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 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.

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][12]

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. Breedlove, Heather (30 June 2014). "Around the World: 10 Tools That Help Classrooms Connect". Insight. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
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