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Where in the USA is this?

pudding.cool

221–230 of 240 posts

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#221
post #169

For today's one, I've only been to [state] once, 20 years ago, but once I saw that bridge in the first picture I knew it was in [state].

I’m curious: Have you spent a lot of time on the east coast in smaller towns off the coast?

I live nearly 400 miles and a couple of states away and that looks just like one down my road. And there are tons like that between here and there.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man AND the ruler isnt the same size every time. I kept getting wrong answer after wrong answer despite the fact that I was CONVINCED I was triangulating properly..... But no! The size of the ruler kept changing!! I was using a constant 80px for it, and it was changing by as much as 30px as you zoomed in and out. What a waste of time. However I did get within 7mi once despite this terrible UX, because I saw a pic and…

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but that’s exactly how I would expect it to work and how it does work with Apple Maps and Google Maps. You can zoom at different increments than the scale label shows. Without changing the ruler size, how could this work? Am I misunderstanding you?

What I mean is like: I expected the different zooms to be specifically normalized so that at the most zoomed-out, 80px = 800mi, then 80px = 500mi, then 80px = 300mi, then 80px = 200mi, then 80px = 50mi, etc. But instead it was like.... 90px = 800mi, and 80px = 500mi, and 60px = 50mi, etc. So not only do you have to account for the changed scale, but you also have to measure the scale ruler at every increment.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but that’s exactly how I would expect it to work and how it does work with Apple Maps and Google Maps. You can zoom at different increments than the scale label shows. Without changing the ruler size, how could this work? Am I misunderstanding you?

What I mean is like: I expected the different zooms to be specifically normalized so that at the most zoomed-out, 80px = 800mi, then 80px = 500mi, then 80px = 300mi, then 80px = 200mi, then 80px = 50mi, etc. But instead it was like.... 90px = 800mi, and 80px = 500mi, and 60px = 50mi, etc. So not only do you have to account for the changed scale, but you also have to measure the scale ruler at every increment.

Ah, you want more distinct zoom levels. On my mobile device, for example, the ruler for, for example, 1,000 miles can be different lengths depending on if I am slightly more or less zoomed in (via pinch). Which might be related to the choice of projection, because even just moving around the map changes the ruler length for me, for the same labeled distance.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#224
The scale seems to be slightly off at very-close locations.

I had 4 guesses all within 1 mile of the location, but then the flag is many times further away from my guesses than the "1 mi" scale shows.

https://img.incoherency.co.uk/4472

I like this game very much. I don't know enough about the US to play it properly, but I enjoy playing it as partly a geometry problem, and partly a case of looking for Googlable clues in the photos.

There is a weakness because the images are loaded straight from Wikipedia: sometimes the filename of the image gives the location away, and even if it didn't I expect it's not too hard to get the metadata off Wikipedia given the image filename.

You might say "well don't look at the filename if you don't want it spoilt", but I often want to open the image in a new tab so that I can zoom, and then I accidentally see the filename.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I mean is like: I expected the different zooms to be specifically normalized so that at the most zoomed-out, 80px = 800mi, then 80px = 500mi, then 80px = 300mi, then 80px = 200mi, then 80px = 50mi, etc. But instead it was like.... 90px = 800mi, and 80px = 500mi, and 60px = 50mi, etc. So not only do you have to account for the changed scale, but you also have to measure the scale ruler at every increment.

Ah, you want more distinct zoom levels. On my mobile device, for example, the ruler for, for example, 1,000 miles can be different lengths depending on if I am slightly more or less zoomed in (via pinch). Which might be related to the choice of projection, because even just moving around the map changes the ruler length for me, for the same labeled distance.

Hmm for me I did have very distinct zoom levels here; I was only able to scroll in one tick or out one tick with my mouse wheel, it wasn't freeform. That's why I expected these quanta with a constant 80px-long ruler. Maybe on mobile it was a different experience.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#227
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…

Oh, I didn't even realize that until I read your comment. I got a lucky first guess and thought "wow, I'm good at this," and then they just kept getting worse, lol. I guess it's because that information is dropped at the wrong time, because right after that you first have to spend time on figuring out how the weird UI works so you can actually make your guess. Why does the map have to be hidden behind a button, and w…

[dead]

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#228
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The siren song of a mobile-first UI

The UI is pretty bad. I have a nice 27" monitor, yet they constrain the entire game to a tiny 5" wide column down the length of my browser window. Would be great if web designers would stop imagining that I'm browsing the web with a tiny portrait phone screen.

But conversely, if you are designing a website where I will likely need to consult information or enter information whilst also using another site, it'd be great if your site could be accessed in a 'tall-and-thin' format.

One of the most effective ways I have found to work is having windows open on the same monitor next to each other in a vertical tiling - almost as if they were two physical documents.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a designer, I can assure you that 90+% of computer users will never read a line of actual software documentation in their entire lives. It's not because they're lazy, it's because they don't have to. In many cases it doesn't even exist. The FOSS community almost universally blames marketing and advertising for the dominance of commercial consumer-level software, but that doesn't hold a candle to the experience upg…

It seems to me like some of the most successful commercial software virtually requires either reading the documentation, or doing some sort of training

Such as?

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#230
post #219
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From my experience, most people don't read the instructions or text notes anyway. This fascinated me ~90s computer gaming. There were clear camps of "people who always read the manual" and "people who never never read the manual."

I always read hints and in-build help. This is not the case in this game. It explicitly went against the "common convention" so to say. In all location guessing games you get one try per location, and most times you don't need to read instructions if you see a different guessing site. Number 5 is also a tell and different pictures. If it was say 2 tries with different pictures, people would have suspected that someth…

> In all location guessing games you get one try per location

Not in tradle, for example

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