and their timers and automatically transitions into spawn scanning once it found them all. Seeing 1-minute timers during initial scan is perfectly normal.

What’s the simplest command to start the map scanning?

./runserver.py -speed -l LOCATION -a GOOGLE/PTC -u USER -p PASS -k GOOGLEKEY -hk HASHINGHEY You must replace the values for GOOGLE,PTC/LOCATION/USER/PASS/GOOGLEKEY/HASHINGKEY with your information.

Nice, what other stuff can I use in the command line?

There is a list here or a more up to date list can be found by running ./runserver.py -h

Woah I added a ton of cool stuff and now my command line is massive, any way to shorten it?

It is a lot simplier to use a config file

Can I scan for free or do I need to pay for a hashing key?

Using a hashing key is mandatory at this point. The API will not function without an active hashing key from Bossland. More Informatiion about Hashing Keys

Is there anything I can do to lower captchas?

Yes, you can enable pokestop spinning to level your workers to level two (spinning a single pokéstop), this reduces captchas a lot. You may also consider scanning a smaller area, using less workers or encountering less pokemon for IV.

How many workers do I need?

There is no simple answer to this, it all depends on your -st and more importantly how spawn dense that location is.For a rough guide you can use the formulas at the bottom of this page.

example.py isn’t working right!

Seb deleted it, it was the only good thing left in our lives. Seb has murdered us all.

How do I setup port forwarding?

See this helpful guide

I edited my files/installed unfinished code and messed up, will you help me fix it?

No, the best course of action is to delete it all and start again, this time don’t edit files unless you know what you are doing.

I used a PR and now everything is messed up! HELP ME!

No, remove everything and start from scratch. A Pull Request is merged when it meets the standards of the project.

“It’s acting like the location flag is missing.”

-l, never forget.

I overridden watchdog and now all my accounts are flagged/banned.

Good Job! We recommend making new accounts. Current Tools are Here!

I get an error about PGoAPI version

You can get a warning which pauses your scanner due to a new API being forced. In that case check for announcements to see if a new version has been released, and update as it says.

In case your server does not start due to a PGoAPI version mismatch the problem is that you are trying to start your server with an different installed PGoAPI that the one it is built for, to update your PGoAPI installation to the required version do:

pip uninstall pgoapi
pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt

Use sudo or --user if you don’t have permissions to install modules.

I’m getting this error...

Python version

pip or python is not recognized as an internal or external command

Python/pip has not been added to the environment

Exception, e <- Invalid syntax.

This error is caused by Python 3. The project requires python 2.7

Gcc missing

error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1

# - or -

[...]failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-k3oWzv/pycryptodomex/

Your OS is missing the gcc compiler library. For Debian, run apt-get install build-essentials. For Red Hat, run yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'

KeyError

cells = map_dict['responses']['GET_MAP_OBJECTS']['map_cells']

KeyError: 'map_cells'

The account is banned.

Database error

InternalError(1054, u"unknown column 'cp' in 'field list'") or similar

Only one instance can run when the database is being modified or upgraded. Run ONE instance of RM with -cd to wipe your database, then run ONE instance of RM (without -cd) to setup your database.

Certificate errors

Unable to retrieve altitude from Google APIs: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed (_ssl.c:579).

RedHat based distros (Fedora, CentOS) could have an old OpenSSL version that is not compatible to the latest certifi package, to fix it you need to:

pip uninstall certifi
pip install certifi==2015.4.28

Use sudo or --user if you are not using an account with root permission.

And remember that you should do this every time after updating the requirements of the project.

I have more questions!

Please read all wiki pages relating to the specific function you are questioning. If it does not answer your question, join us on the RocketMap Discord. Before asking questions in #help on Discord, make sure you’ve read #announcements and #faq.

Formulas?

st=step distancesd=scan delay [default: 10]w=# of workerst=desired scan time

Speed Scan

Workers for initial scan(speed scan):

cells = (((st * (st - 1)) * 3) + 1)  
workers = cells / 20

an example for st 19: (((19 * 18) * 3) +1 ) / 20 = 51.35 so use 52 workers.You will not need as many accounts once initial scan is complete.

Hex Scan

time to scan: (sd/w)*(3st^2-3st+1)time to scan (using default scan delay): (10/w)*(3st^2-3st+1)

workers needed: (sd/t)*(3st^2-3st+1)workers needed (using default scan delay): (10/t)*(3st^2-3st+1)