Whether this game is free-to-play, cheap, or expensive depends on where you are located. I've read comments about areas with seven Poke Stops in a ten-minute circuit, and others about places where you have to walk miles between Poke Stops. Locations seem to be based on suggestions from players of the previous Niantic game, Ingress, and suggestions from Pokemon Go players aren't being taken at the present time.
I have one Poke Stop within walking distance, and if I take a short drive, there's a stretch with two Poke Stops and a Gym; however, that Gym is a church without sidewalk access, across a highway from nearby parking, and having a corded-off parking lot - making the Gym inaccessible without trespassing.
I was willing to give the devs $10 because the game is fun enough, but I'm not interested in spending more until a major update (new content, not just fixes) is released, and that means I won't be playing much unless I find an enjoyable circuit to walk nearby with multiple Stops and Gyms. And if I don't find such a circuit... then I won't be giving the devs any money even for major updates, because I'll probably loose interest in the game.
Just having the ability to zoom out to view the full map of your town or city would be helpful. Being able to search for and view any city would be even better. I know about
this project, but it seems to involve setting up a cheat server for tracking Pokemon - I want a simple map of Poke Stops and Gyms, and I don't want the tracking cheat.