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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Circus: GeoGuesser Tournament
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Antisocial Alto:
Are we allowed to Google?
ETA I see a couple of people have mentioned searching and I am certainly going to start doing it if we're allowed!
Half the fun is finding out more about really cool places you've never even heard of before!
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
21m. Curse you, LeRoc!
(Can you make it within 21 m of this link, though?
—A.)
22m. Homer, AK. Though, this is pretty good considering the locator map does not have pics and the water shape can vary, depending upon season.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Bastards! End of that round they drop me in a parking lot, no movement allowed, all signs blurry to the point of uselessness. A mix of people. Thought Hawaii, but the surroundings looked too Asian. I guessed Hong Kong, it was Cambodia. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Thank you for the lovely new time-suck, Tortuf. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Interesting how many of my guesses were on the wrong continent, but right latitude.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Antisocial Alto
Shipmate
# 13810
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariston:
quote:
Originally posted by Antisocial Alto:
Are we allowed to Google?
ETA I see a couple of people have mentioned searching and I am certainly going to start doing it if we're allowed!
Half the fun is finding out more about really cool places you've never even heard of before!
Yeah, but it sure takes a lot of the guesswork out of the game. Although even googling didn't help me narrow down *which* beach in South Africa I was looking at...
Posts: 601 | From: United States | Registered: Jun 2008
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
I think beginner's luck is very important in GeoGuesser as I can't seem to beat my first score. I've hence moved on to the more interesting problem of trying to work out its scoring system. The scoring is definitely monotone (ie. larger distances always give smaller scores, there's no 'handicap' for LA vs. the wilds of Novosibirsk for example). But, I'm not sure what the formula is yet. The two most promising leads are a log relationship or a exponential relationship. Neither of these seem to be quite right, but I can't (statistically significantly) tell them apart for quality of fit yet. Two best guess formulae so far are:
score = 3660 * e ^ (.000264 * distance)
or
score = 6810 - 664 * ln (distance)
Both have an r^2 in the high .9s and I only started collecting data points a few games in, so I just have 10.
[ 11. June 2013, 13:25: Message edited by: Hart ]
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Antisocial Alto
Shipmate
# 13810
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Bastards! End of that round they drop me in a parking lot, no movement allowed, all signs blurry to the point of uselessness. A mix of people. Thought Hawaii, but the surroundings looked too Asian. I guessed Hong Kong, it was Cambodia.
That happened to me too except it was a dirt path with some modern-looking buildings mostly hidden behind trees. I tried rural China and it was the Ukraine.
Posts: 601 | From: United States | Registered: Jun 2008
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Thank you for the lovely new time-suck, Tortuf.
Interesting how many of my guesses were on the wrong continent, but right latitude.
The latitude is one of the first things popping in my head when I see a rural image.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
mistaking Western Australia for the US midwest,
People mention this, but they are very distinctive to me. The roads are different, even when they are in similar condition.
What is the difference between the roads? If I can't see a sign, I can't tell them apart. Road signs are dead give-aways, but without them a boring straight road looks like a boring straight road to me.
quote:
The soil is different.
I strongly suspect that the US midwest has different types of soil in different places! I mean I have only spent about ten hours of my entire life in the mid-west (so I must be an extpert) but I saw at least two quite different kids of soil and vegetation within a few miles of each other. It would be foolish to assume that all the rest of it is exactly the same as itself.
Australia famously has a huge amount of reddish rock and bare reddish soil. But so do other places including lots of Africa, some parts of India and South America, and almost all of Mars.
I can tell them apart in these photos if the sun is high in the sky because the Google doo-dah tells you which way north is. But otherwise I'm trying to go by vegetation if there are no road signs. Australia has lots of eucalypts - but unfortunately they have been widely introduced to other parts of the world. Like South Africa and Surrey. The Americas have cactuses. But so nowadays do Australia and North Africa, because people took them there.
Going by vegetation I can pretty accurately tell northern Europe from anywhere else but I'mm not so good at telling places that aren't northern Europe from each other
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Lucia
Looking for light
# 15201
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Posted
Surely you can eliminate a fair proportion of the world simply by the fact that Google Street view hasn't been done there yet!
(x-post with lilBuddha)
[ 11. June 2013, 14:59: Message edited by: Lucia ]
Posts: 1075 | From: Nigh golden stone and spires | Registered: Oct 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Reply to ken:
The striping is different. It is a little more difficult in the absence of markings, but the tarmac looks different to me.
Yes, there is red soil in America, but the vegetation is different where this occurs. IME, anyway. South Africa vs. Australia might be more difficult, but I haven't been dropped in rural SA playing Geosense. And Google haven't yet driven the roads of Mars, but when they do I think I know what too look for.
[ 11. June 2013, 14:59: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lucia:
Surely you can eliminate a fair proportion of the world simply by the fact that Google Street view hasn't been done there yet!
(x-post with lilbuddah)
You know, what has been covered is interesting. A rural road in a densely populated area is less likely to be mapped than one in a remote area. So you have communities missed in favour of thousands of km of empty road.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
I got 2000+ points on several; but them committed a major error by mistaking Japanese for Hebrew writing. Ouchy. LOL
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
And Google haven't yet driven the roads of Mars, but when they do I think I know what too look for.
Ah, the Illuminati will fuck with the colors anyway, so we are all screwed when that gets added in to the game.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Antisocial Alto
Shipmate
# 13810
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Posted
27264 points today, with Googling. Thanks to several business names I was able to get within 4 meters of the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, BC. It looks cool!
I was still about 3000 km on the wrong side of Russia when I tried to Google what I thought was the name of a subway stop, but hey...
Posts: 601 | From: United States | Registered: Jun 2008
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
A rural road in a densely populated area is less likely to be mapped than one in a remote area. So you have communities missed in favour of thousands of km of empty road.
Yes. I'm pretty sure the 20 or so I've looked at so far include a far higher proportion of really empty flat mildly arid places with boring straight roads than the real world does. And between then the USA and Australia have supplied about hal;f the pictures I've seen
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Yes. I'm pretty sure the 20 or so I've looked at so far include a far higher proportion of really empty flat mildly arid places with boring straight roads than the real world does.
Maybe this is a topic for the pond difference thread, but my general picture of the world is that the dry bits consist of a huge percentage of empty flat space. But then everything east of me for the next 9 or so hours (at 75 MPH mind you) is practically empty flat space, so maybe we just have different perceptions.
Anyone else stumble on bugs? I was shocked to find myself inside a building that was, without a doubt, the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. After locking in, it showed that I was 1000 KM off, and that the location was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean- some James Bond type villain's hidden base, no doubt.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
A green, white. and gold flag with "PRI" on it. Now that's a clue! But which coast?
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I'm getting good at this. I I made it within 0.0032 miles of a bridge plunk in the middle of a volcanic lake in the Azores! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I keep thinking that, and then right after I pinpoint the exact block of a given location, they give me a street in Russia, with all of the clues I need to find the exact spot, if only I could read the damn script.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Kelly Alves: I'm getting good at this. I I made it within 0.0032 miles of a bridge plunk in the middle of a volcanic lake in the Azores!
By guessing?
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
No, I researched a bit.
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
I keep thinking that, and then right after I pinpoint the exact block of a given location, they give me a street in Russia, with all of the clues I need to find the exact spot, if only I could read the damn script.
I keep getting Russia, too. What is it about Russia?
[ 11. June 2013, 23:26: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I'm sure the program that runs the game is a little more sophisticated than this, but if you were to throw a dart at a spinning globe and happened to hit land, you would have a better chance of hitting Russia than any other country, just based on size. The fact that I don't get Russia more often is what tells me that it isn't entirely random.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Og, King of Bashan: The fact that I don't get Russia more often is what tells me that it isn't entirely random.
That and the fact that I didn't get anything from India.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
India hasn't been covered yet. Here is the list of Google street view coverage.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
Ah, I can imagine that going through all the winding streets of Mumbai may take a while ![[Biased]](wink.gif) (I'm just guessing, I've never been in India).
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I wonder if full coverage means as full as it is going to get? There are roads inside this "Full" which are empty of coverage.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Weirdest hits so far-- I wound up on a grey pallet, platform in the middle of a dry, misty field, spinning round and round with no movement options. Very creepy. Then I wound up on the peak of some ice-capped mountain in Germany, complete with nearby yellow snow and some goofy youth group planting a makeshift cross on top. Also spinning round and round.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Via poking around, I discovered that you can find out where the location was were by inspecting the results of the little map after each move. I'm gonna go check right now if you can do it with the big global map at the end of the game.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
I just got 1.257 km! To be fair, though, the image I got was a bunch of stadium seats with "Hanover" on them, and a sign that included a url with "hanover" and ".de" in it. Pretty obvious, then.
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by churchgeek:
I just got 1.257 km! To be fair, though, the image I got was a bunch of stadium seats with "Hanover" on them, and a sign that included a url with "hanover" and ".de" in it. Pretty obvious, then.
That game gave me a total of 14417 points. I'd also gotten a lucky break with a billboard revealing one location to be in the Canary Islands. I picked the wrong island, but it was still close. My farthest guess that game was a location in Australia that looked remarkably like another location, in a previous game, that was in Texas. Texas, Australia, same thing, right?
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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Tortuf
Ship's fisherman
# 3784
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Posted
Best so far is .051 km. It is amazing how many roads in the middle of nowhere Google has filmed.
They should at least organize the leaves to make themselves into a flag of the country when they have their picture taken.
Posts: 6963 | From: The Venice of the South | Registered: Dec 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
So clever, I thought I was, I guessed the latitude and saw tall purple flowers that I knew were Canadian. A quick search and I had it! until I cliked to guess and found the location was in Sweden. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Tortuf:
It is amazing how many roads in the middle of nowhere Google has filmed.
I know! I was also surprised to get some shots that weren't on a road - in the middle of a park, for example (along a walkway or something) and on a boardwalk. They must get permission to drive their car there, I guess.
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Kelly Alves: Weirdest hits so far-- I wound up on a grey pallet, platform in the middle of a dry, misty field, spinning round and round with no movement options. Very creepy.
My weirdest image was almost black. I guessed it was in the Mont Blanc tunnel, but it was somewhere in New Mexico ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
quote:
churchgeek: I was also surprised to get some shots that weren't on a road - in the middle of a park, for example (along a walkway or something) and on a boardwalk. They must get permission to drive their car there, I guess.
Once I was on a ferry on the Amazon River. This one was easy for me
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I wound up on the dock of the harbor ferry in Hong Kong.That was trippy.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Kelly Alves: I wound up on the dock of the harbor ferry in Hong Kong.That was trippy.
Look out for the guy in the raincoat behind you. Just sayin'.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Chapelhead: After far too much wasted time (thanks, Tortuf!) I got to 1m from the right spot - with a little help from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co of Madeira Beach, Florida.
I think you deserve a shrimp for free!
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
So double yellow lines down the middle of a long straight road mean America? And if there re trees its in Colorado and if there aren't its in Texas?
And long straight roads with pedestrain crossings marked with giant neon-yellow-green signs showing pinstripe-trousered lower legs cut off at the knees is Australia? But otherwise their road markings seem quite normal - white dotted lines down the middle, undotted lines, if at all, down the sides.
And occasional trees and and lots of very green vegetation and some reddish soil and long straight roads with no visible markigs and a few run-down sheds painted once-bright colours mean Brazil?
I'm trying to get the hang of these long straight roads.
Towns are OK, (apart from that one that was AT NIGHT WITH NO STREETLIGHTS, thank-you not-very-much Google) but long straight roads are really hard. Anywhere near the sea seems to be easy. But long straight roads in the middle of bowhere.AAAAAAARGHH!!!!!
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
A few of the last batch of rounds dropped me in SA in areas similar to Australia. Perhaps because they are both cling to the bottom of the Earth?
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
ken: And occasional trees and and lots of very green vegetation and some reddish soil and long straight roads with no visible markigs and a few run-down sheds painted once-bright colours mean Brazil?
That seems about right.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Wet Kipper
Circus Runaway
# 1654
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Posted
anyone else presented with an underwater view of a turtle swimming by coral ?
(i guessed Barrier reef, it was nearer Hawaii)
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- insert randomly chosen, potentially Deep and Meaningful™ song lyrics here -
Posts: 9841 | From: further up the Hill | Registered: Nov 2001
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