Pokémon GO has taken the world by storm, giving people a delicious taste of augmented reality. Whether you are a Boomer and have secretly played the AR game on your smartphone, or a Millennial that has admittedly called in sick for the last five days as you relive your childhood glory days, Pokémon GO has become your world.
Here at Trulia, we are fans (perhaps borderline fanatics), which is why we dropped what we were doing to help trainers figure out the best potential places to catch five Pokémon types.
Assuming the Pokémon in GO are popping up based on the habitat they thrive in, we have tapped into our map making prowess to showcase the potential hotspots across the U.S. for Electric, Fire, Grass, Psychic, and Water Pokémon types. Here’s how we did it*:
- Electric: Knowing the Electric Pokémon loves a little jolt, we mapped this Pokémon type based on electricity usage.
- Fire: Police stations, fire stations, and places of business that sell anything related to fire (fireworks, firewood, lighter fluid, etc.) was fair game for mapping where the Fire Pokémon might be lurking.
- Grass: You guessed it. This Pokémon type was mapped based on parks, wooded areas, grasslands, and even plant nurseries.
- Psychic: Considering the Psychic Pokémon type was commonly associated with learning in the original game (fun fact: Alakazam has an IQ of 5,000!), we mapped this Pokémon type based on places of learning, including schools and libraries.
- Water: Since most Water Pokémon are based on a variety of fish and other sea creatures, we identified this type’s hotspot as close to anything to do with a body of water.
Below are screenshots of the SF hotspots, followed by an interactive map that can serve as a rough guide and starting point to help you find the above Pokémon types in any city in the U.S. Check it out, and good luck!
Trulia would like to remind you to be safe and smart while playing Pokémon Go! Respect private property and hours of operations of businesses, be aware of your surroundings, watch where you’re going while walking around, and don’t Pokémon and drive!
*Data pulled from Yelp and Geonames.
