OK… That’s not really true. But this thing is a major potential time-suck of unusual proportion. Well… size of the earth proportion… or, the bit of it that Google Street View has gotten to… or the portion that developer Anton Wallein has deemed fit to drop you in. Having been dropped twice at the same spot in the same small town in Norway, I am skeptical as to how random it all is. OK. What? GeoGuessr is a simple, but compelling game, that uses Google Street View. You land in some random spot on earth and have to guess where you are over five rounds. Totally absorbing stuff.
Here’s some of the strange experiences I’ve had in my journeys…
Somewhere on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon, Canada near the Northern Lights Centre is this nearly kilometer-long display of a major shedload of street signs.
I found out that most mapping systems are not that friendly to mainly walking trails like Suck Valley Way in Ireland.
One of the strangest experiences I had with GeoGuessr was being suddenly stuck in the middle of this restaurant – presumably somewhere in Western Europe – there were no navigation options… I could just spin around… I kept looking for a clue… a menu cover, a label, a sign… something… and ultimately gave up.
Every now and then you land somewhere really easy like this. Another time I landed somewhere that was just way too familiar looking. I was so sure, that instead of looking around I just said, ‘I’m in Putnam County, New York, dammit! Somewhere near Peekskill or Cold Spring. I thought it was route 9, but it was 22… closer to Danbury… but, still, pretty good for winging it.
More often then not, though, you end up somewhere (or, nowhere) like this. Good luck with that.
More coverage: The Escapist | Rock, Paper Shotgun
