placeSpotting Archive

There are only a few Twitter users where I always click the links in their real-time stream. One of those accounts is from placeSpotting, an app we reviewed- a year ago.  placeSpotting founder Martin Fussen tells us that since March 2008, the game has seen over 20,000 user-generated quizzes (I call them riddles) and over 3.3 million quizzes have been started. Sadly only about 10% of the riddle locations have been correctly identified.

Here’s how placeSpotting works. They have found certain spots around the world using Google Maps and they lock the map onto that particular location. The bottom panel has a moveable and zoomable map where you try to find the exact same spot — not close, but exact, the zoom, the absolute exact spot. You can create riddles as well. There is a search which lets you decide where the riddles should be based, voting score along with the difficulty level for the riddle.

I find placeSpotting to be a good way to get 3-5 minutes of brain break each day. While I rarely solve the riddles, it’s neat to check out other locations around the world. I did solve one last week although it was set to the very easy level.

Martin also let me know that they have launched a new iPhone app which allows you to attempt to solve the riddles and also create new riddles while you are on the go. So when your subway doesn’t arrive on time, the bus is late or your ride forgot to pick you up, why not try to find out where in the world is this tiny square on a Google Map. The app is available for 99 cents.

Yesterday we wrote about the Swiss trains Google Maps mashup and how cool it is. Today I have another mashup that will challenge you and might push you to swear out loud. The site is named placeSpotting and creates so-called "Riddles" using Google Maps. It’s like a real world Carmen Sandiago.

Here’s how it works. They have found certain spots around the world using Google Maps and they lock the map onto that particular location. The bottom panel has a moveable and zoomable map where you try to find the exact same spot — not close, but exact, the zoom, the absolute exact spot. You can create riddles as well. There is a search which lets you decide where the riddles should be based, voting score along with the difficulty level for the riddle.

To help you find the answers, the riddles come with 2-3 hints but let’s just say that they don’t really help that much. I’ve played several riddles over the course of an hour and didn’t get very far. While it is a hair-pulling game, I found it to be a lot of fun, almost like a hunt.

I spoke with founder Martin Fussen about the site and he shared that there are 3600 riddles in the system and approximately 11% of users who start a riddle actually find the answer. The service is based in Switzerland and has English and German language versions.

Give it a try and see if you can solve the world’s location riddles, I plan to try again later today. Here’s a short video on how the game works: