Where on earth am I? This just about describes the feeling when GeoGuessr dumps you in the middle of nowhere. Then the dopamine kicks in and you slowly get your bearings. Is that a signpost? If so what language is it written in? What do the houses look like? Very confidently you drop a pin somewhere in Canada and then hit the green balloon only to find that you are somewhere nearly 6,000 km away, in Norway.

This computer and mobile app game has been around for a while but is only now picking up popularity in leaps and bounds. A Swedish IT consultant, Anton Wallen, wrote GeoGuessr and built it on Google's Street View. The free game is available in the Apple App Store and in Google Play. On your computer, you can play it at www.geoguessr.com . Someone once said that war was a way of teaching Americans geography. Who needs war? You can learn geography by playing this game.

And geography it is. Once you start the game, you find yourself somewhere. You take stock of your surroundings and figure out where you are. There is a map rolled on your right. Tap on that and it will roll out. You have to touch where you think you are in the world and a pin will drop at that point. Then you hit the guess button which is the green balloon just below. If you are dead right, you win 5,000 points. And if you are absolutely on the opposite end then you score zero. And anywhere in between will get you the score depending on your proximity.

Once you are in the game, you have to look around for telltale signs. Look at the vegetation, the trees at the side. If you are in a jungle of pine trees, then you must be somewhere near the Arctic Circle. If you see palm trees you may be in a tropical country. If there is no traffic it may be a desolate place. If cars are travelling on the left side of the road it may be South Africa, Botswana, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain or Japan.

Though this game has been hyped to say it will show you the world, Google Street View covers a small portion of the world's streets. This information will cut your guessing options in half. Not surprisingly most of the locations would be in Brazil, the US, Europe, barring Germany and some other smaller countries, and Canada. If you think you are in Africa, just think five countries. The best guess is always South Africa.

Among the Asian countries covered by Google Street View are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, much of Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Philippines, Russia and some locations in South Korea. India disallows Google Street View for security reasons.

The language on billboards is an indicator which continent it is. But do American fast food chain stores indicate that you are in America?

With all this brain storming involved, GeoGuessr is turning out to be a very interesting geography and social studies learning tool. It can teach you to be more discerning. You can get to know how to differentiate between similar looking terrain such as Australia and Africa. Or between languages like Spanish and Portuguese. Or even pick up the rudiments of Italian or Russian. You can really pick up the details of the world around you.

In the final analysis, it isn't about high scores. It is that feeling of 'I could have guessed that', that really hooks you to the game. The best part is you are allowed to Google your clues and use Google Translate to decipher a foreign signboard.
 

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