he wasn't even on my "nearest 3" in the first picture. how am I supposed to find ANYTHING if I can't even tell what's close to me? when I'm tracking a mon how am I supposed to know I'm getting closer or if I have to change direction? the spawn times are limited, so these things need to be known otherwise you're just wandering around and you probably won't even get the mon you want because there's no way to find out where it is without dumb luck, which was never a part of the original vision of the game. the fun is in searching and finding, not desperately seeking the one you want on your sightings with your heart beating fast and there's absolutely no way you can know where it is then suffering frustration and disappointment when it despawns. it's fucken stupid.
Heck, even if they WERE ordered properly on distance, it is still a crapshoot getting them, even if you triangulate the crap out of them. It is especially wbad here considering the layout of the streets here make it even harder to triangulate so you literally miss most of the 'mons using that method unless u luck out tremendously.
For 1 you gotta be lucky enough to be there when it actually spawns, most of the time you end up in the area when it spawned a few minutes ago, so you even have less time to find it. For 2nd, you lucky when some rare pokemon spawn at all, so missing out on them is even more tragic.
It isn't much of an issue when u start out, since there is allot new to catch, and leveling up isn't as much a chore yet, compounded by the fact that you will hatch plenty new mons with eggs as well.
But once you get to higher 20s in level, it basically becomes tiring as hell. Most of the pokemon you still need, are likely very rare, or else you would have had them by now, or need a load of candy for evolving to it, usually for pokemon that are rare to begin with so it could take even months before you get to them.
That would be months of basically just pidgey evolving to next levels, battling increasing numbers of level 10 gyms stacked with cheater pokemon that even when reported on aren't dealt with. And that goes equally well for gyms of the team you are on.
Most of them, by now, are level 10 as well, meaning you can't even put your 'mons in them anymore.
At least with the trackers like FPM and pokemonnearby u had a chance of getting to certain rares, and even then you are not guaranteed a catch anyway.
Even more so if you play legit and don't use a car or bike, and go on foot, like I do.
Even then, in most big European cities, people using cars isn't mostly an issue, since cars aren't allowed in inner cities for the most part, where most interesting pokemon spawn anyway. And then, why should I care if they do, does not hinder my game, unlike the cheaters.
Sad times.
