GeoGuessr

GeoGuessr is a web-based geographic discovery game designed by Anton Wallén, a Swedish IT consultant, released on 9 May 2013.[1] The game uses a semi-randomized Google Street View location for paying members and Mapillary for non-members. The game requires players to guess their location in the world using only the clues visible.[2] The website received hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per day within a week of being released.[1]

GeoGuessr
Type of site
Browser game
Available inEnglish
Founded9 May 2013
Founder(s)
  • Anton Wallén
  • Daniel Antell
  • Erland Ranvinge
URLwww.geoguessr.com

Development

The idea for GeoGuessr came from Wallén's love of visiting faraway locations on Google Street View, and how it gave a visitor the sense of actually being there.[3][4] He decided to add a gaming element to it.[3][4] The development of the game took a couple of weeks, spread over a period of several months.[3] It uses the Backbone.js JavaScript library and version 3 of the Google Maps API for games using Google Street View.[5] For the free map, Mapillary is used for the locations. Wallén posted the completed game to Google Chrome Experiments on 10 May 2013.[5][6]

Gameplay
GeoGuessr in World mode, using Google Street View

GeoGuessr places the player on a series of five algorithmically determined semi-random locations around the world.[1][2] The locations are limited to roads and other paths that have been photographed by Google Street View cameras for paying members, which excludes the majority of Asia and Africa, most of the Amazon basin in South America, most of Central, and Outback Australia and most of the far north in Canada and Russia.[6][7]

The Street View window of GeoGuessr does not provide any information beyond the street view images and a compass; things such as road signs, vegetation, businesses, climate, and landmarks have been suggested as some clues that may help the player determine their location. The player may also move about along the roads through the normal directional controls provided by Street View. Once the player is ready to guess the location, they will place a location marker on a zoomable map. After the placed marker is submitted as a guess, GeoGuessr reveals the true geographic location and assigns the player a score depending on how far away the player's guess was from the true location. Scores range between 0 for a guess at an antipode and 5000 points if the guess is within about 150 meters of the correct location.[8] However, point totals vary between different maps. A new location is then provided to the player, and the process repeats until the player has guessed five locations for a maximum of 25,000 possible points.[9] Newer features include a variable time limit and grouped challenges, such as "Famous Places" or "Sweden".[10] The game also allows paying users to both create maps and play other users' maps, enhancing the experience for members and adding to the competitiveness of the game.

After Google increased their API price 14-fold, non-paying members are now restricted to play one game a day on Google Street View. Players can play unlimited games with Mapillary, but the locations have limited methods of movement and zoom compared to Google Street View.[11] Furthermore, following the August 2019 update, non-paying members could no longer create challenges wherein several players compete on the same map.

Game modes

Standard

The traditional method to play a round is for the player to first select their preferred theme from a list of categories. A standard game can be started with the ‘Browse map’ category, playing this mode will put the player in randomised location. Either a local area, cities or a desolate road, players need to observe the area around them to decipher where they are located in the world.

Another category players select is ‘famous places’, the game begins by starting the players at a randomised area and must discover their current location from the famous landmarks near them as one of the provided clues.

Other options to choose from are categorised by countries where players must discover where in the selected country they are located specifically, like the browse map category players decipher by looking for hints in urban areas or on a road.

The map themes are not just limited to countries, other players can create and submit their own games for others to play, an example is for players to figure out their location based on restaurant locations or other landmarks.

Additional settings can be added to the players preferences, either playing for an unlimited amount of time for people to figure out their location at their own pace or adding a time limit for the challenge.

Explorer

Explorer is a score attack centred game mode, in explorer mode the objective for the player is to score many points and mark their total into a ranked system. Players select from the world map which of the following countries they wish to try.

Players then attempt to score as many points as they can by correctly guessing their location within the selected country, their final score is then ranked. Points are then based on how accurately the player guessed their location on the world map, the closer they were to the area, the more points they are rewarded.

To earn a bronze medal ranking they must score at least 5,000 points plus, earning a silver medal ranking requires 15,000 or more and to earn the gold medal ranking their score must be over 20,000.

When completing a game, the country players have selected to play will change colour on the world map in accordance to the total scores ranking, encouraging players to attempt at completing the other countries to get the best score.

Country Streak

Country Streak can be played in single player or challenge mode where players can compete against each other. The objective in this mode is for players to guess the country they are located in the image rather than guessing the specific location within the country itself. This game mode can be played in two variants – street mode, where players are able to move along the roads, as well as a mode where the player is limited to one area.

The players are challenged to attempt at scoring as many correct guesses as possible in one attempt, the game finishes when the player guesses a country wrong and their final total is tallied at the end of the round.

Battle Royale

A game mode for player that wish to challenge against others. Similar to country streak mode, players attempt to guess which country they are randomly located within the local area. Battle Royale challenges players against each other by knockout games.

Players compete against each other within a time limit to qualify for the next round, they are given three chances to use in the form of hearts. They lose one chance if they guess a country incorrectly and show which country they guessed incorrectly to the other players. If a player loses all three of their hearts or if the time limit expires they are out for round, but if no one got the country right even though the player loses all 3 hearts, they're still in the game. And, when a player guesses correctly they qualify for the next round, the number of people allowed to pass gets lower in each round. The last person in the round is the overall winner of the round.

Battle Royale has features unique to this mode, not all of the countries are included within this mode and players are given an additional function called 50/50, where it narrows down the choices to two countries. Players can choose to use this feature to guess from the two choices, the correct answer lets them pass, the wrong answer immediately takes them out for the round.

There's also a second Battle Royale game mode, this game is based of the original GeoGuessr. The players have to guess the specific location that they are placed in, whoever is farthest away from the location gets knocked out. This mode is called Distance Battle.[12]

The Daily Challenge

A game mode that challenges the players to get a high score. Similar to explorer mode, to play the daily challenge, players are given five rounds to guess which country they are in and how accurately they can guess their specific location from the image shown. Like explorer mode, points are tallied by how close the player is to the images location.

Daily challenge has a leaderboard of other players daily challenge final scores where players can see where they are ranked in the leaderboard and aim to gain a higher ranking.[13]

Competitive City Streaks

A game mode where players have to find the correct city when a part of its street view is given. The game is multiplayer, and players are given five lives.

Reception

GeoGuessr was positively received by the media, with reviewers citing its simplicity of play and addictiveness.[1][2][4] The game has also been praised as an educational tool and has inspired a number of classroom exercises.[4][14]

Community

The GeoGuessr community is tightly knit and spread across numerous social platforms including Reddit, YouTube and Twitch.tv. The site boasts a community of speed-runners and record holders, along with a growing Esports scene. Players compete to get perfect scores on challenging game presets such as No Moving or NMPZ (No Moving, Panning, or Zooming).

During 2021, several people from the GeoGuessr community contacted unofficial Google Maps contributors, including the Zanzibar Street View project, the GridPacific program and the Bhutan tourism council, with requests to remove poor quality Street View images they uploaded to the site.[15]

References
  1. Keating, Joshua (21 May 2013). "GeoGuessr: Where in the (Googleable) world are you?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  2. Isaacson, Betsy (10 May 2013). "GeoGuessr Uses Google Street View To Take Players On A World Journey". Huffington Post. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  3. Morini, Thiago Ferrer (26 May 2013). "Geoguessr: ¿Dónde diablos estoy?" [Geoguessr: Where the hell am I?]. Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  4. Coldwell, Will (2 June 2013). "Where in the world am I? The addictive mapping game that is GeoGuessr". The Independent. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  5. Pitcher, Jenna (13 May 2013). "Get lost with Google Maps-based game GeoGuessr". Polygon. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  6. Oremus, Will (15 May 2013). "How to Beat GeoGuessr, the Insanely Addictive Google Maps Guessing Game: Tips and tricks from a National Geographic cartographer". Slate. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  7. "Where is Streetview". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  8. Pogue, David (13 January 2017). "I just discovered GeoGuessr, a free mystery game that will show you the world". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  9. Femia, Will (16 May 2013). "Find yourself with Geoguessr". The Maddow Blog. MSNBC. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  10. Richter, Tabea (10 January 2018). "Mit dem Online-Quiz "Geoguessr" die Welt entdecken" [Discover the world with the online quiz "Geoguessr"]. General-Anzeiger (in German). Bonn, Germany. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  11. "Regarding the latest changes to non-pro functionality". Geoguessr Community. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  12. Shepard, Kyal (8 February 2019). "GEOGUESSR- THE TOP TIPS, TRICKS AND TECHNIQUES". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  13. Shepard, Kyal (8 February 2019). "GEOGUESSR- THE TOP TIPS, TRICKS AND TECHNIQUES". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  14. Breedlove, Heather (30 June 2014). "Around the World: 10 Tools That Help Classrooms Connect". Insight. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  15. "Google failed to put every country on Street View. Now video game streamers are angry at the volunteers filling the gaps". Rest of World. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
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