It's more than just a game, it's a chance to explore the world. You could find yourself in a bustling city, on a deserted road or, as I once found myself, underwater! The challenge is to work out where in the world you are using your powers of observation, keen wit, general knowledge and a dash of common sense. All skills that make a good Geographer!
How does it work?
Go to the GeoGuessr website https://www.geoguessr.com/ and choose a game. The original game is there on the first page and a 'single player' game is the best way to get started. You can create an account (which keeps track of scores and allows to challenge friends) or play as a guest.
You then get dropped into a Google StreetView image in a random location anywhere on Earth. You can move around, look around and explore to work out where you are but without usual helpful StreetView features such as road names!
You then place a pin on a map to show where you think you are and get awarded points based on how far away you were from your location.
The obsession begins
The usual way of finding out where you are is to stroll or drive (whatever your imagination decides!) until you come across a road sign and you can work from there. Fortunately it's not always that straightforward. Us Geographers like a challenge. In previous games I have played I have worked out my location by:
- reading road signs
- looking up the address of a museum I was outside
- recognising a famous castle I could see in the distance
- Using Google Translate to decipher graffiti on the side of a bus stop!
Sometimes no matter how hard you search there is nothing that obviously gives away your location, so you kind of just have to pick a country and hope for the best. Try to make an educated guess though. You can get climate clues by looking at vegetation, location clues by looking at the geology or country clues by looking at architecture and wealth.
Taking it further
You can now limit GeoGuessr by city or country using official maps. This is useful if you are interested in, teaching or studying a particular place. Or you can play challenges based on 'pro maps' created by users, such as 'European football stadiums', or 'places with volcanoes'.
The possibilities are as endless as the Earth.
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