Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) on X

For the uninitiated, here is

working his geo-locating magic (it's insane). So, what's the strategy?

Rainbolt plays GeoGuessr, a game where you find Google Map locations based on clues. The game requires alot of memorization including: • META-GAME: Understanding how Google takes Streetview images (camera type) • SIGNIFIERS: Street signs, road markers, buildings, trees etc.

Meta-game 1: Camera Google has used 4 generation of cameras for Street View. Gen 1 images (2007-09) are blurry while Gen 4 images have high exposure and vivid colors (since 2017). Not every country has up-to-date camera imaging (some have no Street View coverage at all).

Meta-game 2: Google Car The Google Car that did the Streetview imaging is different for every country (eg Canada = white, Argentina = black). Also, the image height can be a tell (in Japan, the car camera was too high, so Google re-shot at lower heights for privacy purposes).

Two Google Car fun facts: • A police escort follows every Google Earth car in Tunisia and Nigeria (for privacy purposes) • Many homes in Germany are blurred (Why? In 2009, 250k residents sued Google Street View for invading privacy...players call the country Blur-many)

Important signifiers to look for are the sun (use compass to identify hemisphere) and side of the road people drive on (eg. UK on the left). Some of Rainbolt’s favorite clues: • Soil • Trees • License plates

There are a lot of other signifiers that GeoGuesser players crowdsource and share including: • House Signs • Sidewalks • Street lines • Architecture • Utility poles (Rainbolt memorizes all these variables)

Rainbolt also knows 100s other signifiers distinct to a location. Some notable ones: • Yellow phone booth (It’s Jersey, all other booths in UK are red) • Snow rocket (In Japan, shows the road line is in case it snows) • Colombia cross (cross on back of every sign in Colombia)

If you enjoyed that, follow

for other interesting threads. More importantly, Turner Novak and I interviewed Rainbolt on the NIA podcast about: • His training methods • Easiest + hardest countries • What makes good TikTok content WATCH: youtu.be/L7OANxTd6_I?t=…