'Pokemon Go' players stumble on hidden history

Providence: Historical markers have long dotted the landscape, often barely noticed by passers-by until they became treasure-filled stops this month on the "Pokemon Go" trail.

Players hunting for fictional creatures on their smartphones are now visiting real-life memorial plaques, statues, mosaics and landmarks, ranging from a Civil War battlefield in Chancellorsville, Virginia, to a Hells Angels clubhouse on New Zealand's North Island.

Some don't bother to linger at these Pokestops, staying just long enough to stock up on the virtual balls they'll use to bonk and capture the next Pokemon.

But for others, the GPS-powered "augmented reality" game is heightening awareness of the history and geography of their neighbourhoods.

"Before I was just going from Point A to Point B, but now I'm learning things," said 15-year-old Jaiden Cruz as he walked by a plaque Wednesday in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, marking where Abraham Lincoln spoke at an old railroad hall in 1860.

The plaque is a Pokestop, and shortly before Cruz arrived, another player dropped a "lure module" that attracts Pokemon to the site. The 380-year-old city abounds with Pokestops, including the nation's oldest Baptist church, founded by religious dissident Roger Williams in 1638, and a stone marking where French troops camped during the Revolutionary War.

"It gets you to learn about your surroundings," said 59-year-old Cheryl DiMarzio, who on the advice of her daughter ventured into an urban park to capture an owl-like Pidgey and some purple rodent Rattatas. "Different landmarks, the statues and historical places."

How such markers became the backbone of the wildly popular video game that launched  this month is a story that goes backat least five years, when tech giant Google signed a licensing agreement to use The Historical Marker Database, a volunteer-run website that has tracked the geographic coordinates of more than 80,000 historical markers around the world, most of them in the United States.

JJ Prats, founder and publisher of the Virginia-based marker database, said many but not all the Pokestops and Pokemon gyms, where players send their creatures into battle, are from his website. He's thrilled.