Every Trick a Pro GeoGuessr Player Uses to Win (ft. RAINBOLT) | WIRED

WIRED
31 Aug 202207:02

TLDRIn the world of GeoGuessr, players use a single Google Maps screenshot to guess their location. Trevor Rainbolt, a skilled player, shares his strategies for quick and accurate guesses, including recognizing road signs, license plates, and even soil types. He emphasizes the importance of details like telephone poles, bollards, and Google coverage years to narrow down the guess. Despite the challenges of countries like the Baltic states, Indonesia, and Russia, Trevor and the GeoGuessr community continue to learn and compete, driven by a passion for understanding the world.

Takeaways

  • 🌍 GeoGuessr is a game where players guess their location on a Google Map based on a single screenshot.
  • 🕵️ Trevor Rainbolt, a skilled GeoGuessr player, dedicates significant time to learning countries and their unique features on Google Maps.
  • 🔍 Players use various clues such as road signs, vegetation, road quality, and Google coverage to make educated guesses.
  • 🚦 Recognizing telephone poles and bollards, including their materials and designs, can help narrow down the location.
  • 🚗 License plates, despite being blurred, provide valuable clues about the country, including color and length.
  • 📍 Pinpointing a location involves using road angles, signage, and road numbers to match the map.
  • 🌾 Soil guessing involves analyzing the color, texture, and vegetation of the soil to identify the region.
  • 🏆 Even experienced players like Trevor Rainbolt acknowledge the challenges of guessing locations in countries like Indonesia and Russia due to their vastness and similarities.
  • 🌐 The GeoGuessr community is a group of enthusiasts who share tips, compete, and learn about the world through the game.
  • 🔄 As Google Maps updates its coverage, players must continually learn about new countries, keeping the game fresh and challenging.

Q & A

  • What is GeoGuessr?

    -GeoGuessr is a game where players try to guess their location on a Google Map based on a single screenshot.

  • How does Trevor Rainbolt use specific features to guess countries quickly?

    -Trevor Rainbolt uses details such as road line recognition, vegetation, road quality, Google coverage year, and unique local features like telephone poles and bollards to make educated guesses.

  • What are 'vibe guesses' in the context of GeoGuessr?

    -Vibe guesses refer to intuitive guesses based on the overall appearance and feel of the location, such as road markings, vegetation, and the quality of the road.

  • Why are telephone poles and bollards important in GeoGuessr?

    -Telephone poles and bollards are important because they often have distinct designs and materials that can help players identify the country or region they are looking at.

  • How does Trevor Rainbolt use license plates to guess locations?

    -Even though license plates are blurred in GeoGuessr, Trevor Rainbolt uses their distinct colors, shapes, and lengths to help narrow down the location.

  • What unique characteristics help Trevor identify certain countries or regions?

    -Trevor uses unique features like the Hokkaido arrow sign in Japan, the soil color and vegetation, and the angle of the Google Map car's rear mirror reflection to identify locations.

  • How does Trevor pinpoint a location on GeoGuessr?

    -Trevor pinpoints a location by looking at the road direction, using road angles on the map, and identifying town names, street names, or highway numbers.

  • Which countries or regions are particularly challenging for Trevor Rainbolt?

    -The Baltic countries, Indonesia, and Russia are challenging for Trevor because of their similarities or vast sizes, making them difficult to distinguish.

  • How does the GeoGuessr community contribute to the learning process?

    -The GeoGuessr community, often found on Discord, collaborates by searching through locations, finding commonalities, and competing together, which helps players improve their skills.

  • How does Google Maps updates affect GeoGuessr players?

    -Google Maps updates, such as new coverage for countries like India, require players to learn and adapt to the new information to maintain their skills in the game.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 GeoGuessr: The Art of Guessing Locations

This paragraph introduces the concept of GeoGuessr, a game where players use a single Google Maps screenshot to guess their location. Trevor Rainbolt, a skilled player, shares his techniques for quick and accurate guessing, which include recognizing road line patterns, vegetation, road materials, and Google coverage years. He emphasizes the importance of learning about telephone poles, bollards, and license plates to narrow down guesses. Trevor's dedication to studying Google Maps and the game is evident as he describes his intuitive 'vibe guesses' based on various visual cues.

05:01

🚗 Rapid GeoGuessr Guessing and Challenges

In this paragraph, Trevor demonstrates his ability to guess locations in 0.1 seconds, using visual cues such as road markings, bollards, and license plates. He explains how certain features, like the unique bollards in France and Scotland, can instantly indicate a location. The paragraph also touches on the challenges of guessing locations in regions like the Baltics, Indonesia, and Russia due to their similarities or vastness. Trevor's ongoing learning process and the collaborative nature of the GeoGuessr community are highlighted, as well as the excitement of new Google coverage updates that bring additional countries into the game.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡GeoGuessr

GeoGuessr is an online geography game where players are dropped at a random location on Google Maps and must guess where they are based on a single screenshot. It tests players' knowledge of the world and their ability to recognize various geographical features. In the video, Trevor Rainbolt, a skilled GeoGuessr player, shares his strategies for quickly identifying locations.

💡Trevor Rainbolt

Trevor Rainbolt is a player of the game GeoGuessr who has honed his skills to the point where he can guess locations in a fraction of a second. He is featured in the video discussing his techniques and the dedication he has put into learning about different countries and their unique characteristics as seen on Google Maps.

💡Vibe Guesses

Vibe Guesses refer to intuitive guesses based on the overall feel or impression of a location, rather than specific details. This concept is used in the video to describe how players like Trevor Rainbolt make quick judgments about a location's country based on elements like road quality, vegetation, and even the Google coverage of the area.

💡Telephone Poles

Telephone poles are vertical structures used to support utility lines, such as telephone or power lines. In the context of GeoGuessr, they are a key feature that players learn to recognize, as different countries have distinct pole designs, materials, and markings. For example, concrete poles in Australia are often found in Victoria, while specific pole designs can indicate locations in France or Spain.

💡Bollards

Bollards are short, vertical posts used as protective barriers or as a form of street furniture. In GeoGuessr, they are important visual cues that can help players identify a country due to their unique designs, which vary by region. For instance, Denmark's bollards have a yellow top, while Alberta in Canada has a specific black and white pattern.

💡License Plates

License plates are the identifying plates mounted on a vehicle, which in GeoGuessr are blurred to prevent direct identification. However, players learn to recognize the general shape, color, and length of these blurred plates to make educated guesses about a location's country. For example, yellow front and back plates suggest the Netherlands or Luxembourg.

💡Soil Guessing

Soil guessing involves analyzing the color, texture, and vegetation of the soil visible in the screenshot to make a guess about the location. This method is based on the idea that different regions have distinct soil characteristics, such as the light gray, arid soil of North Botswana. Trevor Rainbolt mentions that soil guessing is a part of every single guess he makes in the game.

💡Pinpointing

Pinpointing is the process of refining a guess to a specific location within a country or region. Players use various clues, such as road angles, signage, and town or street names, to narrow down their guesses. For example, Denmark is easy to pinpoint due to its well-labeled roads and towns, making it a straightforward location to identify.

💡Baltic Roulette

Baltic Roulette is a term used in the GeoGuessr community to describe the challenge of guessing locations in the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—due to their similarities. These countries are known for being difficult to distinguish from one another in the game, making them a test of a player's skill and knowledge.

💡Google Map Car

The Google Map car refers to the vehicle used by Google Street View to capture images for Google Maps. In GeoGuessr, players can use the appearance and angle of the car's reflection in mirrors or windows to identify a location. For example, differences in the car's reflection can help distinguish between North and South Kyrgyzstan.

Highlights

GeoGuessr is a game where players guess their location on a Google Map based on a single screenshot.

Trevor Rainbolt dedicates his free time to mastering Google Maps and learning about countries for GeoGuessr.

Vibe guesses are based on intuition, considering road line recognition, vegetation, and road quality.

Telephone poles and bollards are key indicators for educated guesses in GeoGuessr.

Concrete poles in Victoria, Australia, and specific stickers on poles can help narrow down the location.

Bollards are distinct road markings that can identify a country.

License plates, despite being blurred, can provide clues about the location.

The length and color of license plates can be distinctive for certain countries.

Unique sign shapes, like the Hokkaido arrow sign, can indicate specific regions.

Knowledge about the Google Map car and its coverage can help in guessing locations.

Soil guessing involves analyzing the color of the soil and the vegetation.

Pinpointing a location involves using road angles, signage, and road numbers.

Denmark is easy to pinpoint due to its well-labeled roads and towns.

Some regions, like the Baltics, Indonesia, and Russia, are challenging due to their similarities or vastness.

The GeoGuessr community is a group of enthusiasts who share knowledge and compete at a high level.

As Google updates its coverage, players must learn new countries, such as recently added India.

The game of GeoGuessr encourages continuous learning and exploration of the world.

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