Show HN: GeoGuesser for iOS - Street View location guessing game

Show HN: GeoGuesser for iOS - Street View location guessing game(itunes.apple.com)

10 points by smnl 12 years ago | 9 comments

nsrivast 12 years ago |

Simon, did you adopt the idea from http://geoguessr.com/ ? I came across that game a few months ago and couldn't reach the developer, but I'll share with you my comments at the time:

Love geoguessr! Thank you for making it, I am officially addicted.

I think there are lots of interesting things one could do with the gameplay and data. I would classify it as a Game with a Purpose[1], and I wonder if you have considered using the data you gather to answer some interesting questions:

1) Can we re-map the world according to the similarity measure measured by your game rather than the geographic measure? If so, what does the map look like?

2) How much additional information do you get by exploring? (What is the relationship between distance explored and subgame score?) Is there a way to add this as a feature of the game, i.e. require players to "invest" points to explore a larger area?

3) What are the salient features of a landscape that place it geographically? Language on stores/signs, architecture, landscape geography, prominent flora/fauna, type of cars/roads. Can we identify and classify these features?

Having built a few games with a purpose before (e.g. Wikiwarp [2]), I would love to help if I can. I would be happy to contribute to development to get access to your very interesting data!

Thanks, and best of luck!

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_with_a_purpose [2] https://github.com/nsrivast/wikiwarp

smnl 12 years ago | |

Yup, it was adapted from geoguessr.com, and I'm trying to extend the concept by adding different game modes and in-game hints

In reply to your questions: 1. What do you mean by similarity measure? Currently, the scoring is just done on a tiered basis on geographic distance, though that scale might be worth adjusting

2. Currently, it uses a webview to show the street view, and moving around is disabled because that tended to crash the app. However, now that Google just added street view to its iOS maps api, I'm planning to integrate that

3. Yes, all of those things you listed can help determine where a landscape is. I haven't thought about formally classifying those features, though it could be something worth exploring

Thanks for the feedback! Will reach out to you if I figure out a way you can help with this!

woobar 12 years ago |

Love the original web GeoGuessr. Biggest complain about this version - I am stuck in one point and cannot get closer to signs or any landmarks. I might recognize Lombard Street without any additional info, but a random wall in the middle of Mexico has no chance.

smnl 12 years ago | |

Yea, the current version uses a webview to show the street view, and moving/shifting the street view tended to make the app crash, so that's why it's disabled.

However, now that Google's added street view to their official iOS maps API, I'm planning to integrate that and it may allow features such as moving and zooming.

wooster 12 years ago |

Flagging. Lifting someone else's idea and also their name for that idea seems sketchy.

valhallarecords 12 years ago |

Pretty well done game. Challenge mode is an interesting new gameplay mode where you try to guess the location in the least amount of tries. I wonder what the breakdown is between people who play Classic vs. Challenge mode.

smnl 12 years ago | |

Thanks! It currently doesn't track user analytics, but that could be something worth looking into

pseudometa 12 years ago |

Total ripoff of the website game GeoGuessr. Hopefully royalties are being sent.

untog 12 years ago |

Most of the fun of the original GeoGuessr (for me at least) was doing detective work to find out where I was. A little more difficult to do on an iPhone.