Great game for geography nerds and/or travel enthusiasts!

[dorkzilla]

Mr. Dorky just sent me this game, GeoGuesser, and I'm already addicted, especially as I've guessed them within 300 kms! They show you a google maps image of a patch of roadway or a village and next to the picture is a world map. When you think you know where it is, click on that part of the map you believe it to be (you can enlarge the map to get really specific), then click the button to guess.

Have a go...it's fun!!

http://geoguessr.com/

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Looks like fun

but I got frustrated after clicking on Mexico when I saw a sign in the distance that said '*something de Mexico,' and it turned out to be in Spain.

[dorkzilla]

4. You have to spend time when you have a chance...

You have to put on your junior detective hat too. Mr. Dorky was like "whoa, how the hell did you guess that?". So i took one picture and walked him through the thought process:

The google image was a stretch of highway, with one car, nothing else. Then I looked at the clues: sparse number of trees, and the place they cut into the ground to build the highway looked like super-compressed soil as opposed to rock. So I thought, coastal area. Then I swung the image around and saw plantings off in the distance that I knew must have been grapes. Ah-ha, a wine growing region! The car coming down the road did not look like anything I've seen here, so that ruled out Napa. Then I looked at the street sign...one blue car, one red car...odd..nothing I've seen before...I figured it had to be a place where lots of different tongues came together, so that ruled out South America and Australia. So that pretty much left Europe. Not lush enough countryside to be anywhere in France. I've been to the wine growing regions of Italy and I don't recall seeing that sign...so I deduced after all this that it must be southern Portugal Bingo!

I've never been there, but you see how I got my answer.

[Javaman]

2. It's fun and I suck at it! LOL nt

[dorkzilla]

6. Aw, sorry Javaman! How far off were your guesses? n/t

[Javaman]

19. some were embarrassingly far off. LOL

others would be impossible to identify. For example: in my first try, I was given 3 photos of roads in the middle of forests.

Trying my best to identify the photos by the types of trees and the road markings was all I had to work with. Did you know that the road markings in Norway are very similar to those used here in the states? LOL

I'll keep playing because I like the challenge.

[petronius]

3. Great game! Thank god the round stops after 5 locations, or else I'd

be trapped here all day...

[dorkzilla]

5. Yep, I just keep logging back on!

I'm TOTALLY addicted and I just started playing with it this morning!!!!

[eissa]

7. Damn, this is addictive! nt

[sufrommich]

8. Lots of fun. My first guess was only 300 km off

(about 180 miles I think).My second guess was 4000 km off.

[dorkzilla]

9. Sadly my last couple of guesses were waaaaaaaaaay off.

But it is fun, isn't it?

[sufrommich]

14. Its great fun, thanks for sharing it! nt

[lapislzi]

10. Check for any visible signage

Number plates on cars are fuzzed out, but signage isn't. A different alphabet: giveaway. Also check which side of the road the road signs are posted, and the direction of traffic.

This is addicting fun.

[sufrommich]

13. Yep, the last one for me was a sign

for Port Elizabeth so I got within 20 miles.

[Capt. Obvious]

11. I got burnt on one

the image showed cars driving on the left side of the road so I guessed Australia.

It was Texas. WTF?

[enlightenment]

12. Very cool.

Just played a round. I apparently only think I'm good at geography!

[Separation]

15. Pretty cool

I got lucky the 1st time I played. I got within 300km of each picture for the 1st round. The second time I played I couldnt have been further.

[dorkzilla]

16. That's what's happening to me, too!

Maybe they suck you in so you'll get cocky then they drop you on your cocky little ass! Nearly every guess in my last round was in the wrong continent!

[gopiscrap]

17. Hey! This is a fun game and a good learning tool.

[u4ic]

18. Thanks for this. I love it!

I will become addicted, no doubt.

I got within 20 km of one (Belgium), and 100 km for another (Sweden).

[A Little Weird]

20. Awesome

Thanks!!!

[JI7]

21. i read a lot about geography/travel but so far have not been able to travel much

but this is really fun. i was surprised at how close i was to some of them .

[Art_from_Ark]

22. I got 12151 points

My closest guess (30km) was of a scene in England.

[LeftInTX]

23. Cool!

I mistook the Amazon River for the Mississippi River!

[PD Turk]

24. I hit one within 70km

It showed me a pic of Macau and I guessed Hong Kong

so far I've stunk the rest of it up pretty bad tough

[smirkymonkey]

25. Wow! Very addictive!

Thanks! I had one guess that was 306km away and a few other close ones. Then again, I had a few that were way off.

I think I would be better at it if I could manipulate the map better. I can't seem to manage to focus in on things that would give me better clues.

[sigmasix]

26. I'd like to see this tool used to

I'd be interested in seeing a geographic breakdown of the locations of the more successful takers of this test versus the areas with the poorest performance. This could help to locate pockets of society with a greater need for education about the many areas of the world. There has got to be some sort of useful information to be garnered from such an elegant "game". I'm hesitant to call it a game, given the negative connotations of the word. This has the potential to be a powerful educational tool. I hope it doesnt get ruined by the profit monsters

[dorkzilla]

27. Yes, it could be used for education and your idea is a good one.

However, I don't agree that "game" has a negative connotation. Moreover, people--especially young people--would rather play a game than take a test. And I believe I've read in the recent past that American students are almost universally awful at geography, so perhaps making it into a game would help.

I'm having fun challenging myself!

[liberal N proud]

28. Sounds like a great time waster

[MrScorpio]

29. I got 29,771 points on my game.

I think that I could do better. http://tinyurl.com/o2otn5l