But that is the problem. There should be SOMETHING to do even when you aren't in a hotspot. In my town there are only 3 portals, and only (apparently) one person in the opposing faction. Why would I bother playing?
You could take photos and submit them as potential portal locations (you can share the photos with ingress from the android camera/gallery). That could encourage more people to play and give the current players more to do.
The downside is that I think it takes a few weeks for portal suggestions to be processed.
The downside is that I think it takes a few weeks for portal suggestions to be processed.