Ingress and PoGo use the same database of locations (portals, stops), and it was painstakingly built and added to by the (ingress) players, years before PoGo; location, name, description, reason for addition (art, historical significance, etc), pictures. Then they added the same ‘submit’ system for PoGo.
I was invited to ingress during it’s closed beta, 14 years ago, and was a very heavy player for the first two years, myself submitting several portals for review.
The (initial) financial reasons for these games? To map walking paths/navigation. Every player is supplying their GPS data while they play. The partnership with Pokémon was just an easy way to get extra players, and capture more of the market that wasn’t interested in the geeky lore of ingress. They have a whole microtransaction store now for both, but that was after they needed more cash.
Hey Ron, we need a stock photo of someone holding their phone, but we don’t have any on set. Hold this bar of soap and pretend that it’s a phone. Just hold it so the logo doesn’t show. Perfect. 📸