Join in - Weekly GeoGuessr challenge thread

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Join in - Weekly GeoGuessr challenge thread

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1thorold
Jun 20, 2013, 1:15 pm

This week's special includes at least one European destination, close to the old stomping ground of couple a well-known writers. I didn't do brilliantly well, as number five came out impossibly blurry for me: you only have to beat 27922

Challenge is here: http://bit.ly/11pIUxz

Entries by noon, US East Coast time on Tuesday the 25th. Good luck!

2stellarexplorer
Jun 21, 2013, 12:53 am

The last one was indeed hard. Managed a 31378, despite some avoidable inaccuracies in the early rounds.

Interested to see how you all fare. The fourth one wasn't easy to narrow down either.

3bookblotter
Jun 21, 2013, 1:37 am

I'm low so far at 26815 points. Round 5 was so fuzzy it was impossible to read anything. But did I get within 18.5 km. If you compare the scenery in Round 1 to Round 5, I vote for Round 1's location in (censored), it was lovely. I've been to Round 5's location on business and didn't like it when I was there then, doing Round 5 didn't change my mind.

Okay, thorold. It's bad enough that you beat me overall, but on Round 3 this is our result... Me: 0.238 km & 6459 points; thorold was 0.231 km & 6460 points. You beat me by 7 thousandth of a kilometer and 1 slim point.

The points scoring by geoguessr is apparently geometric. On Round 1, I was off about 18 km and thorold was off just about 1.8 km. that cost me 1100 points, almost exactly our difference in total scores. I was busy counting sheep and admiring the scenery though. Baaa!

4stellarexplorer
Jun 21, 2013, 2:07 am

I found a clue that let me get within around 3 or 4 Km on Round 5. But I can't tell you it was worth it!

5timspalding
Jun 21, 2013, 2:08 am

Are we allowed to move around?

6thorold
Jun 21, 2013, 2:09 am

I was rather lucky with my clicking in both round three and round four. In both cases I narrowed down the location to within a couple of km from the map, but got considerably closer than that with my guess. On the other hand, I spent ages studying maps for round one, but still managed to pick the wrong one of two parallel roads. There I should have been within a few metres if I'd looked properly, but was nearly 2km out.
When I went back and had another look at round five, I saw one clue that would have got me within 100km or so of the right spot, but I don't think I could have done much better than that.
I thought it was an interesting challenge, because there wasn't much you could do merely by reading signs: you had to look at the terrain and the compass direction and really do a bit of map-reading.

7thorold
Jun 21, 2013, 2:15 am

>5 timspalding:
Up to you! We've all been moving around, but I expect there's extra bonus karma for standing still.

8bookblotter
Jun 21, 2013, 2:15 am

#5 Tim, yes, you can move about as much as you wish.

9timspalding
Jun 21, 2013, 2:34 am

Yeah, I prefer not to move. If you move it seems to me it's a game of time—you'll eventually get to a sign telling you how many miles to a town, or etc. At a minimum, you won't click on Australia when it's really Ontario. :)

10thorold
Jun 21, 2013, 5:06 am

I think you're right: after playing for a while with moving allowed, we all seem to get to the level where we are within a few metres of the spot most of the time. Guessing from the spot is more challenging, but it's a bit unsatisfying in that you never get to work out why you should have known that it was Ontario (several metres of snow on the road, policemen with red coats... ).

Another interesting variant is to play it on an iPad: you can move a bit, but the more you move, the more likely Safari is to crash before you finish the game. Adds a "Russian roulette" flavour to the guessing.

11wetlander
Editado: Jun 21, 2013, 7:59 am

Managed from 3 to 107 metres on the first four, but on the fifth only got to about 8km.
The fourth was probably the most interesting, clear and with a few signs, but took some time to pin down precisely.

Total score 31764

12bookblotter
Editado: Jun 21, 2013, 11:20 am

Move vs not moving...

Those are like two different games in a way. The moving game is like a detective game of piling up clues. Very frequently it isn't a sign as obvious as 10 km east to Lower Slobovia, it's a restaurant, park, natural feature, architecture, people or business that's the helpful clue. In one game I searched a restaurant, found a review and, out of curiosity, went there and found a unique feature in a photo that compared exactly to what I saw on geoguessr and said, "This is the place."

It does seem to me, by the way, that more info signs are fuzzed by geoguessr than when I first started to play.

In a no move game, it's more luck, having a botany background if you're in the middle of nowhere or having extensive travel experiences and a good memory for detail. We have friends that play geoguessr. The wife has been a travel agent for 30 years specializing in upscale foreign travel and they travel overseas extensively (4 to 6 X a year) and they both retain a lot of mental images from travel. They're really good at the non-moving version. Even for them, the scores are much lower than the moving version. The non-moving game is certainly faster...

P.S. There isn't any reason we couldn't (1) have separate games and topics for not moving players or (2) play each game either as moving or not moving and declaring which we did; although I would think that it would be obvious... What does anyone else think???

Edit for P.S.

13stellarexplorer
Jun 21, 2013, 11:17 am

Among gaming dogmatists, there is an active debate over which is the "right" way to play.

14timspalding
Jun 23, 2013, 11:57 pm

9,111 without moving. The first four I got pretty close—for a not-moving game. The last I got the latitude but not the continent. :)

15bookblotter
Editado: Jun 25, 2013, 10:47 am

>14 timspalding: Tim, a pretty good nonmoving score, I think. Although, I've only tried nonmoving twice with 7 thousand something as my score both times.

Shall we play so that one can move or not move as they see fit? We're just playing for the fun of it. No trophies, must less cash prizes. :)

This round is over. We have run alphabetically after the current challenger among those playing the last challenge to select the next challenger. Tim, that would seem to select you as the next challenger. If you could post your challenge in this thread sometime Thursday, June 27 and indicate in your posting noon Eastern US time on Tuesday, July 2 as the ending time, that would be great.

NOTE: I posted this in error, I meant to preview it and just wait until noon eastern to post it and hit the post button accidentally now. If you are running through the current game, you still have roughly 1 & 1/4 hours to go. --- Sorry! Your friend, fumblefingers

16timspalding
Jun 25, 2013, 10:47 am

No, I beg off. I'm so deep in code right now, I don't have time to figure out how to make a new challenge. Sorry!

17bookblotter
Jun 25, 2013, 10:55 am

>14 timspalding: & 15

Wetlander would then seem to be the next up to bat to set up a new challenge (unless someone posts a reply to the current challenge and their LT name is after thorold and before wetlander alphabetically).

Tim, hope that you can still participate in the next game. You still could do it in the 3 am to 4 am shift??? (very small humor note)

Note to others in regard to the current challenge... You still have an hour and six minutes to go from now.

18wetlander
Jun 27, 2013, 3:28 am

Today's challenge: http://bit.ly/15I9waL

This looks a good one for the non-moving option.
That's how I did it, and scored 15961.
That was despite being on the wrong continent for Round 3.

19aulsmith
Jun 27, 2013, 8:15 am

I have a third proposal for a way to play: you can move but not Google. In other words you can get more of the lay of the land and a better idea of what country you're in, but you can't pin-point by using information you don't have in your head and on the geoguesser map. I frankly get bored with all the finicky map manipulation for the moving-with-Google game.

I'll be playing this week's challenge non-moving later today or tomorrow. Sorry I was out-of-town for the last one -- saw some really neat geographical features in Buffalo in real life instead.

20aulsmith
Jun 27, 2013, 7:26 pm

I got 21678 using Google and without moving. That was a good one.

21stellarexplorer
Jun 28, 2013, 1:11 am

Before I try this, what are the ground rules? Not moving with Google? Without? No restrictions?

22bookblotter
Jun 28, 2013, 2:21 am

My vote would be to do the challenges however you want, just say what you did or didn't do. After all, there are no trophies, cash or prizes here; just self satisfaction. I'm leaning toward not moving and no Google use as an experiment on this one.

23aulsmith
Jun 28, 2013, 7:10 am

22: I agree. It's self-satisfaction. If you want to compete directly with wetlander and me on this one, then don't move and use Google. (I suspect you'll find this particular one fun that way. Three of these are definitely Somewhere right from the get go). But if the thing you like about the game is getting the pin on the exact spot, then feel free to move.

24stellarexplorer
Jun 28, 2013, 11:09 am

OK. Leaving for vacation today, so I should be able to get to it tomorrow or Sunday. Looking forward!

25bookblotter
Jun 28, 2013, 11:47 pm

I played this challenge without Google and without moving. This does speed up play, which is good in terms of my lack of patience, but not-so-good in terms of score.

Thanks to some familiarity with Round 5's location and predominant building, I rescued myself from a truly dismal score. As did wetlander, I had the greatest problem with #3, although I was on the right continent but the wrong country. Total score of 15788, 173 points under wetlander's score and more than I want to talk about relative to aulsmith's score.

26thorold
Jun 29, 2013, 5:04 pm

I got 19313 without moving or Googling. I did use a couple of paper reference sources, though. Rounds 3, 4 and 5 were all basically guesses. Round 5 would have been trivial with Google, of course, but I didn't see many clues in 3 or 4. I narrowed one down a bit by vegetation, road markings and architecture, the other by language and the orientation of the satellite dish.

27aulsmith
Jun 29, 2013, 8:25 pm

Rereading my message in 23, I realize that I wasn't clear. I didn't move but I DID use Google, so both of you got really good scores. My score, especially on round 2 would have been much lower without Google. I'm sure if stellarexplorer uses Google his score will be much better than mine.

Sorry for the confusion.

28bookblotter
Jun 29, 2013, 8:37 pm

Aulsmith, you were clear in #20 when you reported your score. Feel no guilt!

29stellarexplorer
Editado: Jul 3, 2013, 12:19 pm

So I didn't move, but I Googled. However, full disclosure, not moving did mean turning 360 degrees and focusing in on anything within view. Got 27606. However, this one seemed uncharacteristically solvable from the initial screens, and I don't think I could score that highly another time in a hundred with this method. The 4th one gave me no clue but country.

I think I prefer the move-and-google method, but only because I am a cautious player and like to be sure.

I am sure I would not have nearly achieved thorold's score without googling.

30bookblotter
Jul 2, 2013, 3:57 pm

Aulsmith, alphabetically you would seem to be the challenger here this week on Thursday, July 4th anytime and please note that the round ends at noon Eastern Time (US) on Tuesday, July 9th.

Happy Fourth of July to USAers and, for that matter, the rest of the world.

Apparently, anyone can play with as much movement as they desire; either moving about or stationary, but turning around. Ditto with the use or not of Google (or any other search engine).

31aulsmith
Jul 2, 2013, 4:52 pm

Thanks for the reminder.

I want to ask wetlander if s/he got so close on the Mexican one because of luck or were there hints. I got Mexico (via Google) and west coast (terrain) but I guessed further north because of the American cars in good condition (forgot in they last longer in dry climates). Did I miss anything useful?

32stellarexplorer
Jul 3, 2013, 12:28 pm

"I want to ask wetlander if s/he got so close on the Mexican one because of luck or were there hints."

Me too!

33wetlander
Jul 3, 2013, 1:52 pm

I wish I could give a better reason, but it was just a lucky guess on that one. And a totally unlucky guess on Round 3.

34aulsmith
Jul 4, 2013, 9:11 am

33: You got the alpine setting right on round 3. The hint that it was Canada was the yellow stripes on the road. So far, I've found only the US and Canada use yellow road paint.

35aulsmith
Jul 4, 2013, 10:18 am


url.geoguessr.com/3by4

(Couldn't get this to link, but copy and paste works.

I moved down various roads, but didn't use Google. My score was 12147. All of these were identifiable places, so if you like pin-point accuracy, Google will get you there (mostly). Also, if you don't roam around at least a bit there is one that will be extremely difficult.

A very fun one, though I was stupid about #4.

36thorold
Editado: Jul 4, 2013, 1:27 pm

23856, also with (a bit of) roaming, no Googling. I was pretty close for 1, 4 and 5. Rounds 1 and 4 both involved a lot of tedious searching around on the map for road numbers; round 5 was one of the easiest in that particularly difficult part of the world I've seen yet, with a massive clue right at the start-point. In round 2 I was in the right general area but was defeated by the sheer number of possible locations; for round 3 I hadn't a clue and got the wrong country.

I doubt if even a marine biologist would be able to get a precise answer for round 2 without a bit of roaming - that was an interesting start-point!

37stellarexplorer
Editado: Jul 4, 2013, 3:02 pm

19005. No Googling. Very difficult. Took a lot of patience. Gave up and guessed on the last one. Difficult knowing 10 seconds of googling would give the answer. #4 had me stumped until I saw something that I remembered from long ago...

I am hopeless east of Poland.

38stellarexplorer
Editado: Jul 4, 2013, 8:59 pm

I'm not sure any huge clue (which evidently gave me no help) would have been useful to me on #5.

39wetlander
Jul 4, 2013, 5:58 pm

>34 aulsmith: Thanks for the tip about the yellow lines.

This time without googling, but a bit of moving about, scored 16451.

Round 2, was in the right ocean, but the wrong end. And Round 5, nowhere close.

40bookblotter
Jul 5, 2013, 1:43 pm

To get to the point, so to speak: 18945 points. I played a combo special.

#2-good luck anyway on this one-I was right in general, but got toward the wrong end of the "formation;" didn't realize that scuba gear was needed. Maybe next they will use a photo taken by Neil Armstrong. 2, 3 & 5 no moving, no Googling.

OK, on 1, I moved slightly, about 1 or 2 km, & Googled the town name on a directional sign and took a stab at it, 3.544 km off. On 4 moved only about 0.2 km to read the signs and Googled a little bit just to get the intersection and was there with a pretty good 0.081 km variation & 6472 points. Even the small business at the intersection was on the geoguessr map.

It would be nice if geoguessr had a scale of miles on their maps, not to be picky. I realize that you can estimate somewhat by distances between certain features or streets/roads on the comparable Google Map; but it's a pain.

41aulsmith
Jul 9, 2013, 9:42 am

Your turn bookblotter.

Debriefing from the last round:

Did anyone get off the island? If not, I think that's a clear place where Google really helps. Even if you get the right coral reef, there are hundreds of island in the Coral Sea and no good way with the Geoguesser map to find their names. If you can get back to the mainland, there's some hope of figuring it out without Google, but otherwise, I'm surprised I got the correct side of the continent.

Did anyone figure out the Virgina one without Google? (That's the one I feel stupidist about. I said Appalachians on the first screen but after I drove around awhile I started thinking upper mid-west. Went to Churchville to see if the church was old or new (don't think I actually got there)

I obviously need to do more work distinguishing Chinese from Japanese (or did I just not drive far enough?)

42stellarexplorer
Jul 9, 2013, 9:46 am

Yes, I figured out Virginia without Google. After traveling along the highway for a while, I saw a sign that indicated "George Washington National Forest", which I recalled from long-gone backpacking days to be in Virginia near Shenendoah National Park.

43bookblotter
Editado: Jul 9, 2013, 11:02 am

>41 aulsmith:

Okay, on Thursday, July 11th...

Reef... I figured that they would use the most widely known reef, so I went for the Great Barrier Reef. Stabbed at south end, target was further north. Apparently, the folks at geoguessr have a sense of whimsy.

Chinese vs Japanese... Practically speaking, mainland China isn't photographed anyway. Macao, Taiwan and Hong Kong are, however, photographed (although I haven't encountered any of them on geoguessr). And then, of course, there is Korean... Is it legit to have a Asian language translator at your side?

44aulsmith
Jul 9, 2013, 9:46 pm

Korean is recognizably different from Chinese, and usually you can tell Japanese because of the syllabic characters which are simpler and interspersed with the more complex "logograms" derived from the Chinese. But I haven't actually memorized any of the Japanese syllabaries. May have to do that.

Don't you have to know how to input the characters before a translator will help?

I think I remember getting a Geoguessr for Hong Kong, but I'm starting to loose track.

45stellarexplorer
Jul 10, 2013, 2:25 am

I believe if you are using your typical English language device, you need to download fonts or a language-specific keyboard if you want to use any non-Latin script.

46aulsmith
Jul 10, 2013, 9:43 am

The last time I looked into Chinese keying, you had to know(or be able to look up) the numbers of about 1000 radicals and then it gave you a list of possible characters containing that radical to choose from. But that was 20 years ago. I thought maybe bookblotter might know of some nifty visual recognition system where you could feed the sign image in right from Geoguessr and get the pinyin to pop out. Not that I'm holding my breath. (Though I won't have believed 5 years ago that I'd be able to drive down a road in Virginia while sitting in my office.)

47bookblotter
Jul 10, 2013, 1:03 pm

>46 aulsmith: "Is it legit to have a Asian language translator at your side?" I meant "at your side" literally. As in a person... I wonder how rare it is for one person to know Japanese, Chinese and Korean? I know of no nifty systems for anything in life. :(

Re: >46 aulsmith:, last parenthetical note. Aren't Google (and others are doing and trying, but it's uphill for them) maps, aerials, street views simply amazing? I first got on the internet in 1992 (can you say "dial up?"). I couldn't have imagined this stuff, especially street views, for such a wide swath of the planet and including really minor, remote roads.

I do get a kick out of it when the sun casts a shadow of the car's camera tripod on the road or shoulder and it shows in the online street views. He says - and then thinks that he's easily amused.

48bookblotter
Jul 10, 2013, 2:06 pm

I'm going to take the liberty of posting the challenge today, not Thursday. My modem is acting up and intermittently in the throes of dying and I'm a 3 hour round trip to acquire a new modem or find out what's wrong. The ending time is still noon Eastern USA time on Tuesday, July 16th.

This is an interesting geoguessr game. I did not move at all, nor did I use Google or other search or map facilities. All I did was turn around in place on geoguessr's initial view for each round; period.

What is my score you ask? Shhh, it's 7983. Suffice it to say 3 were fairly good to just barely fair and 2 would get me laughed off the geoguessr boards (Can you say, "the opposite side of the planet?"). One of the last two was the worst score I've ever gotten on a geoguessr round. I didn't want to throw the game away since it seemed interesting.

I hope that you don't mind heights.

49stellarexplorer
Editado: Jul 10, 2013, 5:59 pm

Ok, I played by your rules. Frustrating. Managed 10,590. I was probably laughed off by the same ones you were, bb. It is just a different game that way. I like the hunt-and-google method because it enlists problem solving skills to my greater satisfaction. But it's all good.

50bookblotter
Jul 10, 2013, 5:52 pm

I didn't mean to indicate that everyone had to follow my mode of playing. Actually, I like the hunt & google method, too, but decided to spin in place in Tim's honor and because of the pressure of the dying modem. So far, so good on the last part today. Perhaps the patient has rallied.

51aulsmith
Jul 11, 2013, 7:39 am

My browser had a problem before giving me my final score but it was ca. 10,000.

1. Didn't move. Made a stupid mistake (and one I've made before)
2-3. Didn't move. In fact on one of them you can't. Was wrong but in the same way that bookblotter was wrong, so I felt better
4. I'd actually been there. Couldn't find it on the damn map, but came within about 30 feet.
5. After the disaster in 1, decided to move a bit, which at least got me on the right continent.

52bookblotter
Jul 16, 2013, 4:27 pm

>48 bookblotter: Okay, I'll confess the error of my ways and the reason for "the other side of the planet" remark. On round #3 - now remember I didn't move or consult search engines or maps - I picked the mountains in Chile and the correct mountains were in South Korea, leading to a score, if you want to call it that, of 26. Wow, apparently, if I moved a few kilometers in the right direction, I could have scored a zero.

In my defense, I want to say that I have been "in" Santiago, Chile before wandering the streets courtesy of Google photo folks. Upon checking now though, rural Chile is apparently terra incognita to Google's photographing crews. I do have to say that, although the mountainous terrain of both have similarities, the odds were probably with South Korea.

I did poorly, but marginally better, on #2 where I picked mountains in Switzerland and the correct mountains were in Vietnam (or Laos?). Sad, sad, sad... I'd bet this is the round that aulsmith referred to in his posting at >51 aulsmith: above?

geoguessr seems to have a leaning toward rural, remote locations in northern Norway, Sweden & Finland. And #1 was there in northern Sweden. The times that I have wandered in those areas, I've noted a lack of population; no surprise. Brrrr!

We'll hear next from stellarexplorer with a new game on Wednesday. Please join us!

53aulsmith
Jul 16, 2013, 10:26 pm

Round 1: that kind of dry, temperate scrub and the lack of improved roads makes me think Southern Africa every time. The road signs were clearly not in either a Bantu or Colonial language, but I convinced myself otherwise.

Rounds 2+3: 2 I also placed in the alps. 3 I wanted to make Peru but the guy in the turban and the oriental people made me place it somewhere in the Hindukush (although I was surprised you couldn't see the high Himalayas from there. I had no idea, but should have, that the other side of the Pacific Rim would have the same kind of mountains as South America (and more oriental people!)

Good game. Looking forward to the next one, if my computer doesn't fry in the heat.

54stellarexplorer
Jul 17, 2013, 5:28 pm

Round 1, I correctly got northern Europe, so scored ok. I too completely misread #2 as the Alps. #3 looked like the Andes to me. Wrong. #4 was obvious, at least within a reasonable distance. I picked Vancouver, which wasn't too far off. And #5 did look like northeastern Australia, though where exactly was impossible to say.

Back with a new game later!

55aulsmith
Jul 25, 2013, 8:55 am

July 25 Challenge

Ends Tuesday, July 30.

Take the Challenge

My score was 26213, which shows you how easy this one was. I'd be surprised if stellarexplorer doesn't get full credit for the first four. Five was hard. I got the right idea, but not the right place.

I used Google and traveled. Otherwise my score would have been dismal.

Speaking of 5, I've seen some bad Google driving but there was a particularly bad example in that one.

56stellarexplorer
Jul 26, 2013, 1:50 am

31012. OMG -- that last one was a killer. I can't wait to report how I got it.
I'm leaving for a week's vacation Tuesday, so I may mention it then...

57supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:13 pm

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

58aulsmith
Jul 28, 2013, 10:11 pm

57: Oh, I meant examples of illegal or reckless driving on the part of the Google camera car. I've seen them do some stupid stuff, but the one on number 5 was really bad.

But I am interest in how folks got the answer to number 5. I found a clue that was absolutely useless to me and, after the bad driving instance, gave up.

I'm okay with stellarexplorer telling what he did before noon on Tuesday, though bookblotter hasn't checked in yet.

59stellarexplorer
Jul 29, 2013, 1:11 am

I'm interested in supercell's methods. Must have been more efficient than mine, which took some doing.

60bookblotter
Jul 29, 2013, 3:16 am

A 26137. I had a connection freeze up doing the 5th round just at the time that I realized generally where the location was. I ran the 5th round separately.

Unfortunately, I was doing all this in the very early a.m. hours here after a nine hour drive back home from a five day trip and I fouled up my direction to the target (only 180 degrees off) on the 4th round. Costly.

Rounds 3 & 4 were unusual. Haven't experienced that before.

61supercell
Editado: Sep 26, 2013, 11:12 am

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

62aulsmith
Jul 30, 2013, 6:23 pm

61: Wow!

I got to a cross street with two numbers (64th SE and 32 SE or some such). It clearly wasn't latitude and longitude, nor was it a city grid and I didn't know the state, so I drove on a little way where the Google camera car nearly had a head-on collision with a truck. I didn't think to look at the truck. I just sat on the side of the road recovering for a while and decided to guess Illinois. I'll remember that about North Dakota if I ever hit street signs like that in the middle of the Great Plains again.

The two locations in Australia in the same local area were interesting.

Sounds like stellerexplorer will be skipping this round. Are you up for another round this week, supercell?

63stellarexplorer
Editado: Jul 30, 2013, 9:59 pm

Interesting, supercell. So I somehow missed that truck, though usually I do scrutinize them for clues.

My method was not entirely dissimilar: a tow truck was towing a car. Usually license plates are blurred out, but in this case, the license was unreadable due to being wedged up against the tow truck. I guess therefore it was deemed not needing to be blurred. However, it was possible to note that the top of the plate was white, and the lower portion had some brown or yellow. From there it was a simple matter to look at a chart of US license plates and identify ND as the likely plate. The rest was not a problem.

Yes, I'll need to skip this round unless I find a usable computer in my travels. The game doesn't work well on my ipad.

64bookblotter
Jul 30, 2013, 9:59 pm

#62 Impressive stuff in #61. I'm kind of jealous of using 2 X 24 inch screens vs a 13 inch MacBook. But, for me and most purposes, it serves well and is very portable.

My comment about rounds 3 & 4 were essentially the same as aulsmith's comment. It's the first time I've had two consecutive rounds that were literally walking (albeit a fairly long walk) distance apart.

I must have gone the opposite direction as supercell. Didn't see a garbage truck, but saw a farm supply truck with a name on it. Googling led to their site which showed 5 or 6 locations, all in a fairly tight area in SW North Dakota. Then I saw a road name; 54 ST SE. And, not to originate a pun, took a stab at it. I must say that rural North Dakota has unimaginative, but practical, road names.

On the issue of reckless Google drivers... I saw, I thought, a Google driver pass a string of cars and trucks on the upside of a fairly steep hill near the peak. Thinking about it later, I came to the conclusion that he/she was driving the other way from the traffic and my path so probably wasn't as nutty as it first appeared.

Based on the alpha LT names of people playing this past game, I guess I'm next and will post a challenge on Thursday.

65aulsmith
Jul 31, 2013, 8:01 am

64: Hmm, maybe I was looking at the back of the view rather than the forward camera. It was the tow truck that it looked like they were going to crash with. They did end up over on the road siding (or started out there if I was looking at it backwards). I'll have to try to recognize when I'm going backwards along the route.

66bookblotter
Editado: Ago 3, 2013, 9:14 pm

Okay, I'm posting the next challenge. The results are due before noon, US Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 6th. It's actually two challenges. You may have noticed that there is a way to post a time limit for each round. I thought that it might be interesting to try that and see what kind of results are forthcoming. I first tried 3 minutes a round and broke into a sweat under the pressure. I then tried another game at 5 minutes a round and, while not leisurely, was doable without heart palpitations.

First is a normal game which you can take whatever amount of time per round you want or can stand. I got 30526, not too shabby. I had a tad of trouble nailing it down in the 5th round since it was practically all wilderness and one evergreen looks like another to me. The other rounds were pretty good.

Second is the game with the 5 minute a round time limit. I didn't run out of time on either the 3 minute game in the first paragraph above or on the 5 minute game, so I haven't experienced this, but geoguessr says that the screen view goes blank if you violate the time period for the round. I'd suggest that you run a random experimental time limit game just to get the feel of it. In this game, I got a so-so 12626. The first game was pretty good, the second horrible; the old other side of the planet story. The other three were just okay, at least in the right general areas!

Feel free to do either or both challenges.

Thank you supercell for pointing out my error. The links for both games work now.

67supercell
Editado: Oct 10, 2013, 1:00 pm

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68bookblotter
Ago 3, 2013, 8:59 am

The new challenges - corrected - are at #66. The results are due before noon, US Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 6th.

69aulsmith
Ago 3, 2013, 6:38 pm

First challenge 23172. You did much better amidst the evergreens than I did.

I'll do the other if I have time.

70supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:12 pm

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71thorold
Ago 5, 2013, 8:04 am

I got 11958 for the five minute game. I think there's a particular version of Murphy's Law that applies to GeoGuesser — such that any time you pick a Australia as a random drive-on-the-left country in the Southern hemisphere it will turn out to be South Africa (and vice-versa); any time you guess the East coast of Canada it will be British Columbia (or vice-versa)...

72bookblotter
Ago 6, 2013, 7:16 pm

From those who entered the last challenge here, it looks like Supercell should be the challenger this coming Thursday, August 8th. If you would indicate the end of the challenge as noon on Tuesday, August 13, Eastern US time that would be helpful.

I thought that using both a 5 minute time limit game and a "regular" game worked okay and was interesting if you're so inclined to do so again. We could experiment with the 5 minute time limit if you're so moved.

73aulsmith
Ago 7, 2013, 7:05 am

bookblotter - If you remember, how did you find your way among the evergreens in the first challenge?

74bookblotter
Ago 7, 2013, 10:36 am

>73 aulsmith: I went quite a distance in my round 5 quest and found an intersection with State Route 35, a directional sign for the town of Hood River with mileage and some other direction I can't recall. Anyway, I figured out where I was and, more or less, about where I came from. Ended up about 15 km from the goal and got just under 5400 points.

I usually take a pdf "snapshot" of the starting scene before initially setting off, but it didn't do much good this time. So many evergreens, so little time, and I reach the end of my patience. I guess that I should be more dogged in digging out the last few km. On round 3, I got under 0.6 km and got over 6400 points, so that last 14-15 km in round 5 essentially cost me a thousand points.

75supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:13 pm

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76bookblotter
Ago 9, 2013, 1:08 pm

In the 5 minute pressure cooker my score was 20252, so supercell is still leading handily.

Started nicely with round 1 being under 3 km off.
Things went completely to pot in round 2 with 390 km (always a problem here),
round 3 = 19 km (it would be impossible for me to live here; not that I'm invited),
round 4 = 82 km, I knew where I was in terms of a large circle around a town, but directional guess was off substantially when time was running out,
round 5 = 162 km off (couldn't read the directional signs there because of lighting issues, but got into the right country & general area).

We have company (they just don't understand, do they?), so we'll see on doing the regular geoguessr version.

77stellarexplorer
Ago 12, 2013, 11:38 pm

Just back from vacation - haven't done the 5 minute game yet, but just lost 30 minutes to the regular game. supercell comes out ahead by 32395 points to my 31947. Except for one slight though understandable error on my part, the difference in scores appeared to me to be due to supercell's prodigious patience and exactitude. Where I may be content to get the correct block of a street, supercell strives for the exact centimeter within that block :)

78stellarexplorer
Editado: Ago 13, 2013, 12:38 am

24073 on the five minute game. Tough to be so time challenged. A few gross errors due to time pressure cost me thousands. Fun, though. Hats off to supercell!

79aulsmith
Ago 13, 2013, 10:19 am

13575 on the 5 minute game.

Round two: over confidence led to being in the wrong city
Round three: didn't get the continent
The rest I got the general idea but couldn't nail it down.

If I'm up next could someone else step in. I'm in the middle of a bunch of Real Life Things and don't have a lot of time to play.

80bookblotter
Ago 13, 2013, 2:50 pm

Stellarexplorer, since you are a regular but were gone for setting up this past challenge, would you want to set up the next one on Thursday?

81stellarexplorer
Ago 14, 2013, 1:08 am

I will be a little crunched for time, but sure. Unlikely something highly original this time, maybe just vanilla.

82stellarexplorer
Ago 14, 2013, 11:57 pm

http://url.geoguessr.com/40HJ

Not my best effort, too much competing for my time. But still, a lot of nice scenery. I was lucky to get the right country for one. Another, not so lucky! {Bangs head!}

Scored a mere 20812. Go for it!

83bookblotter
Editado: Ago 19, 2013, 7:58 am

A total of 22215 points. Round 1, quite good, but stellarexplorer beat me by 36 points. Round 2, was off 8.6 km vs SE off 1.5 km. Round 3 (very pretty area), was in right country but almost as far away from the pin as I could be. SE beat me by about 600 points.

Round 4 (Desolation views), beat SE by almost 1400 and could have been better had I not hit the guess button prematurely. Wah, wah, tell me another sob story, bookblotter. Round 5 (another desolation special), I was up by 1200 some points.

84supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:13 pm

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85aulsmith
Ago 20, 2013, 9:39 am

15387 points.

Round 1 was easy.

Round 2 I got the wrong continent AGAIN. GRRR.

Round 3 I had the right general tourist destination.

Round 4 Right country, wrong area. I've been through that area; should know better.

Round 5 Right sub-country level jurisdiction by luck

I'm just not going to have time to take this game seriously for at least the next couple of weeks. I'll try to play if someone else sets up a game, but I don't want any obligations to set something up.

86thorold
Ago 22, 2013, 5:46 pm

Sorry it's a bit late, but here's the next challenge: http://url.geoguessr.com/46x5
I had a measly 17033 points, which should be easy enough to beat.

I got pretty close in rounds 1 and 3, but ended up on totally the wrong continent in 2 and 4, and I was on the right river but the wrong bridge in 5. Both 2 and 4 seem to be places you either recognise or you don't, without many direct clues, and I foolishly thought I recognised no.2 and clicked without checking carefully...

87stellarexplorer
Editado: Ago 23, 2013, 1:39 am

20107. No picnic. One of them I can't imagine how anyone could get it. I felt pleased to get the continent right on that one. I also have a lot of trouble with alphabets I can't easily decipher. Even signs with potential geographical info are hard to distinguish from ads.

88bookblotter
Editado: Ago 23, 2013, 9:27 am

>86 thorold: Thorold, thanks for kicking this game off and no, you're not late at all. The basic deal is; start sometime on Thursday, end at noon US Eastern on the following Tuesday.

>87 stellarexplorer: Stellar, we must have been following each other around on this game, we're so close on time.

Well, I'm between at 19237. One round result that I didn't understand at all was #3. I thought I had it iced no question and I ended up 11 km off. That's not terrible, but I would have bet big that I'd at least be within less than 1 km. as was thorold as it developed. My two worst rounds were 2 and 5. Agree with Stellar's language-alpha comment.

89stellarexplorer
Ago 23, 2013, 1:41 am

That is odd on 3. That one seemed open-and-shut. 2 was my worst by far. 1 and 3 were very close; 4 and 5 were not disasters.

90thorold
Ago 23, 2013, 10:27 am

>87 stellarexplorer:,88
Yes, I'm rapidly discovering that bus companies and restaurants in the former USSR all have totally generic names. Very frustrating!

91bookblotter
Ago 23, 2013, 11:05 am

>89 stellarexplorer: "Were not disasters..." This is my favorite phrase while talking to my wife about me working around the house as Mr Fixit. :)

>90 thorold: It would't be quite so bad if the countries weren't so vast. I can't read Greek either, but it's impossible to know you're somewhere there and still be off by thousands of km if you take a stab at it. The only time I've really been very close in the former USSR was when I was plopped in front of the Kremlin at the start of a round.

Re: Restaurant generic names in former USSR... Maybe it's the equivalent of some restaurants in the (especially rural) USA with exterior signs saying, "EAT."

92stellarexplorer
Ago 23, 2013, 11:46 am

That said, I did eventually find a sign which I translated using an alphabet in front of me, which ultimately allowed me to identify the body of water in the initial screen.

93supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:13 pm

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94stellarexplorer
Ago 24, 2013, 12:11 pm

>93 supercell: Curious, supercell, how did you derive the exact location of #4? I got the general location, but couldn't narrow it down beyond 100 km or so.

95supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:13 pm

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96stellarexplorer
Ago 24, 2013, 6:30 pm

Very resourceful! Last week I tried reviewing pictures of various Japanese temples, but still couldn't find the right one.

97bookblotter
Ago 29, 2013, 7:24 am

Here is the next challenge. I started out quite well on 1 & 2 and progressively went downhill after those two rounds. On round 3 wandering was locked into a one or two block range for some reason. I wonder if others will have the same result?

I threw in the towel on round 5 (the obligatory sand round) after wandering 40075 km. It takes a long time to do that, click by click by click. Okay, this is a big fib...

Total was a pathetic 20066. Results due by noon Eastern US time on Tuesday, September 3.

98thorold
Ago 29, 2013, 10:09 am

I got a respectable 29078, mostly by Googling.

Same experience as bookblotter with Round 3, but there was a reasonable clue within that constrained area. Round 4 had a bit of déjà vu about it. If we go on like this, that city might take over from its near-namesake as the one where you have the surprising appointments...
In Round 5 I didn't bother struggling through the sand but stayed where I was and guessed: that got me within about 60km.

99bookblotter
Ago 29, 2013, 11:14 am

>98 thorold: There indeed was a pretty good clue within the tight parameter of movement in 3. I did move a bit in #5 looking for nirvana in the sand, didn't do any good. I should have saved my time and guessed immediately. My guess was off - cough, cough - 1,000 km.

100supercell
Editado: Dic 8, 2017, 2:14 pm

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101stellarexplorer
Sep 1, 2013, 12:41 pm

27433, losses largely due to #5, where guessing put me sadly on the other side of the continent. Everything else was pretty close.

102Hagelstein
Sep 5, 2013, 9:35 pm

Here's the challenge for this week:

http://url.geoguessr.com/4hoX

Some easy ones, and one tough one. I got a dismal 17592.
Answers due by Tuesday, Sept. 10, noon eastern U.S. time.

103bookblotter
Sep 6, 2013, 2:57 am

Ed, thanks for doing the challenge this week. I'm under some pressure time wise and will be for 3 or 4 months. So, I arbitrarily limited myself to 40 minutes via cooking timer for the entire game or an average of 8 minutes a round. That creates an interesting problem as opposed to so much time per round; that is, how much time to leave for later rounds... It kind of forces you to move yourself along early on in case the late rounds are tough.

Anyway, I don't want to disclose too much now. Got a total of 19813 and Ed took me on rounds 1, 2 & 4 and vice versa on 3 & 5. Round 5 was interesting and, because of my self imposed 40 minute rule, I was forced to guess quickly (SAND - AGAIN???) - and I did fairly well there based on some clues.

104thorold
Editado: Sep 6, 2013, 9:10 am

That was a nice one - I got 30203, one of my best ever scores. But it was a fairly easy game: no fog, and every round had something in it that you could uniquely identify, even if you had to go a long way to find it in Round 5. I suppose Round 1 made up for that, though! Round 3 was actually the hardest for me - easy enough to work out the country, but it took a while before I came across anything that gave me the town. And there was a red herring suggesting another town. It was nice to have a game with three European rounds, anyway.
I could have done a bit better on Round 5 if I'd stopped to think: I clicked on the location of the clue I found, and forgot to work back to the starting point, so I was 35km out there. If I hadn't found the clue I would have guessed the right continent but been a few 1000 km out for that one.

(There should be a rule to limit the number of sandy drive-on-the-left countries where the solar panels point North: at the moment there are far too many candidates when you find yourself in such a place...)

105stellarexplorer
Sep 11, 2013, 2:26 am

Nice game; 28285. Few on-the-dot (with the notable exception of #1, which was a gimme) but all within a fairly short distance. Glad I took the right path on #5!

106stellarexplorer
Sep 12, 2013, 11:09 am

If it is indeed my turn, I'll try to get to it this evening. Have been very busy, and a little under the weather.

107stellarexplorer
Editado: Sep 14, 2013, 3:04 am

Ok, here's one. Has a number of cities, but one deadly desert. Losses there yielded me a total of only 26203. I've become less patient as I've run into major time constraints.

http://url.geoguessr.com/4nmh

108bookblotter
Sep 15, 2013, 11:30 am

Well, I was inched out by stellarexplorer. On rounds 1, 2 & 3 I was beat by 0.012 km, 1.2 km and about 1 km, respectively. On 4 I was better by 502 km (tough round). In round 5, I was off SE's distance by about 8.4 km. Those geoguessr points really pile up fast in those few last km.

25937 total. Bah!