Milwaukee bans geotagging AR locations in county parks without a permit

Pokémon Go’s release last summer was one of the biggest mobile games of all time, and it sneakily introduced millions to the concept of location-based augmented reality games, which transform real-world locations into in-game hotspots that people will visit to play the game.

This isn’t a new idea, but Pokémon Go made it a popular one. Any developers looking to follow suit with a location-based AR game of their own might be about to have their plans scuppered though after one county in the United States.

The Milwaukee County Board has approved an ordinance that will require developers to obtain permits to geotag in-game locations with county parks, according to the Journal Sentinel. If the ordinance stands it could be emulated by other counties and indeed, several property owners, making it a mess of permits and legal jenga to develop an AR game designed to be played in the real world.

The reasoning behind the ordinance is a simple one. Milwaukee County’s Lake Park say that Pokémon Go players caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to Milwaukee County’s Lake Park after park monuments became high-traffic PokéStops, drawing in higher than average foot traffic to the area.