Aug 21, 2023 23:00:00

I tried ``TimeGuessr'' to fully mobilize knowledge and reasoning power to ``place and year where one picture was taken''

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GeoGuessr ', a game that guesses the location from the street view image of Google Maps, is a popular game that mobilizes various knowledge and makes full use of sharp observation and reasoning power. `` TimeGuessr '', which adds an element to guess the ``year when the picture was taken'' to this GeoGuesser, has been released. I actually played TimeGuessr to see how difficult it is to hit not only the shooting location but also the shooting year.

TimeGuessr
https://timeguessr.com/

Click 'PLAY' to start playing TimeGuessr.

The first question was displayed at once. A photo is displayed on the left side, and a map, a year-specific slide, and an answer button are displayed on the lower right. The map uses Apple Maps.

The photo shows the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, so you can tell it's from Paris. In addition, soldiers on tanks and military vehicles are advancing on a wide tree-lined road from

the Arc de Triomphe, and at the end of the road there is something like a sign saying 'VIVE DE GAULLE'. This is believed to be a triumphal parade held on the Champs-Elysées when Paris was liberated at the end of World War II, so we can tell that the photo was taken in 1944. So, click on the point on the map that seems to be the shooting location from the composition of the photo, place the pin, move the slide to match '1944', and click 'Make guess'.

Then, explanations such as the photographer, title, situation, etc. of the photo were displayed. My deduction was correct, and the year it was shot was perfect, but it seems that the location was a little closer to the Arc de Triomphe. Below the photo, the correct accuracy of the shooting year and shooting location is evaluated with 5000 points each, totaling 10,000 points. This time, the shooting location was only 76.3m away, so the total score was 9998, which is quite a high score. To proceed to the next problem, click 'Next Photo' in the lower right.

The second question is a picture like the following. Children are playing in front of a solid stone building. The photo is in black and white, so it looks like it was taken a long time ago.

The photo can be enlarged by scrolling the mouse. It was a Hebrew letter when I looked closely at what was engraved on the building. However, looking at the design of the buildings and the clothing of the children, it seems like an American or European town.

I thought, 'By the way, I've seen on TV that New York has a fairly large Jewish community.'

When I was looking at the photos carefully, wondering if there were any other hints, I discovered that 'LIBRAIRIE' was written in one corner of the building. This is the French word for bookstore, so we can assume that the filming took place in France.

Looking at the well-paved roads and the many cars parked, it seems likely that it is in Paris. However, since I do not know the detailed location, I clicked on a part outside the main street in Paris. Based on the children's clothes, the sharpness of the black-and-white photos, and the design of the car, I assumed it was between 1950 and 1960, and chose 1955, which is right in the middle.

The result was Paris in 1958 and was mostly correct. However, the shooting location was 1.5 km away. There are 4600 shooting years and 4956 shooting locations, resulting in a total of 9556 points.

The third question is also a monochrome photo.

The sign on the building clearly has letters that are not in the alphabet. I don't know exactly where it is, but maybe I've seen it in a Thai restaurant? I thought, and guessed that it might be Thailand.

There are cars and electric poles, and the impression is that modernization is progressing considerably, so if this is Thailand, it is highly likely that it was taken in Bangkok, the capital. In addition, the city is very clean and well-equipped, and there is no war damage, so it is expected that the photo was taken before World War II. In addition, the design of the car is quite old, so I thought it was around 1920-1930, so I took a break and deduced that the photograph was taken in 1925.

The result was a photograph taken in Bangkok in 1929, and my guess was quite correct. There were 4,300 shooting years and 4,865 shooting locations, for a total of 9,165.

The fourth question is a full-color photo after a long time. Moreover, judging from the sharpness of the photograph, it seems to be quite recent.

The writing on the man's jacket in the foreground is in English, so the place where the picture was taken is either the United Kingdom or the United States.

However, there is no image of huge stones like ruins in America, and I expected that it would be England with Stonehenge. However, I thought that I would not climb Stonehenge itself, which is a world cultural heritage site, so I put a pin near Cambridge where the university is located in the suburbs of London for the time being. Furthermore, even though young people are having fun riding around the ruins with something that looks like alcohol, no one has a smartphone, let alone a feature phone. That means that the culture of `` taking and sharing photos with a mobile phone camera '' was not yet common, so I guess the year of shooting was 2000.

The picture was taken in 2005 at Stonehenge. According to the description, it was the moment when a security guard was about to drop a drunk tourist climbing on top of Stonehenge. The result was 3900 points for the shooting year and 4340 points for the shooting location, for a total of 8240 points.

Here are the last five questions.

The sign on the upper left is in French. Considering the French-speaking area and the outfits of the people in the photo, I assumed that the shooting location was somewhere in Africa. The French territory in Africa must have been mainly northern Africa, and the background was not particularly desert-like, so it seems that it was along the coast.

Furthermore, the woman on the wall was wearing sneakers. Speaking of sneakers, basketball shoes became popular in the 1990s, but this sneaker has a slightly simpler design. As a result of considering the sharpness of the photo, I predicted that the photo was taken between 1980 and 1990, and answered in 1985.

Looking at the results, the year it was shot was pretty close, but the location was a far cry, not in Africa, but in Haiti. The shooting year scored a high score of 4950 points, but the shooting location scored 12 points, resulting in a total of 4962 points.

If you answer all 5 questions, the total score of all 5 questions will be displayed. If you want to play again, click 'Play again'.

In order to answer correctly with TimeGuessr, knowledge of geography and historical background is required, but more than that, it is also required to look closely at every corner of the photo and make inferences from what you find. Of course, there is no time limit for answering, so you can think carefully, search and research, and answer after acquiring new knowledge.