Pokemon Go Venusar.PNG

This woefully weak Venusaur was found near the Safeway on Southeast 40th and Powell. A collaborative Google Map lets you see which Pokemon are where.

(Pokemon Go screenshot)

Update: The original map seems to have gone offline. We've created our own and can use your help filling it in. Check lower in the story for details.

One of the toughest things about catching them all in "Pokemon Go" is the seemingly endless stream of Pidgey and Rattata that spawn most everywhere the game is played.

It makes sense -- just like their real-world counterparts, the pigeon- and rat-inspired Pokemon tend to show up wherever people congregate.

But even when you venture out into the unknown, there's no telling what Pokemon roam through the new park or neighborhood you're exploring. Aside from the near-guarantee that you'll find Water-types near rivers and lakes and Grass-types in plenty of natural parks, there's very little to indicate where you may find a given creature.

Sometimes it feels completely random.

Take, for example, this incredibly random and overwhelmingly underpowered Venusaur I found roaming around the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood in Southeast Portland.

Well, we've created a Google Map that plots the locations of rare Pokemon since a previous effort has disappeared from the internet without a suitable replacement.

Anyone can contribute to the map, so if you see a rogue Magmar, Electabuzz or similarly rare Pokemon roaming any part of Oregon, please sign into your Google Account and add a marker.

Keep in mind that we're only looking for rare Pokemon -- monsters like Pidgey, Rattata and Spearow are pretty common everywhere, so please plot accordingly. We're also not interested in Pokestops or Gyms.

Also, if you've visited an Oregon landmark -- think Mt. Hood or Crater Lake -- we'd love to know what's there. And if you'd rather somebody else do the lifting, feel free to leave the name and location of your rare finds in the comments or shoot me an email and I'll add it to the list.

We're just trying to fill out our Pokedexes in the spirit of the original GameBoy games and the first season of the anime. We're trying to, you know, catch 'em all.

Pokemapper.co is another Pokemon tracking app that uses the Google Maps engine to pin down the digital creatures' habitats.

In addition to locations, this aggregator also asks contributors to include the Pokemon's type. It then color codes the creature to make browsing a bit easier.

The Pokemapper also accepts inputs from anywhere in the world. "It's not just the entire Pacific Northwest covered, but the world at large," developer Jonah Bliss wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

We've also embedded that map in case you'd like to check out what lies beyond Oregon's borders.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;iframe&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span id="mce_marker" data-mce-type="bookmark"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;E&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This should make filling out that Pokedex at least marginally easier.

--Eder Campuzano

503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com