A few weeks ago, I stumbled across the website Geoguessr. I honestly don't recall where... it may have been linked by someone on Facebook or written about on some website or other, but it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that it's one of the best time wasters I've seen in a long time! I don't know if you've ever played that mindgame when you're out driving... looking around and thinking "If I were to be plunked down here right now, how long would it take to figure out where I am?" That's pretty much what this game does. Except, you know, you're still sitting at your desk.
Basically, the site will plunk you down somewhere in the world using Google Streetview. You can turn around, zoom in on things and, usually (more on that later), move up and down the street, as well turn onto other streets nearby. The object is try to guess where you are on a world map. Oh my gosh, this is so addictive!!! One evening I was actually feeling a bit guilty about how much time I'd spent on the site and then I realized that![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rackham had spent that same time jumping around rooftops in whatever version of Assassin's Creed he happened to be playing... and that what I was doing was no less valid a game than if I'd been playing my usual, Lord of the Rings Online.
( Figuring it out. )
I've been having a blast trying to puzzle out where it's dropped me. Some spots are much easier than others, such as being dropped right in front of a business with a distinctive name, so you can just look it up online and get the address. But some are nearly impossible... Once I was plunked in the middle of a field with a bunch of people setting up tents. I wasn't able to move, just spin around in a circle to see if there was anything I could grab onto (there was just a van belonging to an outdoor recreation company based out of France... the location turned out to be in Russia, though). Or there are times when I've gotten dropped on a dirt road that's so primitive it's hard to distinguish from the surrounding terrain... and, even worse, the streetview only goes for about a mile or so, deadending on both sides without ever connecting to another road, so I had to try to figure it out based on soil and plants (I guessed South Africa, based also on the position of the sun... and I was right, ending up only a few hundred kilometers off with my random guess within the country).
Once all I had was a rocky beach where I could only spin around in one place and managed to guess it within 50km based on a shipping vessel I could see in the bay in front of me (I could make out the company name and the ship was a distinctive style and color, so I looked it up, figured out the ship's name, found out its route and made a guess). So far, the biggest surprise was when I was dropped in Hong Kong. It took me ages to figure out because nearly *everything* was in English, so when I was looking up business names and getting returns for things in Hong Kong, I kept thinking that had to be wrong.
It's really just another type of puzzle game, but it's also making me want to visit all these places! And I've started a list of restaurants I want to try if we ever get anywhere near them, simply because I spotted them in the game and they helped me figure out where I was!
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
Basically, the site will plunk you down somewhere in the world using Google Streetview. You can turn around, zoom in on things and, usually (more on that later), move up and down the street, as well turn onto other streets nearby. The object is try to guess where you are on a world map. Oh my gosh, this is so addictive!!! One evening I was actually feeling a bit guilty about how much time I'd spent on the site and then I realized that
rackham had spent that same time jumping around rooftops in whatever version of Assassin's Creed he happened to be playing... and that what I was doing was no less valid a game than if I'd been playing my usual, Lord of the Rings Online.( Figuring it out. )
I've been having a blast trying to puzzle out where it's dropped me. Some spots are much easier than others, such as being dropped right in front of a business with a distinctive name, so you can just look it up online and get the address. But some are nearly impossible... Once I was plunked in the middle of a field with a bunch of people setting up tents. I wasn't able to move, just spin around in a circle to see if there was anything I could grab onto (there was just a van belonging to an outdoor recreation company based out of France... the location turned out to be in Russia, though). Or there are times when I've gotten dropped on a dirt road that's so primitive it's hard to distinguish from the surrounding terrain... and, even worse, the streetview only goes for about a mile or so, deadending on both sides without ever connecting to another road, so I had to try to figure it out based on soil and plants (I guessed South Africa, based also on the position of the sun... and I was right, ending up only a few hundred kilometers off with my random guess within the country).
Once all I had was a rocky beach where I could only spin around in one place and managed to guess it within 50km based on a shipping vessel I could see in the bay in front of me (I could make out the company name and the ship was a distinctive style and color, so I looked it up, figured out the ship's name, found out its route and made a guess). So far, the biggest surprise was when I was dropped in Hong Kong. It took me ages to figure out because nearly *everything* was in English, so when I was looking up business names and getting returns for things in Hong Kong, I kept thinking that had to be wrong.
It's really just another type of puzzle game, but it's also making me want to visit all these places! And I've started a list of restaurants I want to try if we ever get anywhere near them, simply because I spotted them in the game and they helped me figure out where I was!
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
