Geoguessr dump part 1 (North America)

 Hi, 

So throughout the course of my blog, I don't have a single one dedicated to geoguessr. I mention it in some posts, but like it's ABOUT TIME to just make a geoguessr post where that's the sole focus.


Right now it's 11/18/23, I peaked at Champion division ranking (1104) rating:

https://imgur.com/a/fMjVmvH



But I dropped back to master division at around 1,000 rating cuz mainly it was bound to happen, but also I get easier opponents for the weekly series so I'll take it.

Nonetheless, I still call myself a chamionship division player. I've definitely proved that, when I'm playing in my bag I make some really nice calls in general. 

My strongest countries as of the moment is probably Canada, then Brazil, Australia, Kenya, South Africa, Italy, Malaysia, and USA I guess. I"m mainly super good at Brazil cuz I memorized all 67 regional phone codes in that country, my most ambitious geoguessr project, though looking back, it wasn't even that bad. I'm definitely gonna memorize another useless set of maybe regencies, kabupatens, area codes, who knows.

My worst countries are probably Russia, Argentina, Norway, Indonesia. I can read cyrillic which has come in helpful a couple of times, but still I suck at Russia because I lack the practice and also a ton of the meta is based on antenna and like what season the coverage was taken in and the weather which is kinda dumb.

And yea, geoguessr is just so fun. I've been playing fairly regularly, I like to play for like 1-2 hours at the library with the monitor, and its a vibe. It's just the concepts of geography, cultural landscapes, the notion of learning, and the competitive element that makes it such an appealing game to me. I have to admit that ever since I hit championship division (which was a BIG moment for me), there's not many wide goals and I've been kinda demotivated to learn new things. I've just been cranking out duels and seeing my rating stagnate lmao.


But anyway, let me just dump out all my geoguessr knowledge that I know as of now. Let's do this. I'm anticipating this will be quite lengthy.

  • North America
    • Mexico
      • Generally, if it's like urban and you don't know where to go, you can always go CDMX. I haven't done any Mexico studying at all, I just have a gauge that South of CDMX is very similar to Latin-America while North of CD MX is fairly open, rural, dry, mountainous highways that look more like USA. 
      • I will say that I can recognize Baja Mexico pretty well, I just have this like instinct in me and it's dead accurate. I've had some CLEAN guessed on the Baja peninsula and its os satisfying.
      • Also, I can recognize Yucatan and its distinct rock walls, as everyone can. It's quite noticeable once you get used to the landscapes there.
      • Anyway, to recognize the country, the octagonal poles might be the biggest clue. The short license plates may be next. Then you can check the sun direction if you're in a tossup between Mexico and Colombia or Mexico and any South American country.
      • Other than that, generally poorer road quality, single yellow lines I think?, right hand drive, Spanish, stubby antennae/white and blue car / gen3&4 mostly.
      • I'm prolly forgetting stuff, theres like the pink taxis that you'll see in CD MX but yea thats all I have, I have so much more to go over so yea I'll see you in Dominican Republic section
    • Dominican Republic
      • The classic white car peeking out with the roof racks. It's hard to miss the country. There's only two cities covered and like no rural highways, so it was my first ever gold medal in the explorer mode. I just went on plonk it and learned how to differentiate the two cities
      • The capital, Santo Domingo is more wealthy, built-up, urban, except for the southeast suburbs which have a lotta dirt roads. Lots of times you'll see these distinct like square white glass architecture or whatever
      • Then the other city, Santiago de los Caballeros, is of course more rural. But to differentiate it, you can use the gray paint on the bottom of the poles, or finding mountains north of you. That's pretty much the main points. There were some other things like street signs and pink stuff  but I forgot that lol u can just check plonkit. One thing to note is that they do use "Alto" on their stop signs I'm pretty sure so use that information however you want to whether its like some NMPZ tossup between South America
    • Puerto Rico
      • The antenna thing poking out in the corner of the car is obviously the main clue. Other than that you'll prob be put on some relatively elevated highway where I end up just plonking San Juan and calling it a day
      • Some clues to know you are here is Spanish, Imperial system, but also a lack of front plates. When you have the antenna down, the next step is figuring out if you are in Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or Puerto Rico, and I'm pretty sure Puerto Rico is the only one without front plates. But the more you play the less you need that because the landscape is very different from those oceanic islands
    • Curacao 
      • The black round smooth car thing with the roof racks, thats pretty much it
    • US Virgin Islands
      • I think this has the red pickup truck?
      • *checks*
      • Yes it is red. But also sometimes white too
    • British Virgin Islands
      • It's like some black car or something I forgot lol and I dont wanna check
    • Bermuda
      • It has that one black car thing that has something noticeable about it that I forgot, but when I see the google car I'll know it's Bermuda. 
    • USA
      • Alright, here we go. My home country, so you would assume it's my specialty, but I'm really only good at regionguessing California. Anything else I'm pretty mid, I'll get to practicing it eventually
      • MPH signs, developed, unique neighborhood designs, minimalist architecture, imperial system, right hand drive, classic gray highways, green road signs, one way signs, Gen 1, 3, and 4, lack of Gen 2, highway shields, rumble strips, double yellow lines.
      • Regionguessing
        • California is pretty unique, I've analyzed those mediterranean hills and compared them to the likes of Spain, Italy, Greece, and it's quite interesting just staring at these hills lol. Lots of times its those dry hills. Anyway, of course CA has the three yellow lines on the bottom of their poles, it's a super good meta. I see them in every city I go to in California. Also, they use a ton of wooden poles which is pretty useful. Socal typically has more palm trees and coastal, "hot" feeling while Norcal is just so recognizable cuz I'm consumed in it. Not much to elaborate on there haha
        • I've nailed some nice Oregon guesses, and the Speed sign that just says speed on it helps, along with wide yellow lines, wooden poles, and the PNW feel.
        • Kansas/Iowa/South dakota/nebraska/north dakota = very similar to the praries in Canada. So yes, studying Canada does translate nicely into USA guessing. This region is flat with lots of corn and grid highways. Kansas also has specific blue stickers on some of the back of their signs too
        • Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico/Arizona/Nevada = places you can find deserts. Maybe Utah too. But learning the whole west side of USA is super easy cuz the landscapes are really distcint. the Arizona desert vs. New Mexico desert is relatively easy to tell apart. Also I just have to mention, when I first started playing geoguessr duels, I remember seeing a blurred out Arizona license plate in a round and I recognized it and I nailed the guess. And it just felt so satisfying cuz I pay attention unconsciously to license plates so much, and seeing it just randmly ring a bell felt super nice. Ever since that moment I've been paying attention to license plates more and more. 
        • Texas also has the "texas pavement" that looks like salt and peper on the road or hwatever
        • Then the rest of the regions are kind of blurry as in I don't know what to classify what state into what, but theres the midwest which is like recognizable. Then the South is also pretty recognizable cuz of like those baptist churches and the Southern Pines. Then there's the appalachians, then there's those forests up there in Vermont and Maine. Then of course Florida is sooo distinct cuz its just a coastal peninsula. The one problem is that sometimes you can get it confused with Hawaii
        • Alaska is pretty easy to recognize cuz it looks like Yukon but without Canadian metas. So yes, studying Canada helps quite a lot
        • OH yea I forgot the rocky mountains. It's pretty much the highest altitude places in America, and it's so unique. Just guess Colorado or sometimes Wyoming
      • Additionally, I've also memorized almost all of the license plates. And also which states require front plates, tho I forget it a lot cuz I don't actively practice USA.
      • Other than that, knowing place name knowledge or highway knowledge can help too, USA is a pretty easy and fun country to pinpoint if u get the right round
    • Canada
      • Yay canada, my best country I would say, tho it could always use some improvement. It was one of the first countries I studied on plonkit, and it's in general a fairly easy country to learn too cuz theres only like 10 provinces.
      • To recognize Canada, gen2, KM/H signs, junction checkerboard signs, French, blue signs (DONT TRUST ME ON THIS just use it as a factor into ur guess), group postal mail boxes, UK spellings (centre, colour). They are also very minimalist on their signs, they don't write the word "yield" out on the sign, nor "railroad crossing" and thats their pattern.
      • BC
        • BC is very easy to recognize. They have hanging signs, green backs of signs (commonly), concrete guardrails, distinct speed limit sign, require front plates, perpendicular transformers, blue license plates, and of course their beautiful, grand, epic mountain landscapes with bright coverage and windy roads.
        • Urban BC such as Vancouver can maybe be tossed up between like Calgary or something like that but too bad I've been to Vancouver and walked around a lot of the city so I know pretty well. Plus, the license plates are a big clue. Other than that theres also like Vancouver island which has a unique forest feel
      • Alberta
        • They have those striped bollards, which can be confused with Northwestern territories. They have red license plates (only other province with red is new brunswick), parallel transformers, and no front plates
        • The West looks like BC, and the East looks like Sask. Intuitive through just geographically relatively speaking, but also through the terrain map too.
        • Calgary has more grand yellow gold street signs compared to Edmonton's standard boring street signs so when I'm in a big urban city and I see Alberta plates then I use those to help me differentiate a lot. Red Deer uses a mix of them, which is worth mentioning.
        • Now if you see some like tall forests in Alberta, you may want to look further North. Most of the roads in Alberta are South, but the North is pretty easy to tell apart
        • OH Yea they also have the township and range signs a lot of times in their grid highways, and if u memorize the map and ordering then that helps you pinpoint or regionguess Alberta pretty nicely.
      • Sasketchewan
        • Super flat, dead, prarie landscape with lots of canola and long grass. They have alternating poletops in a line, they can have white dashes between their double yellow road lines, and they can have white triangles on the signposts of their signs.
        • Green license plates, no front plates. They only have like two big cities: Regina, Saskatoon
        • They also have some insanely scuffed and cracked coverage for whatever reason. It's like some dead stuff that you think is inhabitable but you see some house and youre just like wtf how is someone living in this sh*thole lmao
        • Most of the drops in the province is like just so flat and open its just the middle of nowhere
        • Yea sask is a pretty iconic and distinct province in Canada. Many times you can just see a flash of those flat highway rounds and just plonk it in the center and get close
      • Manitoba
        • A bit harder to recognize. In the west it looks like Sask, and near the lakes it looks like Ontario kind of. I can't describe it as I kinda forgot and can't remember off the top of my head, but they have some roads with some roads you can probably memorize cuz they are super distinct
        • Green license plates, requiring front plates, parallel transformers, pretty much centering around the main city of Winnipeg. They have sometimes these like stripy green and white signposts in their signs.
      • Ontario
        • Most populous province in Canada, they have blue license plates requiring front plates. Lots of meta here. They have the small diamond green sign in lots of their forest rounds. They also have a distinct pole top, distcint speed limit sign, along with disticnt guardrails and distinct traffic cones thats quick to learn and worth learning.
        • Some parts in the South parts near the Great Lakes are pretty flag and they can look like the Great Lakers or NW New York
        • In the western parts of the province near manitoba they have a lot of exposed rock which is actually pretty viable
        • They just have a lotta forest rounds too
      • Quebec
        • They speak French, meaning they have Arret on their stop signs and rue on their road signs and Secteur on their speed limit signs and French language everywhere. You can see French as a bilingual language in New Brunswick and Ottawa, and sometimes in big cities in other provinces so know to watch out for that.
        • But anyway, you can recognize Quebec through their red and white chevrons, unique junction signs, unique bollard, unique poletops, and also their dark blue license plates with no front plates
        • The east side in the Gaspe peninsula is pretty distinct as it has an Atlantic feel to it.
        • I think I'm forgetting stuff off the top of my head but that's all I got rn for quebec
      • New Brunswick
        • First thing that comes to mind is Perpendicular transformers lmao. Lots of forest rounds. They use bilingual signs pretty much everywhere which is useful to know. They also have red license plates not requiring front plates
        • There's also a niche meta that I've used a couple of times where the bolt in the bottom of the guardrails hooks below it, whereas in Nova Scoatia and Newfoundland it doesn't hook.
        • The shape of this province is fairly nice to hedge in. You can go straight center or hedge near Fredericton, or if yorue feeling ambitious u can plonk it up North near the coast.
      • Nova Scoatia
        • This pronvince in my opinion is the hardest one to tell. There's just not much unique about it. Maybe I'll get it more grounded the more I practice Canada. Sometimes I go New Brunswick on Nova Scotia, or Quebec on Nova Scotia, or Newfoundland on Nova Scoatia. 
        • They have blue street signs, blue license plates, no requirement for front plates, and overall lots of rural forest highways, sometimes the roads there are unpaved.
      • Prince Edward Island
        • They have red soil which sometimes u cant tell but most of the time you can get it. Otherwise they sometimes have varying transformer orientations. They have like blue and green license plates with no requirement for front plates but most of the time I don't rely on licnse plates in PEI cuz the soil gives it away a lot. Also the general vibes of PEI is pretty strong and distinct too.
      • NewFoundland and Labrador
        • There's only like one road in Labrador in which u can just memorize the landscape, theres like trees and stuff I kinda forgot but I think I can call it when I see it.
        • Newfoundland has a good amount of coastal highways where you can see the coast. They also have unique guardrails that are worth learning, with pyramid wooden tops.
        • They also have some other random metas like octagonal wooden bins lying around, unique road signs, unique junction sign, unique fire hydrant markings.
        • There's just a heavy atlantic feel and vibe to it, lots of like low population towns and spread out houses that almost feel like theyre on stilts. The transcanada national highway that runs through there is pretty distinct and worth considering if youre on a big divided road.
      • Yukon
        • Lots of autumn coverage or gen2 coverage. Pretty much only highway rounds. License plate metas arent really worth learning because there often won't be cars around you on these desolate highways or in general just you can get the province landscape-wise instead
        • There's that one stretch near the Alaska border where there's like motorcycles following you. There's prob some other stuff that you can learn especially with road angles to get the road down every time.
      • Northwestern territories
        • Same thing for Yukon, tho I don't notice as much Autumn coverage. Lots of gen2 tho with a unique type of dirt. It's just so near the north pole that it has that vibe to it similar to greenland,iceland, svalbard, etc.
        • Not sure what to say here other than you'll get it down through practice
        • There is one city that is DEFINITELY worth studying and it's very quick. You just need to know that in YellowKnife they have those green poles everywhere and it's in gen 2. It's a fairly big city surprisingly, I wonder what it's like growing up in yellowknife truthfully, that lowkey sounds fun and pure
        • But anyway I missed a yellowknife once and so I looked at the loc and ever since that I haven't missed yellowknife ever since.
      • You can also memorize all 27 phone codes or whatever, which I did, and it's definitely paid off with some sick guesses. I used geo emily's quiz to train the phone codes and it did't take that long cuz theres less than 30. Just make sure to review them every once in a while so u don't forget them. But yea there's no car metas tbh in Canada which I definitely underappreciate and take for granted
Ok so its like 2 AM right now and I legit need to sleep and I knew I would underestimate the time it took but NOT TO THIS DEGREE. I only got through one continent thats crazy. SO yeah, I'll split this into multiple parts, fine by me. Thank you for skimming/reading part 1!

Lyric(s) of the Post:
"
I'm giving, giving up on you, still, make me feel like, I'm not enough for you
"

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