Hey everyone, thanks for watching as always! I recently launched a Discord server for all things US GeoGuessr. Anyone is welcome to join! discord.gg/GbQF54AbAh Edit - As someone has pointed out to me, the map of US-201 at 5:49 is not entirely accurate. The blue road is actually US-201A and the red road is US-201. My apologies for the error, and I hope the point of that visualization still got across!
The thing with pine trees only having branches near the top happens naturally somewhat, but it's also done artificially if the trees are grown for use as utility poles or lumber, where the trunk is the only valuable part of the tree.
As someone from Missouri, just wanted to point out the state's foliage tends to fall more in line with the rest of the Southern Midwest and that the "Southern Pines" are an incredibly uncommon sight- especially if you are in the northern part of the state.
The double yellow lines in a highway are noticeably farther apart in OR and WA. Also OR is the only state where the speed limit signs say only “speed (number)”, all other states say “speed limit (number)”
After watching this I got an almost perfect score NM in your map in around 10 minutes, whereas till now I never had a patience to look for anything in the US and my score was not so great... This is briliant!
Bus stop signs / buses themselves can also be super helpful. I’ve had many rounds where I think I’m in a small-ish city (strip malls, chain fast food, etc.) but the bus stops cue me in to it being a suburb or outskirts of a major metro area.
Yes! This is true. I was on US 12 in Whiting, Indiana once and I knew I’d eventually end up in Chicago, but wasn’t sure when, then when I started to see CTA bus stop signs, I knew I was in Chicago and Illinois.
This series is a great idea. I'm definitely looking forward to future episodes that go into more detail. Specifically, I'm really interested in the nuances in landscape.
One other thing about area codes that might be worth mentioning is that the lower number = bigger city rule only applies to area codes where the second digit is 0 or 1.
Another great video CG! Thanks for the time you're pouring into these videos. I've been working on my speed run times and have just cracked the 10 minute time for the USNB map. While I'm aware of most of the tips laid out in this video, I did pick up a nugget or two. The hardest thing for me while doing speed runs is not being able to look around. My love of "soaking it in" and seeing parts of our country I normally would never see seems to win out when I attempt a speed run, and I'll wind up aborting the run and start clicking around and getting "lost" in the maps, discovering unheard of places and sites all the time! It's like the "SQUIRREL" scene in Up. LOL Anyway, keep it up!
for license plates, many states use many licenses plates. for example, new york uses that white model, a white and blue model, and a yellow and blue model, which you can see all three on the road. i know states like florida, michigan, etc uses multiple as well
Another thing not mentioned is that often times people will get mixed up between Florida and California. If you are in a suburban area, a big distinction between the two is that most Florida homes are mobile homes and if they are not, Florida homes typically don't have short metal fences like many California houses do.
Watch for commercial trucks for DOT info. A lot of company trucks have the state somewhere near the door, if you see multiple states, the business is likely on the border. For example, i saw a truck with numbers for TN, AR, and MS so i know im most likely near Memphis.
Noob tip to get familiar: Have multiple tabs for reference. I like to have google earth for looking for street names, my photos to check reference images like the shown license plate chart and more. Obviously, I’m a huge noob and always looking for tips.
Awesome video! I’ve definitely used most of those tips, especially the area codes. I mainly plain the US map, but I’ve also done an Illinois one several times to try to become a bit more familiar with my own state and test my knowledge. I’ll definitely check out some of the maps you mentioned at the end.
I really like geoguessing USA, my parents took me on a road trip to the lower 48 states as a kid, I am very good at spotting the natural environment with accuracy
I was plunked into a hilly neighborhood with evergreen trees and a yard with palms. Weird. But familiar. In Seattle we have random palm like trees or bush that are added to yards. It was the north Seattle area. I think that one took me about 5 minutes to figure out. I was so proud of myself lol
I really love seeing my area in a random video, but at 6:00, unfortunately you showed US201 as US1, and 201A as 201. 1 stays along the coast, where 201 goes from the coast to the canadian border near Jackman. 201A is a spur route of 201 that goes through my home town of Anson. Great video
I think the best tip is actually traveling across the US if it's possible to do. Physically being in a place in the US and traveling around makes a lot of states so much easier to recognize including the ones that you wouldn't expect.
u barely touch on it but zip codes are a huge hint to where you are. they follow a nice pattern around the country too. yeah you won't see many in GeoGuessr but could be a life saver picking Texas from Idaho
Few things, Montana has a new state highway shield, sort of resembling a pinecone? I guess is what I'd call it And Massachusetts has changed it's exit system in the past year (with the old exit beneath it) so for older coverage it might not resemble the exit you see on google maps
Wyoming doesn't require front plates on cars manufactured without a front plate holder. I don't know if this is the case for other states, but it does mean that sports cars in Wyoming as well as many luxury brands don't have front plates
It's a similar case here in Texas too. They technically require front plates, but nobody enforces it. It's pretty normal to use zip ties, and I've kept my license plate up in the dashboard since our car isn't even equipped to hold a front plate. For geoguessr, the registration sticker on the bottom corner of the front windshield is much more effective for identifying Texas (especially since the all-white Texas plate is basically indistinguishable from temporary tags issued in every state)
New York resident here: we have 3 different types of plates, we had the white ones and the yellow ones, with the yellow being slightly more common. However, we were recently given new plates last year. You should still see some yellows, but less of them.
@@ChicagoGeographer so now it's going to be harder to guess New York haha... I think the yellow license plates were as iconic as the Statue of Liberty!
New York now has a mainly white license plate but as someone who lives in New York if you see very orange license plates AND white license plates you're probably in New York. Also another NY tip as someone who lives there, if you see what looks like Hebrew (which is most likely actually yiddish) but it looks like America and you see people wearing all black and possibly hats you're probably in downstate New York because downstate New York has a very large hasidic Jewish population in certain areas.
One interesting thing is that not all California highway/freeway exit signs have exit numbers - so that might be a clue! This also may be true in some other places.
So to build off of the state flags, wouldn’t city flags help be somewhat helpful too? Obviously the flag of Chicago is fairly recognizable, well at least for me it is.
In some cases for sure, but they are even rarer than state flags (maybe not true in Chicago haha but definitely for many other cities). I may mention some distinct city flags in future episodes!
Here is another tip : you can guess which state it is by reading the electoral yard signs for Governors or Senators/Members of Congress. They won't always be displayed, but during the elections if the Google car drove past a residential area... it's a golden clue !
I got totally lost in the landscape part of this video bro.... couldnt tell what the hell was the difference to save my life, its so hard to identify any tip where i can go to study the difference in landscapes within the us??
@@ChicagoGeographer but like, I saw a bunch of cars with white license plates in the USA. Every car had what looked to be an all white Texas plate. It was Georgia.
Just a note about area codes. The fact that areas with higher populations have lower numbers for easy rotary dialing is likely false. underunderstood.com/podcast/episode/area-code-conspiracy-theory/ This podcast did a lot of research on it and cannot find any evidence for this from primary sources.
It's probably because I'm American, but the US isn't tricky for me. On the contrary I think its straightforward but not quick (perhaps a distinction without a difference) without these tips and I don't ever struggle to the point that I give up (despite not knowing my license plates).
I’m from the US and I definitely find it tricky, the cities are super easy and suburbs but rural areas look so similar to eachother it can be really tricky.
Hey everyone, thanks for watching as always! I recently launched a Discord server for all things US GeoGuessr. Anyone is welcome to join! discord.gg/GbQF54AbAh
Edit - As someone has pointed out to me, the map of US-201 at 5:49 is not entirely accurate. The blue road is actually US-201A and the red road is US-201. My apologies for the error, and I hope the point of that visualization still got across!
4:10 "two big cities you're in between"
*Shows Effingham and Terre Haute*
The thing with pine trees only having branches near the top happens naturally somewhat, but it's also done artificially if the trees are grown for use as utility poles or lumber, where the trunk is the only valuable part of the tree.
Good point!
As someone from Missouri, just wanted to point out the state's foliage tends to fall more in line with the rest of the Southern Midwest and that the "Southern Pines" are an incredibly uncommon sight- especially if you are in the northern part of the state.
The tips video we all needed. Thanks for the great content!
Also face cam nice
The double yellow lines in a highway are noticeably farther apart in OR and WA. Also OR is the only state where the speed limit signs say only “speed (number)”, all other states say “speed limit (number)”
ive lived in oregon all my live and never knew this. i could swear rn that some signs here say speed limit
Can't wait for Part 2
After watching this I got an almost perfect score NM in your map in around 10 minutes, whereas till now I never had a patience to look for anything in the US and my score was not so great... This is briliant!
Thanks, and well played!
valuable information, yet more to fit into my ever full noggin haha
A tip for area codes: All states with 1 area code have a 0 as the 2nd digit. Helpful for those trying to memorize the single area code states.
Banger of a video CG
Bus stop signs / buses themselves can also be super helpful. I’ve had many rounds where I think I’m in a small-ish city (strip malls, chain fast food, etc.) but the bus stops cue me in to it being a suburb or outskirts of a major metro area.
Very true! I'll talk more about bus stops in the future too :)
Yes! This is true. I was on US 12 in Whiting, Indiana once and I knew I’d eventually end up in Chicago, but wasn’t sure when, then when I started to see CTA bus stop signs, I knew I was in Chicago and Illinois.
This series is a great idea. I'm definitely looking forward to future episodes that go into more detail. Specifically, I'm really interested in the nuances in landscape.
One thing i realized fast is that you can usually see cities and sometimes states on the side of trash cans
ngl this the most helpful guide i’ve ever watched on anything ever
Absolutely needed this. Keep pumpin them out dude
This was excellent; clear, concise and very informative.
Also, congrats on the record!
Thanks, I appreciate it!
One other thing about area codes that might be worth mentioning is that the lower number = bigger city rule only applies to area codes where the second digit is 0 or 1.
Another great video CG! Thanks for the time you're pouring into these videos. I've been working on my speed run times and have just cracked the 10 minute time for the USNB map. While I'm aware of most of the tips laid out in this video, I did pick up a nugget or two. The hardest thing for me while doing speed runs is not being able to look around. My love of "soaking it in" and seeing parts of our country I normally would never see seems to win out when I attempt a speed run, and I'll wind up aborting the run and start clicking around and getting "lost" in the maps, discovering unheard of places and sites all the time! It's like the "SQUIRREL" scene in Up. LOL Anyway, keep it up!
Thanks! I also sometimes end up going down the Google Maps rabbit hole, haha. Well done getting sub 10!
for license plates, many states use many licenses plates. for example, new york uses that white model, a white and blue model, and a yellow and blue model, which you can see all three on the road. i know states like florida, michigan, etc uses multiple as well
Great introduction video, hyped for the series!
Thanks!
Another thing not mentioned is that often times people will get mixed up between Florida and California. If you are in a suburban area, a big distinction between the two is that most Florida homes are mobile homes and if they are not, Florida homes typically don't have short metal fences like many California houses do.
Also, Mountains. California has mountains, Florida does not :-)
Easiest distinction
If front plates and palm trees are there it's California
If no front plates and if palm trees are there it's florida
Watch for commercial trucks for DOT info. A lot of company trucks have the state somewhere near the door, if you see multiple states, the business is likely on the border.
For example, i saw a truck with numbers for TN, AR, and MS so i know im most likely near Memphis.
Noob tip to get familiar:
Have multiple tabs for reference. I like to have google earth for looking for street names, my photos to check reference images like the shown license plate chart and more.
Obviously, I’m a huge noob and always looking for tips.
Awesome video! I’ve definitely used most of those tips, especially the area codes. I mainly plain the US map, but I’ve also done an Illinois one several times to try to become a bit more familiar with my own state and test my knowledge. I’ll definitely check out some of the maps you mentioned at the end.
Note times:
License Plates - 1:18 and 1:36
Interstate Highways - 2:32, 3:40, 3:50
US Numbered Highways - 5:30, 6:47
State Highways - 7:20
General Landscapes -map time ()- 7:55, 8:03, 8:10 (8:20), 8:25 (8:34), 8:37 (8:46), 8:50, 9:02, 9:10 (9:24), 9:27, 9:36, 9:43, 9:55, 10:01
Post Offices - 10:24
Flags - 11:07
Area Codes - 11:30
Abbreviations - 12:15
Extra:
GeoGuessr Maps to Play - 12:48, 13:12, 13:38, 13:45, 13:58
This is a great video, and well narrated too!
Thanks!
This is amazing thank you!! Please do more of these soon!!
i needed this ^^
I really like geoguessing USA, my parents took me on a road trip to the lower 48 states as a kid, I am very good at spotting the natural environment with accuracy
Excellent video, very helpful. Thank you!
I was plunked into a hilly neighborhood with evergreen trees and a yard with palms. Weird. But familiar. In Seattle we have random palm like trees or bush that are added to yards. It was the north Seattle area. I think that one took me about 5 minutes to figure out. I was so proud of myself lol
Boats can be a good way to find the state if you can read the state abbreviation on the side of it.
Great Videos
I've been looking for a video like this, great stuff!
Thanks!
I really love seeing my area in a random video, but at 6:00, unfortunately you showed US201 as US1, and 201A as 201. 1 stays along the coast, where 201 goes from the coast to the canadian border near Jackman. 201A is a spur route of 201 that goes through my home town of Anson. Great video
I saw that error as well. Interestingly, US 201 is still a spur road of US 1, going from Brunswick to the Canadian border.
@@37llawffej it seems like every highway in the state is a spur of a bigger one
I think learning the cascade range is pretty useful for west coast
I think the best tip is actually traveling across the US if it's possible to do. Physically being in a place in the US and traveling around makes a lot of states so much easier to recognize including the ones that you wouldn't expect.
Thank you! This is fantastic! You are super organized. :)
Thank you!!
Great info. Looking forward to future videos
Thank you!
Thank you dude, I have always been struggling with US States cuz I am European and have never been in the US.
u barely touch on it but zip codes are a huge hint to where you are. they follow a nice pattern around the country too. yeah you won't see many in GeoGuessr but could be a life saver picking Texas from Idaho
Yes, I was waiting for that :D My poor knowledge about USA is my biggest disadvantage right know. I am looking forward for the next episode :D
Thanks raidman!
What a great channel! Subscribed immediately looking forward to the future content thanks for all the tips!
Few things, Montana has a new state highway shield, sort of resembling a pinecone? I guess is what I'd call it
And Massachusetts has changed it's exit system in the past year (with the old exit beneath it) so for older coverage it might not resemble the exit you see on google maps
FYI Tennessee has changed there plates to a blue one a while ago and I almost never see the old green ones that were featured in the video.
Wyoming doesn't require front plates on cars manufactured without a front plate holder. I don't know if this is the case for other states, but it does mean that sports cars in Wyoming as well as many luxury brands don't have front plates
It's a similar case here in Texas too. They technically require front plates, but nobody enforces it. It's pretty normal to use zip ties, and I've kept my license plate up in the dashboard since our car isn't even equipped to hold a front plate. For geoguessr, the registration sticker on the bottom corner of the front windshield is much more effective for identifying Texas (especially since the all-white Texas plate is basically indistinguishable from temporary tags issued in every state)
Thanks! I’ve been trying to master the US in GeoGuessr
I'm an okie and recently reached my goal of going to every county in Oklahoma, (irl) and i can just tell when it's Oklahoma.
Love it
1:20 New York is still yellow right?
Nope, the yellow plate was replaced with the one in the image last year. Thankfully there are still many cars with yellow plates around (for now!)
New York resident here: we have 3 different types of plates, we had the white ones and the yellow ones, with the yellow being slightly more common. However, we were recently given new plates last year. You should still see some yellows, but less of them.
@@ChicagoGeographer so now it's going to be harder to guess New York haha... I think the yellow license plates were as iconic as the Statue of Liberty!
Alabama has a state law that requires them to change the license plate format every 5 years. Not sure if it's true for any other states
New York now has a mainly white license plate but as someone who lives in New York if you see very orange license plates AND white license plates you're probably in New York. Also another NY tip as someone who lives there, if you see what looks like Hebrew (which is most likely actually yiddish) but it looks like America and you see people wearing all black and possibly hats you're probably in downstate New York because downstate New York has a very large hasidic Jewish population in certain areas.
3:24
NJ Turnpike: Kumalala Kumalala Kumala Savesta
My best time on US is 12:03 and I still struggle with license plates
That casey kansas exit sign is kinda close to where i live. lol
I wish I found your flygon account sooner glad to see your doing well.
Thanks!!
Lmfao my username shows up in the leaderboard at 13:42 😭
That’s literally my only accomplishment so hopefully no one beats it 🤞
Nice! the guy with a 20 sec time is almost definitely cheating so you're #1!
Great idea to post it here then /s.
Please explain alternate routes, ie: US-6A
One interesting thing is that not all California highway/freeway exit signs have exit numbers - so that might be a clue! This also may be true in some other places.
Yeah California has some interesting exit stuff goin on, I'll talk about it in the California episode and maybe a highway exit video too!
So helpful for a Geo n00b like me.
11:00 My home state :)
So to build off of the state flags, wouldn’t city flags help be somewhat helpful too? Obviously the flag of Chicago is fairly recognizable, well at least for me it is.
In some cases for sure, but they are even rarer than state flags (maybe not true in Chicago haha but definitely for many other cities). I may mention some distinct city flags in future episodes!
Here is another tip : you can guess which state it is by reading the electoral yard signs for Governors or Senators/Members of Congress. They won't always be displayed, but during the elections if the Google car drove past a residential area... it's a golden clue !
I aint memorizing each state's voting ballot every four years
yes
681 is very rare in West Virginia. You'll see 304 95% of the time.
This is true, I didn't even know 681 was a WV code until I made this video lol
I got totally lost in the landscape part of this video bro.... couldnt tell what the hell was the difference to save my life, its so hard to identify any tip where i can go to study the difference in landscapes within the us??
He explained well , re-watch the video making notes and search for the shape and look of each tree and every geographical term he mentions.😊
I can’t even get my own country (Australia) right so I’m hopeless at US geography. Fun game though.
Remember, if you see a route number that's a fraction, you're in West Virginia.
@David Daum or Wisconsin
12:37 Didn't they stop spawning Gen 1 on default US?? Did someone tell me that or did I make it up?
Hmmm I might have heard that too, idk
USNB still goated
I confuse north eastern US with Canada all the time :(
Ah yeah those toss-ups are the worst! I might do an episode on how to tell US and Canada apart
How do you even make out license plate designs when they're all blurred out too much to make out any good important details?!
I have another tips video all about license plates :)
@@ChicagoGeographer but like, I saw a bunch of cars with white license plates in the USA. Every car had what looked to be an all white Texas plate. It was Georgia.
Just takes practice to get used to the subtle details
Lol just spawned infront of Montana capital building
With these in mind probably i will travel better in USA than Indonesia, where i am from
Just a note about area codes. The fact that areas with higher populations have lower numbers for easy rotary dialing is likely false. underunderstood.com/podcast/episode/area-code-conspiracy-theory/ This podcast did a lot of research on it and cannot find any evidence for this from primary sources.
I just wish I could memorize the area codes. 😢
Do you think you could drive from Michigan to Florida with no GPS?😂
US-41 all the way!
Lol. Let's hope we all could still do this instead of degrading to amoeba.
35E and 35W clue
TIL US state flags look like some beginner tried out Photoshop for the first time. Thx.
The US states have some of the most hideous flags lol. NM and AZ are two of the best though
They honestly look as if my 9 year old nephew tried out Photoshop.
How many credits can I get for GEOG101???
Honors credit for this course, we're going all in
It's probably because I'm American, but the US isn't tricky for me. On the contrary I think its straightforward but not quick (perhaps a distinction without a difference) without these tips and I don't ever struggle to the point that I give up (despite not knowing my license plates).
WIthout a time limit and moving maybe.
I’m from the US and I definitely find it tricky, the cities are super easy and suburbs but rural areas look so similar to eachother it can be really tricky.
I ... Um ... So ... This feels like a really well-developed skill set for something that's just a simple game based on Google maps.
Along with these notable features, why not include time zones in the next video?
I'm wondering how would time zones would be useful in GeoGuessr though?
I think information about plates is not useful :/ they are all blurred while playing
Yes but a lot are still recognizable when blurred
texas is always a pain in the ass lmao
Freedom units 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Post office = ez 5k
Okay great vid and everything Chicago, and Imma let you finish, but Crypto currency is the best investment decision OF ALL TIME.
DOGECOIN TO THE MOON
ur kinda cute ngl
Even though this was very informative, I think I understand less now.
With these in mind probably i will travel better in USA than Indonesia, where i am from