How to Guess Any Street View Location: 12 Clues That Give a Country Away
You open a Street View location and have no idea where you are. Good players aren’t magic: they work through a short list of clues, starting with the ones that rule out the most countries. Here are twelve, roughly in the order worth checking.
They work in any Street View game, including Hide & Seek Online, where your friends choose the hiding spots, so the clue might be a café sign they picked on purpose.
1. Which side of the road cars drive on
This is the single biggest filter. About a third of the world’s people live in countries that drive on the left. Look at parked cars, moving traffic, or which side of the road the Street View car is on.
Drives on the left (examples): United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand.
Drives on the right: almost all of the Americas, continental Europe, most of Africa and much of Asia, including China, South Korea, Vietnam and Turkey.
If cars are on the left and signs are in English, you’re probably in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or a few others. That’s a huge narrowing.
2. The alphabet on signs
Before reading words, recognise the script:
- Latin (this alphabet): Europe, the Americas, much of Africa, parts of Southeast Asia.
- Cyrillic: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kazakhstan and others.
- Greek: Greece and Cyprus.
- Arabic: North Africa and the Middle East.
- Hebrew: Israel.
- Thai, Khmer, Lao: each has its own distinctive rounded script.
- Devanagari and other Indic scripts: India and Nepal.
- Japanese kana mixed with kanji, Korean hangul (circles and lines), or Chinese characters.
3. Special letters within the Latin alphabet
Once you know it’s Latin script, small letters give countries away:
| Letters | Likely language |
|---|---|
| å, æ, ø | Danish or Norwegian (å also Swedish) |
| ä, ö with å | Swedish or Finnish |
| ß, ü | German |
| ñ | Spanish |
| ã, õ, ç | Portuguese (Portugal or Brazil) |
| ł, ą, ę | Polish |
| ő, ű | Hungarian |
| ş, ğ, ı (dotless i) | Turkish |
| ș, ț | Romanian |
4. Phone numbers on shopfronts and vans
Walk to the nearest shop, bus or delivery van. Country calling codes are often printed on signs: +44 United Kingdom, +33 France, +49 Germany, +34 Spain, +39 Italy, +90 Turkey, +55 Brazil, +61 Australia, +81 Japan. Local formats help too, even without the prefix.
5. Web domains
Shop signs, buses and billboards often show a website. The ending is a strong hint: .de Germany, .fr France, .it Italy, .es Spain, .pl Poland, .br Brazil, .jp Japan, .co.uk United Kingdom, .com.au Australia, .co.za South Africa.
6. The sun and shadows
Outside the tropics, the sun at midday is to the south in the northern hemisphere and to the north in the southern hemisphere. Use the compass in the viewer: if shadows fall toward the south around midday, you’re probably in the southern hemisphere. Near the equator the sun is high and this clue is weak.
7. Road line colours
- Yellow centre lines are typical in the United States and Canada, and in several South American countries.
- White centre lines are standard in most of Europe.
- Some countries are exceptions; Norway, for example, uses yellow centre lines. Use this together with other clues.
8. Licence plates
Plates are often blurred on Street View, but the shape and colour can still show. Many European Union plates have a blue strip on the left with the country code. Long, narrow plates suggest Europe; shorter, taller plates are common in the Americas.
9. Bollards, signs and poles
Road furniture differs a lot between countries: the shape and colour of roadside bollards, the design of stop and warning signs, and the material of utility poles (wood, concrete, metal). You’ll start to recognise them after a few games, and they’re especially useful on rural roads with no text.
10. Vegetation and climate
Palm trees, pine forests, red soil, desert scrub, rice fields and snow all narrow things down. Red earth suggests parts of Brazil, Australia or Africa. Dense birch and pine suggest northern Europe, Russia or Canada. Very dry landscapes point to deserts and Mediterranean climates.
11. Architecture and building materials
Terracotta roofs, whitewashed walls, wooden houses, apartment blocks from the Soviet era, or tall narrow townhouses each tell a regional story. Look at windows, balconies, shutters and roof shapes.
12. Walk to the nearest intersection
The best clue is often just out of sight. In Hide & Seek Online you can walk along outside locations by clicking the arrows on the road, and Back to start brings you back. Walk to the next junction: street signs, shop names, and route numbers often settle the answer.
A simple routine for every round
- Driving side and script (5 seconds): cut the world down to a region.
- Text (15 seconds): look for a phone number, domain or special letter.
- Landscape (10 seconds): climate, vegetation and sun.
- Walk if you’re still unsure: find a sign or intersection.
- Pin: if you’re torn between two places, pin somewhere between them. Scoring falls off with distance, so a “safe” middle guess often beats a wild one.
Clues when you’re the hider
In Hide & Seek Online, you also choose spots for your friends. To make it harder, pick places with few readable signs, landscapes common to several countries, or a side street rather than a famous square. To make it a fun puzzle instead, pick a spot with one memorable clue.
Ready to try them? Play a solo round or read how Hide & Seek Online works. For more geography games, see our free GeoGuessr alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to tell which country a Street View image is in?
Check the driving side and the writing on signs first. Together they rule out most of the world in a few seconds. Then look for phone numbers, web domains or special letters to pin down the exact country.
Which countries drive on the left?
Among others: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand. Most of the Americas, continental Europe and most of Africa drive on the right.
How does the sun help guess a location?
Outside the tropics, the midday sun is to the south in the northern hemisphere and to the north in the southern hemisphere. If shadows point south around midday, you are probably in the southern hemisphere.
Do road markings differ between countries?
Yes. North American roads usually have a yellow centre line, while most of Europe uses white centre lines. There are exceptions, so use it together with other clues.
Are these tips useful in every Street View game?
Yes. They work in Hide & Seek Online, GeoGuessr and other Street View games, because they come from the real world rather than from any one game.
Try it now
Hide & Seek Online is free in your browser: no download, no account. Start a private room and send the link, or warm up in solo mode.
Sources
- Which countries drive on the left? (WorldAtlas)
- Left- and right-hand traffic (Wikipedia)
- List of country calling codes (Wikipedia)
- Country code top-level domain (Wikipedia)
- Vehicle registration plates of the European Union (Wikipedia)
- Road surface marking (Wikipedia)
Prices and free tiers of other games change often; check each official site before you rely on them.