Software:GeoGuessr

From HandWiki

GeoGuessr is a geography game in which players try to deduce locations from Google Street View imagery. The game includes various modes, such as single-player and multiplayer and a tournament mode has recently been added.

The game has been described as an educational tool for geography, allowing players to learn and identify various global geographical and cultural characteristics (known as ‘metas’ within the community). These metas include writing systems, architecture, driving direction, vehicle registration plates, landscapes and vegetation. More advanced players can then use clues such as bollards, chevrons, poles, Google copyright, even the sun, car antennas and many more, to narrow down their guess further. Many websites and apps have been developed in order to teach players these metas, such as Plonkit.net. Geoguessr itself also released a book in 2026, teaching players how to play better. This educational aspect of the game enhances players' understanding of different cultures and regions around the world, leading to Geoguessr receiving widespread praise for its combination of gaming and geography.

Although initially seen as a novelty game, a competitive scene dedicated to precise high-level play arose, culminating in the GeoGuessr World Championship, which was first held in 2023 and has been held annually since, with increasing prize pools.

History

The game was designed by Swedish IT consultant Anton Wallén in 2013. Wallen loved to visit faraway locations on Google Street View, and initially designed a program to generate a random location in Street View before deciding to add a competitive element.[1]

The game's development took approximately two weeks' work,[2] using Backbone.js and the Google Maps API.[3][4]

In April 2013, according to The New Yorker, Wallén posted on Reddit and said that he "was fiddling around with Backbone and Google Maps API v3 and decided to make a small application" and asked for feedback.[5] Wallén posted the completed game to Google Chrome Experiments on 10 May 2013.[3][4] Initially released as a browser game, mobile apps for GeoGuessr were later developed for Android and iOS.[6]

GeoGuessr AB is located in Stockholm.[7]

Gameplay

The GeoGuessr "classic" view

Modes

The "classic" GeoGuessr game mode consists of five rounds, each displaying a different street view location for the player to guess on a map. The player then receives a score of up to 5,000 points depending on how accurate their guess was, up to 25,000 points for a perfect game. Games may be user-generated or randomly generated from a pool of locations.[8][2]

Alternative game modes include:

  • Battle Royale, a multiplayer last-one-standing game.[9][10][11]
  • Duels, a two-player head-to-head competition.[12][11]
  • Streaks, where players identify countries or U.S. states until they guess incorrectly.[13][14]
  • Explorer Mode, a single-player game where medals are awarded for accuracy in individual countries[15]
  • Team Duels, a variation of Duels played between two teams of two players.[16][11]
  • Campaign, where players travel the world and its various cities while collecting tips to help them determine where they are.[17]
  • Tournaments, a fast-paced single-elimination bracket for up to 32 players hosted directly within a Party lobby

In 2022, GeoGuessr acquired the geography quiz site Seterra,[18] and implemented a quiz mode combining standard street view gameplay with trivia questions.[19]

Difficulties

GeoGuessr includes three difficulties:[20]

  1. Moving: Players are able to move, pan, and zoom into the Google Street View imagery.
  2. No Move: Players can pan and zoom but not move.
  3. No Move, Pan, or Zoom (NMPZ): players are given a static image.

Interface

The game's HUD primarily features the Google Street View imagery, as well as a compass. Users can control the movement, panning, and zooming of the image, although GeoGuessr allows any of these features to be disabled for harder gameplay. An inset map, using Google Maps's standard overlay, allows players to place a pin to make their guess.[20]

Strategy

Users may interpret their location from the photographs by reading road signage, memorizing utility poles, analyzing architecture, finding the relative position of the Sun, identifying flora and soil types, studying what various landscapes of the world look like, observing license plates and learning diacritics specific to particular writing systems among many other more advanced categories of clues.[21][22][23] Players can also make use of Street View metadata to ascertain their location – for example, the Street View vehicle that captured imagery in Ghana contained a roof rack with distinct black tape on one end (although the majority of this coverage has been overwritten with pickup-truck coverage as of 2026).[24][25] As the competitive scene expanded and the game's strategies became increasingly sophisticated, community-created educational resources emerged to document recurring geographic clues and Street View characteristics.[26][27][28]

Subscription

Users may play GeoGuessr without a subscription with limited functionality, which means they can only play a certain amount freely, and do not have access to custom maps or the competitive game modes.[29] Subscription to a Pro account allows unlimited play and community functionality, and "elite" membership unlocks extra avatars, loot, and emotes.[30]

Reception

The launch of the game in May 2013 was described as successful, with the game instantly going viral.[31] Upon its release, the game was described as "insanely addictive".[22] The start of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a renewed interest in the game.[32] It also had a second peak in March 2021.[31] By July 2022, the game had 40 million player accounts.[33] Interest in the game has been propagated on platforms such as Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch, where notable users such as Ludwig, the Sidemen, GeoWizard, LazarBeam and Rainbolt have recorded or streamed themselves playing the game.[31][34][35] In response to the presence content creators bring to the game, GeoGuessr has released in-game merchandise themed around creators who have made significant numbers of videos centred around the game and have attracted considerable attention to it. The influencers featured in this program include some of the aforementioned as well as a number of other creators such as Zi8gzag, GeoPasch, Graf, and JSAG.[36]

The 2025 Steam release of the game received an "overwhelmingly negative"[lower-alpha 1] aggregated review score. The main complaint of players was paid subscription required to play the game after several hours of free gameplay and lack of features presented compared to the web version. The Steam subscription was originally unconnected to the browser version's subscription, and despite an attempt of the developers of giving free access to those with the Unlimited Yearly subscription from the web version, the reviews still stayed mostly negative.[37][38] The game received generally negative user reviews, making it the second-worst rated game of all time on the platform.[39] By early 2026, recent reviews on Steam were "mostly positive".[40]

The game has been cited as an educational tool by helping users to "develop critical skills to analyze geographical and cultural landscapes",[41] and it has been suggested that the game could enhance geographical education within the classroom.[10][42]

GeoGuessr players have criticized some of the photographic coverage used in the game. Imagery provided by parties outside of Google have been described by players as grainy, blurry, and over- or under-exposed. World Travel in 360, the organization that led the program to supply coverage of Zanzibar, stated that "[their] mapping is better than nothing".[23] Similar complaints have also been made against coverage photographed by Google using lower-quality cameras, colloquially known as "shitcam".[43][44][45]

The game has been the inspiration for several fan-made versions, which use video-game environments, such as the worlds of Grand Theft Auto V,[46] Fortnite, World of Warcraft,[47] Genshin Impact,[48] and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[49]

AI research

In July 2023, researchers at Stanford University developed a machine learning tool that was able to locate 40% of GeoGuessr locations with an accuracy of 25 km (16 mi) or better. After three attempts, the model was able to beat Trevor Rainbolt, a top-ranked player.[50] In a preprint, the authors noted that such models could positively impact climate research, as successful geolocation of an image often requires a correct climate classification of the locale: if artificial intelligence can detect that several images come from the same region, feeding the tool with pictures could provide inexpensive data on how climate change affects that region. The study stated that quick recognition of outdoor locations could also have privacy and security implications.[51]

Events

GeoGuessr World Cup 2023 top 4 players: Consus, Blinky, Radu,[lower-alpha 2] and Fau

On 2 October 2022 GeoGuessr co-sponsored Ligue Intercommu's "GeoGuessr Team World Cup", a LAN party streamed on Twitch.[52][53] It was commentated by streamers including Antoine Daniel and Etoiles (fr).[54] The competition was won by the team "Speed Plonkers", which featured the players Blinky (France), Kodiak (Germany), and Maccem (Sweden). They defeated the team "A Community Team" featuring Radu C (USA),[lower-alpha 2] Toro (USA) and Mate Potato (India).[55]

Four GeoGuessr World Championships tournaments have been held. In the inaugural iteration in October 2023, Dutch player Consus defeated French player Blinky in the final.[56][57][58][lower-alpha 3] The second World Cup was held in September 2024, with Blinky winning 3–2 over US player MK.[61] In 2025, the event was renamed to the GeoGuessr World Championship, as it was announced that the third event would be the first to take place outside Sweden. In August 2025, US[lower-alpha 2] player Radu C defeated Hungarian player Debre 3-2 at the K.B. Hallen Arena in Copenhagen. The fourth edition was held in September 2026 in Berlin and concluded with 2025 runner-up Debre winning 3-2 against french player Blinky in the grand final.

On 15 May 2025, GeoGuessr announced its participation in the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[62] The decision faced backlash from the game's community, with players citing concerns over Saudi Arabia's human rights record. On 21 May, creators of major world maps made their content unplayable in protest.[63] Following sustained community opposition, GeoGuessr withdrew from the event the next day, with CEO Daniel Antell stating the company had "got it wrong". The withdrawal made GeoGuessr the first game to leave the Esports World Cup due to community pressure.[64]

See also

  • Google Street View
  • Coverage of Google Street View
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Review scores on Steam are considered "overwhelmingly negative" when the percentage of positive reviews is 20% or less. As of 9 May 2025, 15% of GeoGuessr's reviews were positive.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Player Radu C "RC" has played in WC tournaments under both the Romanian and US flag.
  3. ↑ US player Collin "Poli" Hu qualified for the 2023 tournament at age 15, becoming the youngest qualifier in World Championship history.[59][60]

References

  1. ↑ Coldwell, Will (2 June 2013). "Where in the world am I? The addictive mapping game that is GeoGuessr" (in en). https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/where-in-the-world-am-i-the-addictive-mapping-game-that-is-geoguessr-8641265.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Geoguessr: ¿Dónde diablos estoy?" (in es-MX). 26 May 2013. https://vanguardia.com.mx/tech/2717413-geoguessr-donde-diablos-estoy-BPVG2717413. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pitcher, Jenna (13 May 2013). "Get lost with Google Maps-based game GeoGuessr". http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/13/4325800/get-lost-with-google-maps-based-game-geoguessr. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wallén, Anton. "GeoGuessr" (in en). https://experiments.withgoogle.com/geoguessr. 
  5. ↑ "The Charming Bloke Who Dominates GeoGuessr". 24 June 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-charming-bloke-who-dominates-geoguessr. 
  6. ↑ "General FAQ". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360003341218-General. 
  7. ↑ "Welcome to GeoGuessr!". https://career.geoguessr.com/. 
  8. ↑ Keating, Joshua (10 May 2013). "Get Dropped Virtually Anywhere In The World And Try To Guess Where You Are" (in en). https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/geoguessr-google-street-view_n_3253721. 
  9. ↑ Antell, Filip. "What is Battle Royale?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017579317-What-is-Battle-Royale-. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Williams, Murphy (8 March 2023). "The clues used by GeoGuessr experts to guess a random location instantly – use our interactive tool to try yourself" (in en-GB). The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/geoguessr-tips-expert-trevor-rainbolt-beginners-improve/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Beginner's Guide to Geoguessr" (in en-GB). https://www.plonkit.net/beginners-guide. 
  12. ↑ Antell, Filip. "What are Duels?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411221768465-What-are-Duels-. 
  13. ↑ Antell, Filip. "What is Country Streak?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017721278-What-is-Country-Streak-. 
  14. ↑ Antell, Filip. "What are City Streaks?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403782027025-What-is-City-Streaks-. 
  15. ↑ Antell, Filip. "What is Explorer Mode?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017579277-What-is-Explorer-Mode-. 
  16. ↑ Antell, Filip (6 October 2022). "What is Team Duels?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4413121761297-What-is-Team-Duels-. 
  17. ↑ Mika (1 February 2024). "How does the new Singleplayer game work?". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/20716960093329-How-does-the-new-Singleplayer-game-work. 
  18. ↑ "Seterra becomes a part of GeoGuessr!" (in en). GeoGuessr. https://www.geoguessr.com/seterra/en/p/seterra-becomes-geoguessr. 
  19. ↑ Antell, Filip. "Quiz". https://geoguessr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/5110250718865-Quiz. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Beginner's Guide to Geoguessr". https://www.plonkit.net/beginners-guide. 
  21. ↑ Wilde, Tyler (13 January 2022). "Watch these guys speedrun planet earth" (in en). https://www.pcgamer.com/watch-these-guys-speedrun-planet-earth/. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Oremus, Will (15 May 2013). "A National Geographic Cartographer Explains How to Win That Google Maps Guessing Game" (in en). https://slate.com/technology/2013/05/google-maps-guessing-game-geoguessr-tips-and-cheats-to-beat-the-game.html. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Deck, Andrew (8 April 2021). "Zanzibar's project to put itself on Google Street View has angered a legion of European video game streamers". https://restofworld.org/2021/zanzibar-google-street-view-geoguessr/. 
  24. ↑ "Ghana". https://www.plonkit.net/ghana. 
  25. ↑ Winkie, Luke (21 December 2021). "GeoGuessr made figuring out where on Earth you are the hottest new esport" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/21/22846869/geoguessr-competitive-esport-reddit-geowizard-google-street-view. 
  26. ↑ "Plonk It Guide". https://www.plonkit.net/guide. 
  27. ↑ "Beginner's Guide to GeoGuessr". https://www.plonkit.net/beginners-guide. 
  28. ↑ Geography Challenges (2024-04-09). The History of Geoguessr. Retrieved 2026-05-23 – via YouTube.
  29. ↑ "Terms of Service ("Terms")". 2024-07-29. https://www.geoguessr.com/terms. 
  30. ↑ "Choose your preferred plan". https://www.geoguessr.com/pro. 
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 "How a 2013 Browser Game Made Its Comeback" (in en). https://www.brandwatch.com/email/brandwatch-bulletin-0098-geoguessr/. 
  32. ↑ Patino, Marie (1 July 2021). "MapLab: How to Find Your Place in the World, From a GeoGuessr Pro". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-07-01/maplab-the-pandemic-era-appeal-of-geoguessr. 
  33. ↑ Browning, Kellen (7 July 2022). "Siberia or Japan? Expert Google Maps Players Can Tell at a Glimpse." (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/business/geoguessr-google-maps.html. 
  34. ↑ Monaghan, Becca (31 August 2022). "Who is Georainbolt the man who can identify anywhere on Earth by just a single photo". https://www.indy100.com/viral/georainbolt-who-is-he-tiktok. 
  35. ↑ Browning, Kellen (7 July 2022). "Siberia or Japan? Expert Google Maps Players Can Tell at a Glimpse". New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/business/geoguessr-google-maps.html. 
  36. ↑ "Shop - GeoGuessr" (in en). https://www.geoguessr.com/shop/creator. 
  37. ↑ McKenzie, Theodore (9 May 2025). "GeoGuessr Gets and Overwhelmingly Negative Rating on Steam". https://80.lv/articles/geoguessr-s-predatory-monetization-earns-its-steam-version-overwhelmingly-negative-reviews/. 
  38. ↑ Foster, George (10 May 2025). ""Greed Truly Has No Bounds": GeoGuessr's Steam Edition Has Already Racked Up Thousands Of Overwhelmingly Negative Reviews". https://www.thegamer.com/geoguessr-steam-edition-launch-met-with-overwhelmingly-negative-reviews-thousands-subscription-free-to-play-monetization/. 
  39. ↑ Blake, Vikki (2025-05-13). "GeoGuessr Says It's 'Listening Closely' to Player Feedback as Steam Edition Plummets to Second-Worst Rated Game of All Time on Valve's Platform" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/geoguessr-says-its-listening-closely-to-player-feedback-as-steam-edition-plummets-to-second-worst-rated-game-of-all-time-on-valves-platform. 
  40. ↑ "GeoGuessr Steam Edition". https://store.steampowered.com/app/3478870/GeoGuessr_Steam_Edition/#app_reviews_hash. 
  41. ↑ Lei, Tsai-ling (3 March 2022). "Design critique: GeoGuessr as an educational game" (in en). Medium. https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/design-critique-geoguessr-as-an-educational-game-97fff1c237b1. 
  42. ↑ Dixon, Seth (26 November 2013). "Using GeoGuessr in the Classroom" (in en). https://geographyeducation.org/geospatial/using-geoguessr-in-the-classroom/. 
  43. ↑ "Beginner's Guide to Geoguessr" (in en). https://www.plonkit.net/beginners-guide. 
  44. ↑ "Camera Gens" (in en). https://geohints.com/meta/cameraGens. 
  45. ↑ Geoguessr Explained (18 October 2024). Google Camera Generations Explained in Geoguessr (2024). Retrieved 8 August 2025 – via YouTube.
  46. ↑ Sahbegovic, Danny (19 January 2022). "How to play GTAGuessr, a game where GTA 5 players explore Los Santos with Franklin" (in en-us). https://www.sportskeeda.com/gta/how-to-play-gtaguessr-players-explore-los-santos-with-franklin. 
  47. ↑ Welsh, Oli (17 November 2022). "Someone made a World of Warcraft GeoGuessr and now the last 18 years of my life have meaning" (in en-US). https://www.polygon.com/23464583/world-of-warcraft-geoguessr-location-game. 
  48. ↑ Diaz, Ana (27 May 2022). "I'm better at the Genshin Impact GeoGuessr than the real-world one" (in en-US). https://www.polygon.com/23140340/genshin-impact-geoguessr-game-hoyoverse. 
  49. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (2 May 2023). "Prepare for Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by testing your knowledge of Hyrule's map". https://www.polygon.com/23708320/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-map-totk-prep-hyruleguessr. 
  50. ↑ Claburn, Thomas (15 July 2023). "This AI is better than you at figuring out where a street pic was taken just by looking at it". The Register. https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/15/pigeon_model_geolocation/. 
  51. ↑ Haas, Lukas; Skreta, Michal; Alberti, Silas (2023). "PIGEON: Predicting Image Geolocations". arXiv:2307.05845 [cs.CV].
  52. ↑ "Ligue Intercommu". https://super-duper.fr/ligue/index_en.php. 
  53. ↑ "Geoguessr Team World Cup". https://gtwc.info/. 
  54. ↑ "GEOGUESSR TEAM WORLD CUP | FINALE". 7 November 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdw0R48z2SI. 
  55. ↑ "GeoGuessr Team World Cup : le Français Blinky et les Speed Plonkers sacrés champions du monde" (in fr-fr). 23 October 2022. https://e.sport.fr/resultats/geoguessr-team-world-cup-le-francais-blinky-et-les-speed-plonkers-sacres-champions-du-monde-710202.shtm. 
  56. ↑ "World Cup - GeoGuessr" (in en). https://www.geoguessr.com/world-cup/2023. 
  57. ↑ "World Cup Announcement" (in en). https://www.geoguessr.com/world-cup/press/announcement. 
  58. ↑ "GeoGuessr Unveils Stellar Lineup of Talent for Inaugural World Cup" (in en). https://www.geoguessr.com/world-cup/press/caster-lineup. 
  59. ↑ "GeoGuessr on X: "The youngest World Cup qualifier..."". https://x.com/geoguessr/status/1701566334063046669. 
  60. ↑ "Youngest World Cup qualifier discussion". https://livestreamfails.com/clip/157197/poli-is-really-excited-to-reach-to-the-geoguessr-world-cup-finals-in-stockholm. 
  61. ↑ @geoguessr (14 September 2024). "Oh wow. What a night. We had over 200.000 concurrent viewers watching the finals. We are so grateful to all of you who tuned in. Thank you so much.". https://twitter.com/geoguessr/status/1835072850123784680. 
  62. ↑ "GeoGuessr joins the Esports World Cup lineup". 15 May 2025. https://esportsinsider.com/2025/05/geoguessr-esports-world-cup-2025. 
  63. ↑ "GeoGuessr community maps go dark in protest of EWC ties to human rights abuses". 21 May 2025. https://www.engadget.com/gaming/geoguessr-community-maps-go-dark-in-protest-of-ewc-ties-to-human-rights-abuses-221037118.html. 
  64. ↑ "GeoGuessr withdraws from Esports World Cup following fan backlash". 22 May 2025. https://esportsinsider.com/2025/05/geoguessr-esports-world-cup-withdrawal. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:GeoGuessr&oldid=4627770"