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Where in the USA is this?

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Re: Where in the USA is this?

#151

Post by outsidetheparty »

bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

Count me as one more person who did not realize this until after playing the full game and then coming back here to read the comments.

One more arrow in the quiver of "users don't read"

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#152

Post by chrisco255 »

postmodest wrote: post #79
brezelgoring wrote: post #34

I got 0 mi! [1] After the first 2 I stopped attempting cities and figured the picture didn't matter, it was a game of triangulation. Nice game, I like it, even though I've never set foot in the US. [1] Spoilers! - https://i.imgur.com/azCWc3i.png

I was off by 6 miles because the actual pin is off by six miles for the last picture. Also, as an American, the fact that I recognized the first picture to within 50 miles makes me sad. Our bridges should not look like that, even there.

The bridge in the fitst photo is an old one lane bridge, probably was used by carriages. It looks like it mostly just connects a small neighborhood of houses, not a main road by any means. There are probably newer concrete bridges out of frame, but they're not as picturesque as old steel bridges.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#153

Post by avgcorrection »

cpeterso wrote: post #18

The original “where in the world?” location guessing game is GeoGuesser from 2013. There are competitions and some pro competitors can pinpoint locations within feet, though some rules allow the player to browse Google Maps in a separate window. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoGuessr

Rules? That sounds like a kind of Honor Rule since it seems impossible to enforce. I think it’s better to play with a time limit instead in order to make aids impractical. Of course in a duel or something you can just start the countdown after the first guess is made.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#154

Post by pneumonic »

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #82
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

The issue is they're clearly not all from the same place, so the instruction can't really register. They were all taken within a few hundred feet of each other, but that doesn't mean they were taken from the same place. In today’s one was aerial while another was indoors — not the same place! The instructions would be better if they read “the five photos were taken at different times, but were all taken within a few…

The instructions do say:

> Each day, a random location is generated, along with five photos within five miles.

So the pictures are all within 53,000 feet of each other (10 miles). Note that the random location is just some point, and probably not in a town or city.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#155

Post by chrisco255 »

CSMastermind wrote: post #124

I really wish it was easier to zoom in on the photos to find clues. Also the maps being used for the game were rough for me. Lacking details, town names, clear rivers unless you're way zoomed in, etc. Google maps would be a much better choice imo.

It's pretty easy on mobile but the photos are often bad quality. They were probably taken in late 00s/early 10s, submitted to Wikimedia and never really updated with modern cameras.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#156

Post by croshan »

ethanbond wrote: post #140
tasuki wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Interesting concept, but poorly communicated. It was communicated in the very first sentence of the instructions. It's just that both you and me failed to read the instructions. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

No, this is a design problem. The fact that so many missed it is just evidence of how subtly tricky good design is.

You’re both right—a better world emerges, when we each look towards ourselves to solve the problems we see.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#157

Post by xerxesaa »

bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

One problem is that the instructions are not visible until you click on the question mark icon (at least on mobile) so I didn't even realize there were instructions until I read your comment.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#158

Post by seabass-labrax »

Anon4Now wrote: post #137
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

My problem was the state lines. My first guess was somewhere in West Virginia, which happened to be right, but being from the west coast, I had trouble eyeballing where to click for West Virginia. The game is great, but I'm shouting to the wind about the decline in quality of online maps. For example, I can barely see roads on Google maps any more. The lines are faint and low contrast. Zooming in doesn't help because…

Google Maps is also really prejudiced against railways! Maps by the Ordnance Survey (the national cartography agency of Britain) have railways indicated by a solid, thick black line - more prominent than most roads. Google Maps shows railways less visibly than a footpath!

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#159

Post by kmill »

anonu wrote: post #89
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

OTOH I understood the instructions immediately. This is a fundamental issue in UX. Some users will know right away and others will not. Maybe a better sentence structure? Maybe something like "Guess the 1 location where all these photos were taken" (?) From my experience, most people don't read the instructions or text notes anyway. So its possible that an even better UX is one where the user figures out what they ca…

I once wrote a final exam for a linear algebra course with a section "all the following are false, explain why." I did it to make it easier than a T/F, but it was unintentionally devious. So many students said some of them were true anyway and tried to prove them...

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#160

Post by qbrass »

brezelgoring wrote: post #34

I got 0 mi! [1] After the first 2 I stopped attempting cities and figured the picture didn't matter, it was a game of triangulation. Nice game, I like it, even though I've never set foot in the US. [1] Spoilers! - https://i.imgur.com/azCWc3i.png

Right click image, open in new tab, read URL of image which is helpfully descriptive, search wikipedia for that bridge. Wikipedia article shows location of the bridge on a map.

In reality, I didn't cheat until the 2nd picture, because a picture of some guys shaking a politician's hand isn't really that helpful. If the image didn't tell you what union was talking to what politician, I wouldn't have been able to look up the street address of the union hall. Even then, I still couldn't find the town on the map, so I had to eyeball it to get 0 mi.

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