Let's Play Geoguessr
The Perfect COVID-19 online pastime that combines geography sleuthing and Google Maps Travelling all into one!
Spring break trip to Cuba ruined? Planning on exploring the French countryside, and find yourself stuck inside your apartment instead? Looking for some entertaining educational fun for the kids? I’ve got the perfect escape for you and your family!
Meet Geoguessr, the geography game that provides an opportunity to explore the world from the comfort of your own home! I’ve been a fan of Geoguessr for a long time now, and the game has only improved over the past few years, adding new maps to play featuring everything from countries to stadiums to famous landmarks. It has recently moved to an account-based system, so you will need to create an account to play the game. If you really like the game, as I do, you can sign up to be a Geoguessr Pro, which provides access to daily challenges, map making opportunities and competitive play.
The object of the game is simple: Figure out exactly where in the world you are.
After you’ve been dropped in some random location using Google Street View, use the surrounding environment to figure out where in the world you have been dropped. There are a number of ways you can play the game, but I’ll show you, using screenshots, how I like to play. It is, admittedly, an unorthodox way of playing, as most people don’t do quite as much sleuthing as I do. There may be times, however, when you’re just going to have to guess.
I like to put it on my TV so I can get comfortable. When you start the game, you’ll just be dropped somewhere, like so. Once you’ve been dropped, have a quick look around. Then make a choice - which way are you going to go - and go. Look for anything that could be a clue about location. Right off the bat I see a 50m/hr speed limit sign, telling me that I’m in the United States.
Going a little further ahead, we come upon a pretty little town. Zooming in, I can’t make out the name of the county but I can make out ‘County Courthouse’ on the sign. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the town name will be on a store or something downtown.
Just one building up from the arena and community centre is the post office, with the town and zip code. Of course, while I know where I am, I now have to find myself on a map - not just where I am at this moment, but where I was when I first started the game.
After opening a new window/tab to Google Maps, I quickly note the Oxbow Motel, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and the Nickolls County Courthouse, which I passed on the way in. So now I know which way to look.
After pushing the FLAG button on your Geoguessr window, I can quickly go back to my start point, the same view as (1). Once there, I had a look around and tried to memorize my surroundings. I’m going to dive back into Google Maps Street View in the other window, so I want to make sure I’ve got a good idea of what I’m looking for. For example, I’ll note that there are no cross streets near by, nor have I crossed any on the way to the post office. (If you have a second monitor, this is a good time to put it to use.)
I pull up my map location just outside of town, on this side of Road R, and drop my Street View Pin to see how close I am.
Reasonably close, I’d say - if I just squint (or zoom in) I can see what looks like the driveway from the first picture. Once I move myself up to just the right point, it’s time to pin the map on your Geoguessr page. This is where I have to use my memory. Once I zoom out of Street View, I’m not necessarily going to know exactly where I am, so I’ll have to use my surroundings to get it as exact as possible.
From there, I head back to the Geoguessr tab, pull up the map on the bottom right side of the screen, and look for Nelson, NE, which is just southwest of Lincoln, the state’s capital.
Zooming in further, I find the exact right spot and line it up with the Google Street View tab in (7). I put down my marker, and press GUESS:
SUCCESS!!!!!!! With all the sleuthing I did, I was able to pin it 6m from the correct spot, close enough for all 5000 points!
There you go! That was one round of Geoguessr. It’s such a fun game that combines a variety of skills together into one and allows you to see sights of the world you might otherwise never get to see. Beware, though - they’re not always as easy as Nelson, NE. You might find yourself dropped in a spot with nothing but Cyrillic writing around, but that doesn’t mean you’re in Russia. It just means you’re in likely in Eastern Europe, where many languages are written in Cyrillic script. How you figure out where you are - I’ll leave that up to you!
Dinner Table Don’ts is a curation of News, Commentary and Analysis from Peter Thurley. Named after his first blog started while in university, Dinner Table Don’ts is a conversation about all the topics you were told to keep away from the dinner table.
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