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I've just started 'catching them all' on the Google Maps Pokemon challenge, and one of the first things I saw was a building.

Clicking on the building just gives the underlying location and an estimated travel time to get there.

Do I need to catch more Pokemon first? What does the building do?

I'd upload a screenshot but it seems Google Maps doesn't play nice with my screen capture on my phone, it just comes out black.

Frank
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Robotnik
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1 Answers1

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The building is your PokéLab. There are several of them around the world, and each player starts at the PokéLab closest to their actual position (determined by the location data provided by the access point, which is either a physical network for WiFi connections, or the mobile cell for mobile Internet connections).

It's a reference to the actual Pokémon games, where your adventure usually starts in the Professor's Lab, where you are given your starter Pokémon. Since in this incarnation, you don't need your own Pokémon to go into tall grass and catch more Pokémon, the whole starting stuff is left out, but the Lab is still left there for reference.

As far as I can tell and was able to find out with a rough search, the Lab is not accessible and doesn't really serve any purpose except being a point of reference in case you get lost. And they are a location where you can actually find Pokémon.

scenia
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  • So they represent a rough epicentre of the Pokemon in the area? Are there any other types of buildings or just labs? – Robotnik Apr 01 '14 at 09:36
  • More or less, yes. But only in areas where there are actually Labs, which are the starting locations. I haven't found any other buildings yet and there are areas with no buildings, but Pokémon. – scenia Apr 01 '14 at 10:49