Ericzz/image_clue huggingface dataset:
The Icelandic landscape typically features no vegetation other than grass. The road is normally flat but there are generally hills and mountains in the distance and undulating land around the road. It also has volcanos and glaciers.
A map showing specifically what parts of Europe are covered by Street View.
Finland uses warning signs that are triangular with a red outline and yellow filling. Across Europe, the same signs are used in Sweden, Iceland, Greece and North Macedonia.
Square utility poles are also common in the Dominican Republic.
The Street View car in Peru can be white or black. Within South America, the white car can also mainly be seen in Bolivia and Chile (although in Chile, this is more of a solid white colour). It can also very rarely be seen in Argentina.
The easiest way to identify Belgium is via its license plates. Belgium has the standard European plates with a unique red lettering. This appears as a faint red blur on Street View. Sometimes the blue vertical line of the European plates appears on the right of Belgium license plate instead of the regular left.
New coverage has been added to Nigeria meaning that you may see this tray behind you (typically with yellow and black striped tape around the edge although this isn’t always the case) concurrently with the large, circular blur. This is the most common meta in the newer October 2022 update meaning that you will often see this in the newly covered areas of Nigeria which includes the north of the country.
The eastern half of Russia contains many of these trees. They have a thin trunk, are relatively short and have pine needles. They are often found in large groups and can be a great way to work out if you are in eastern Russia.
This is a Danish guardrail. It is a B-profile guardrail which consists of 90-degree angles and a narrow central section. In Europe, this type of guardrail is only found in Denmark, Croatia, Serbia and Poland. It is also found in some parts of Turkey, North Macedonia, Ireland and Germany.
In the US, the direction home TV satellites point can help you narrow down your location. TV satellites on homes in the US point to a location just south of Texas. In this example, we can see the satellite pointing south-west. From this information we can tell that we are in a state north-east of the south of Texas satellite location- in this case we are in Arkansas.
The Street View car’s aerial is visible in Montenegro like much of Eastern Europe.
South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana should have the white car as visible. This contrasts the rest of Africa in which the white car generally can’t be seen. In South Africa, you will see the white car or a large, blurred circle under the car.
There are two main types of Street View car in Brazil. One of these is the blue car.
There are many dry, rocky mountains in the south-western part of South Africa.
License plates in Europe are generally long and skinny. They also typically have a blue section on the left of the plate. Long and skinny license plates are rarely found outside of Europe.
Cars drive on the left in the US Virgin Islands, contrasting the US. Marked roads will typically have a double yellow line in the middle.
Madagascar uses these utility poles featuring ‘dents’ in them.
Large concrete, rectangular blocks that make up the road comprise the majority of the roads in the Philippines. This feature can also be seen in Thailand fairly frequently and in a few other locations. Such is the abundance of these roads in the Philippines, if I see these roads with few other clues, I will guess the Philippines.
Thai bollards have an obelisk shape. They have alternating black and white sections.
In Italian towns and cities, the street signs often have the word ‘VIA’ on them. This translates to English as ‘street’.
Plates in British Columbia can be only white or white with a small red section.
A large number of Peruvian utility poles have part of their lower section painted. There is no single colour they are painted; some are black, blue, yellow, etc or some mixture of colours. Also, some are only painted a few feet up whilst others are painted almost half-way up.
Most road signs have a white outline in Montenegro.
Much of the Kyrgyzstan landscape has a wintery feel with snow a common sight.
Some Icelandic roads have the white, dashed edge markings. In Iceland, the grass tends to come all the way up to the road. Additionally, the roads are often this distinctive dark colour in Iceland.
USA license plates are useful for determining what state you are in.
In Israel, you should often see the Street View car’s long aerial.
In Santiago De Los Caballeros you should mainly see a gray base on utility poles and will only rarely see poles with a yellow base.
The south-western part of Kazakhstan has a Middle East feel, with lots of sand and virtually no vegetation.
This is what the front of Lithuanian bollards look like- they have a white rectangle on the rear instead of orange. These plastic bollards (that look like wood) with an orange rectangle are one of the best ways to distinguish Lithuania from the other Baltic countries (and other European countries). Latvia and Estonia both have bollards with a white rectangle on the front and white dots on the back. Bollards are found every few metres on well-frequented roads in Lithuania. The Lithuanian bollards are thinner than typical plank bollards.
The Colombian landscape is very green and tropical with thick foliage common.
Much of Portugal has a warm, Mediterranean vibe.
The UK stands out from Ireland as it has these warning signs. This is the most common warning sign in Europe but contrasts the yellow diamond of Ireland.
Nigeria’s most common utility poles often have a number of indents, like sections have been cut out but not quite enough has been cut out to form holes. Nigerian utility poles look similar to Brazilian utility poles.
Quebec has either white plates or plates with a delicate blue colouring in the upper right and upper left sections of the plate.
A street sign from Marseille. Notice ’14th Arr’ on the top of the sign. This indicates that we are in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille which we can find on the map.
If a Peruvian houses is built out of brick, it is often a brown-coloured brick. This brick colour is fairly rare in South America outside of Peru.
The capital ‘B’ at the start of this license plate indicates that it’s from Berlin. Many cities and regions can be deduced or guessed if you see an actual license plate as opposed to the blurring.
South Korean utility poles stand out as they mainly have what resembles a long, sharp, pointed spike extending upwards from the top of the main pole.
Hungary has plenty of these unique looking fire hydrants throughout the country.
The location of Extremadura in Spain- where there are green tops to the Spanish bollards. (Image source: TUBS, Wikipedia).
The second type of Australian bollard features a red circle.
There is a small amount of coverage on Christmas Island captured by a person walking around (you can see their blurred outline). In this example, we can see the Christmas Island red crabs.
The main feature of the Alabama plate is the top third being yellow. Green and blue are more subtle colours on the rest of the plate.
Croatian is spoken in Croatia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. This latter country has only a very small amount of Street View. Croatian has the small ‘v’ over z, s and c as well as the apostrophe looking line over c. There are a high occurrence of j, z and i in Croatian.
Within Colombia, these rudimentary fences are a common sight (especially in rural Colombia). They consist of misshapen wooden branches placed at intervals and connected by some wire. They are rarely seen outside of Colombia. On a number of occasions, I have been placed in a remote part of Colombia with few clues and these fences have helped me determine that I am indeed in Colombia.
Nova Scotian plates typically contain blue.
There are few cars in Botswana. License plates are therefore quite a rear sight. Cars in Botswana most commonly have yellow rear plates and white front plates.
Most of Guam’s Street View coverage is centred around Hagatna and greater Tamuning which are urban areas. The coverage also extends to a few further places including the road that hugs that southern coastal part of the island.
Many towns in France are situated on a river and this is reflected in their name. In these instances, the town will be called ‘name s/ river’ or ‘name sur river’. In the above example, the town is called Cosne S/ Loire. This means we need to look along the Loire River for the town.
Additionally to the indent, there is a column of small, vertically aligned drilled holes near the top of Chilean utility poles.
Some vehicles in Singapore have yellow rear plates and white front plates.
Singapore has four official languages. These are: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Sometimes all four of these languages appear on signs.
Taiwanese phone area codes are grouped by the first two digits. This map shows that the numbers increase are you travel south in Taiwan. Phone numbers are often displayed in towns and cities in Taiwan. (Source: Wikipedia, Furfur)
If you pan down in the Northern Mariana Islands you should see a thick blur beneath you. There is also an antenna extending from the front-right section of the Street View car. Guam has virtually an identical view when you pan down with a subtle difference that is explained in the next image. Puerto Rico also has an antenna extending from the front-right of the Street View car however they have a more subtle blur beneath you.
There are a large number of satellite dishes located on Christmas Island. If you are in a populated area you will undoubtedly see satellite dishes.
This type of warning sign (thin red outline and yellow coloured) with various images on it occurs only on Poland.
Signs in New Zealand are most commonly found on white posts and poles. This includes street name signs. This contrasts Australia where signs in general are most commonly found on metal poles.
Norway uses ‘…vei’ or ‘…veien’ on their street signs indicating ‘road’.
In Mongolia, it is common to be placed on a path that has been created by tyre tracks. The surrounding land is often grass. Sometimes there is no path at all.
A number of cars in Switzerland have these ‘CH’ stickers on their rear. CH stands for ‘Confoederatio Helvetica’ which are the Latin words for ‘Swiss Federation’.
Small Romanian towns often have houses with pyramid shaped roofs. The houses are commonly separated from the footpath by metal fences.
The black antenna holder on the left and the antenna on the right are only visible on the Virgin Island car on the northern islands.
Jersey has a real abundance of narrow, winding roads. There are often bushes and stone fences lining the roads.
Portugal looks very dry and is largely undulating. It can look similar to Mediterranean parts of Eastern Europe however Portuguese roads tend to be better maintained.
In Europe, yellow license plates are mainly found in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In Asia, yellow plates are mainly found in Japan and Israel. In South America, yellow plates are found in Colombia. The UK, Sri Lanka, Botswana, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda are the main locations with yellow rear plates but white front plates.
Many houses in Belgium have an older look to them. Houses with a visible brick exterior are a common sight in Belgium. Most of these houses have slanted roofs.
Peruvian sign poles are striped black and white and provide one of the best mechanisms to recognise the country.
In parts of Arizona and other sections of the south-west you may see large rock formations amongst the dry desert.
Other than Alberta’s primary bollard that is mentioned above, bollards are fairly rare in Canada. This image shows each Canadian bollard and its location. (Image source: I don’t know who created this amazing image but thank you!)
As a generalisation, Uruguayan roads and signs show a bit more wear than Argentine roads and signs.
Croatian utility poles come in a range of styles. The more common poles are cylindrical in shape and narrower near the top.
This map shows the location of the Chubu region in Japan- where the utility poles’ plates have curved edges. (Image source: TUBS, Wikipedia).
Guam can often be hard to find on the map due to its small size relative to the enormity of the Pacific Ocean. It is located slightly SSW from the Northern Mariana Islands. The easiest way to find it is to locate Manila and pan directly east.
The entire country of Ecuador is mountainous or at the least, hilly. The Andes is covered in dense, green, vegetation.
In some parts of Alaska you will see another Street View car down the road from you will an elevated camera on top.
Serbia is a fairly poor country. The roads and houses are often run down. Serbian towns regularly have narrow roads.
Occasionally the gray/white/black edge of the left Estonian side view mirror will be visible. Latvia has a similar coloured left, side view mirror that is also occasionally visible. Lithuania’s left side view mirror is more commonly visible and is green and red.
USA state flags. (Source: SiBr4, Wikipedia)
In Uganda you may see this man holding a gun whilst following the Street View car. This scene has appeared a number of times for me in Battle Royale.
The second autonomous region of Portugal is the Azores. The Azores archipelago has Street View coverage on São Miguel Island (the island that houses Ponta Delgada) and Terceira Island (the island that contains Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória). Although the Azores has the same license plates and utility poles as Madeira, it stands out as it is much flatter and whilst having some rolling hills, lacks the steep mountains of Madeira.
In Brazil, trucks, buses and taxis have distinctive red license plates. This can be helpful for recognising the country, especially on long, remote roads where trucks frequently travel.
Most South Korean residents live in apartments. Despite this, there is quite a range of house styles in the country. A common feature of South Korean houses involves having elaborate roofs. This includes having decorations, protrusions or stylised parts to the roof. In addition, the corners of the roofs often have pieces that arch upwards.
Nigerian license plates have a greenish tinge.
Houses in the Australian state of Queensland are most commonly made of horizontal pieces of wood. They are also often elevated off the ground (not necessarily as high as the house pictured).
This white car is used in the Qatari coverage (although it may appear blurred). It looks similar to the white Senegal car; however, the Qatari car has a narrow antenna on the far-left. In contrast, the white Senegal car has s stubbier, black antenna on the front-centre.
Parts of southern France are still covered by the generation 2 Street View camera. As a result, you may rarely see the odd yellow license plates on the rears of some French cars.
One of the easiest ways to recognise the U.K. is via their yellow rear license plates. UK cars have white front plates. This combination of plate colours is particularly rare in the rest of the world.
Utility poles in Kyrgyzstan come in a number of varieties. The pole itself is mainly square shaped and concrete. The pole often has two or three ‘pine cone’ shaped entities near the top. These can be symmetrical, with one on each side (as pictured) on at different levels. Some Kyrgyzstan utility poles are painted white near their base.
The Finnish language stands out from the other Nordic languages for its abundance of double letters. Estonian also has many double letters.
The rear side mirrors are an alternate option to the ‘camping equipment’ view and also indicate Mongolia.
A large number of Peruvian utility poles have part of their lower section painted. There is no single colour they are painted with some being black, blue, yellow, etc or some mixture of colours. Also, some are only painted a few feet up whilst others are painted almost half-way up.
If you happen to see an unblurred license plate in India, you can work out what state you are in. The first two letters on all Indian license plates are an abbreviation of the state name. In this example, the MH means we are in the state of Maharashtra. Although the state abbreviations don’t appear on the map, the state names do appear and the abbreviations can be worked out.
License plates in Kazakhstan typically resemble Russian plates- long, narrow and white.
The Northern Mariana landscape features a large number of palm trees. The territory is very tropical feeling and there are often hills nearby. Cars drive on the right in the Northern Mariana Islands which is rare for an island area.
In Jersey, you will often see a yellow line that covers the road at intersections. This is a great way to distinguish Jersey from the remainder of the UK.
Palestine has elongated white plates that help distinguish it from Israel.
An example of a US County Highway sign
Finland uses wooden, circular utility poles. Norway, Sweden and a number of other countries around the world also use these poles.
Dusseldorf has dark street signs with a white, metal ring around them.
There are many unpaved roads in southern Argentina.
Town name signs in Czechia have a thick black outline around them. This contrasts town name signs in Slovakia that have a thinner black outline around them (pictured in the below, Slovakia section).
Roundabouts are common at Tunisian intersections. They often have directional signs around them, providing useful information.
Rural Lithuanian houses often have eternit roofs (that look like corrugated iron) that are different shades of gray/silver. The roofs tend to face the road. These houses are also found across the other Baltic countries. These houses are the easiest way for me to identify the Baltic countries.
The southern and south-western US states are generally dry with large parts of these areas lacking vegetation and comprising desert.
In Colombia, you will typically see the short, stubby aerial of the Street View car if you pan down. Sometimes the aerial will be there but not visible in that moment. In this scenario you normally will need to move a few metres to make it appear. In Latin America, the short, stubby aerial is most common in Colombia and Ecuador but is can also be seen in Brazil and Mexico on occasions. This antenna in the four Latin American countries stands out for having a single diagonal string like protrusion wrapping around it. Countries with a stubby antenna outside of Latin America have a different looking stubby antenna without the single diagonal string like protrusion.
Curaçao features blue signs with white lettering that provide useful directional information that can help to pinpoint your location.
The backs of large Serbian signs have this corrugated style.
Slovakia and Czechia houses are typically cream-coloured with slanted terracotta roof tiles that have a unique shade.
This is what the back of Lithuanian bollards look like. Bollards are found every few metres on well-frequented roads in Lithuania. The Lithuanian bollards are thinner than typical plank bollards.
This is the front view of Hungarian bollards. Bulgaria, Croatia and North Macedonia have virtually identical bollards front and back. Serbia have two types of bollards. One type is similar to these Hungarian bollards although Serbia has the red rectangle to one side.
Trucks in Brazil have red coloured plates.
Houses in Madagascar often have reeds comprising the roof (or corrugated iron). Coconut palms are also fairly common.
The Dominican Republic is the only place in the world (other than parts of Mongolia) to have these thick black lines running along the Street View car’s bars.
The rear of Sri Lankan plates are yellow and the front plates are white. Hong Kong and Botswana also have yellow rear plates and white front plates.
Ghanaian Street View coverage has its epicentres in Accra and Kumasi. A number of ‘N’ highways stretch around the country, linking up the most populous Ghanaian cities and towns. There is no Street View coverage in the centre of Ghana.
There are a number of common house styles in Japan. The first of these is the house with a compacted square-based pyramid for a roof. Japanese houses are often two-storey. This style of house also has a roof for its lower storey.
Cars in Puerto Rico typically have no front license plate. For me, this is one of the easiest ways to recognise Puerto Rico.
Street signs in Christchurch have a white, vertical band on the end of the standard blue and white NZ signs.
The Stuart Highway, which is the road that runs north-south through Australia, is the main section of coverage in the centre of Australia. The Stuart Highway has generation 4 coverage from Adelaide to Alice Springs (meaning you should see the blue car and as depicted by the blue line above). North of Alice Springs is all generation 1 and 3.
The back of Sicilian bollards.
Botswana’s highway signs look similar to South Africa’s. Botswana use ‘A’ for major highways and ‘B’ for smaller roads. This contrasts South Africa which most commonly uses R, N and M.
Another key difference between Ireland and the U.K. is that Ireland uses the metric system. As a result, you will see kilometres on Irish signs as opposed to miles in the U.K.
There are two different kinds of cars that took the Street View coverage in Senegal if you see bars. Firstly, there is the car whose rear bar has a black covering on one side- see the black covering on the right side of the image.
Small sections of south-western Cambodia are rather hilly and green.
Japan has a unique landscape that is fairly easy to recognise.
The only part of Midway Atoll that isn’t swarming with albatross is the airport runway.
Like the other African countries, Lesotho uses the triangular warning signs featuring a red outline and white filling.
These are the most common utility poles on mainland Malaysia. They are cylindrical in shape and are thicker towards the base.
The oblast of Kaliningrad (the central European section of Russia) has autumn coverage. Also in Kaliningrad, you will find seemingly random parts of the world around you blurred out- like Lithuania.
Old model Mercedes cars are found abundantly in Albania.
Malaysia commonly has these black rectangles with white lettering on their utility poles. These black rectangles only occur on the Malaysian mainland and never on Borneo. Utility poles on Malaysian Borneo are generally slightly thinner than utility poles on mainland Malaysia.
This tent is unique as it is tied down with red string.
Many rear license plates in Kenya are yellow. Kenyan plates also tend to be squarer than other yellow licence plates around the world (excluding Uganda).
The letter ‘C’ with a hook underneath it is another letter I look for to identify Turkey. In general, the Turkish language reminds me most of Albanian.
Many roofs in Java have tiles with each tile having a bump in it- like a wave. Although these roofs can be seen on other Indonesian islands, they are most common on Java.
Many main roads in Denmark have this distinct short-dashed edge marking.
Imagery in Jersey was captured on the generation 2 Street View camera. As a result, you will see a large, circular blur if you pan down, a halo around the sun, lower image quality and brighter colours.
A typical Maltese scene comprises little vegetation other than grass, fields of different colours, a rock wall and everything in the landscape being close to the ground.
This is what the rear of Montenegro’s bollards looks like.
The Greek language is fairly well known because of the Greek alphabet. It is important not to confuse the letters with Cyrillic which can look similar.
The sides of the Estonian roads are often more forested than Latvian and Lithuanian roads.
The remainder of the new Senegal coverage was taken with this silver truck.
‘C’ roads are found in the Australian states of Tasmania and Victoria.
Mongolian bollards remind me of the pins from ten-pin bowling. Sometimes they lack the stripes and are just white.
As well as blue plates, New Mexico also has many yellow plates.