World Wanderer

A screen showing a location in China, hinted by the Chinese flag and Chinese alphabet on building
Can deduce this is probably in Argentina, given the bank's sign

Inspiration

We took inspiration from a similar game called GeoGeussr. As we all play this game, we notice that you can do better as you learn more about how to differentiate countries. For example, learning about the different architecture styles (Japanese pagodas), learning which countries use which alphabets (the Baltic countries all use very similar alphabets, with some variation), and recognizing countries' road signs (USA stop sign vs EU stop signs). We think a game like this can make learning about geography and world cultures more fun.

What it does

After a user hits "Play", we load a semi-random Google Street View. The player is given no information except this street view and must attempt to pinpoint where they are.

Semi-random => Actually random locations, but we created some filters to remove bad street views, such as oceans and areas with low camera movement.

After guessing their location, they will be given a score for how accurate they were.

The "Sustainability Challenge" is a concept we want to explore more of in the future. It is a premade card deck that behaves like a normal challenge; but provides pollution information so the player can learn more about the area and its sustainability.

How we built it

We built it using mostly Javascript and Google Maps API.

Challenges we ran into

We had to hack around with the Google Maps API. For example, restricting our game from rending Street Views of Oceans, which can be difficult to pinpoint.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We found it fun! And even an improvement on our inspiration game, Geoguessr.

What we learned

We learned a lot about the Google Maps API and APIs in general. We also used this opportunity to learn more about version control with how we set up our Github project. We got really good Javascript and web-design practice as well.

What's next for World Wanderer

We would like to make user accounts. This would users to keep track of their success, such as through a leveling system or points-accumulating system. We can also implement a global leaderboard of sorts. We'd also like to fine-tune how street views are selected since there are so many possibilities for results. It can definitely be perfected for optimal fun/learning.