I Challenged a Professional Botanist to a Geoguessr Duel

In today's video, I've challenged @GeoNebula, a professional botanist to a Geoguessr duel, to see how much his knowledge can help him guess in a competitive setting. Nebula's knowledge of American plants is simply amazing - I'm sure you will agree once you all see. Be sure to drop him a sub, because he's only on 200 so far!
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[@pinkdragon4830]

Nebulas reaction to trees is so wholesome

[@zi8gzag]

tree lover in a world of tree haters 😤✊

[@jacobimacbroom]

“Very nice, very nice”

[@lucienhiemsta4805]

@@zi8gzag Wait, let me write that down on some paper...🤣

[@kacipilote7800]

Oscar: "Idk let's just put it here quickly to put some pressure on" Nebula: "YO GUYS CHECK OUT THAT LEAF OVER THERE"

[@sweettoy3824]

geonebula: "Obviously, this is the species Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus, which you normally find in the southwestern USA, and in particular on the coast of California." oscar: "idk these plants feel kinda dakotan"

[@user-tu9uv3fh1e]

oscar: they give dakotan vibes

[@c4mer0n22]

Oh I thought it was stamallaphontieushlaraptunas escropiliastranautrisiainauntus

[@zzman223]

Really interesting to see his mindset when he guesses! If someone was exceptional in meta and vegetation they would be unstoppable.

[@arrowheaded]

All of the best players haha. Jupa, for example, is insane at vegetation and meta. So is Oscar tbh :)

[@mignob]

@@arrowheaded i just realised like yesterday that i like oscars content so much bc he always talks about the vegetation its super interesting

[@ankylosaurus2342]

*sees a random tree Nebula: Wow this is such a beautiful pinus resinosa

[@nathanhass]

Now you need to try to find a geologist to play with. Would be interesting to get that insight on soil color, terrain, ect. And more nebula as well, great guest.

[@szaka9395]

Im afraid that plants are more accurate than rocks.

[@arrowheaded]

This video proves that vegetation knowledge is HUGELY important 🌿🐐

[@boudewijnkerkwijk4695]

The herb knowledge I have is not very helpful with geoguessr 🥦

[@trollboss7242]

Does really depend on the country though. In a lot of countries in Europe for example most flora isn't regionally but through the whole country or even multiple countries, through cultivation. (I'm a botanist btw, but then in Europe)

[@arrowheaded]

@trollboss7242 I mean, just because a clue isn't region or country specific doesn't mean it isn't helpful. Like sunflowers being common in certain Eastern European countries can help to narrow down the area on a particularly rural or difficult round. Though I'm sure you know more than me haha :)

[@trollboss7242]

@@arrowheaded haha yea true ofcourse. However you don't have to have plant knowledge to recognize sunflowers etc. I meant more like trees and non cultivated/agricultural plants. But it is still very useful yes. In my experience just not enough ;)

[@EvillAnime]

@@trollboss7242 it's a partial clue. Like figuring out you are in Northern Finland instead of the south because the branches on the spruce trees start pointing down more and more, and around the Rovaniemi region they almost look like needles

[@Thomson07]

wow, its so impressive how far vegetation can get you in this game! Imagine how dangerous of a player he would be if he started learning metas along with his botany knowledge!

[@ottoklund6438]

Plantasic idea for a video!

[@sneakyruski]

Nah bro

[@pinkdragon4830]

Get out.

[@kimkimcard6835]

Awesome video. Next can we have like an international construction worker who specializes in poles and bollards?😂

[@michaelchen2718]

35:37 Geonebula: "hmmm I see some eastern cottonwood, some eastern red cedar!" Z8gzag: "ooo a wooden signpost!"

[@Jwats96]

Love Nebula's vibe. Great wealth of knowledge he has too, it seemed like you guys were pretty evenly matched which is insane. Shows how important vegetation knowledge is.

[@Medsas]

really cool to see these "non-experts" play geoguessr using their own knowledge, remind me of Tom the taxi guy who's insane at London 😆😆

[@DuckOfRubber]

18:44 The rules are different for semi trucks vs regular passenger vehicles. Every state requires front plates for semis since the rear plate is covered when they’re pulling a trailer and a trailer doesn’t always correspond to a specific vehicle.

[@Ueberrusher]

22:39 Top Notch Editing 😂

[@chillscorpion2215]

This was an awesome way of showing two different guessing skillsets, love how accurate Nebula got by analysing mixtures of plants. Would love to see more similar duels

[@bakteriebakterie6096]

7:38 haha no he nailed the longitude

[@witherslays197]

This guy seems really chill and knowledgeable, im blown away by how he can identify exactly where he is purely based off his plant knowledge

[@chir0pter]

Paleobotanist who works with macrofossils Tropical horticulturist (like guy who works at Logee’s Nursery) Two other specialties who would dominate in NM pain & suffering map

[@kaleeyed]

Really impressed by geonebula getting almost the exact longitude on some of these rounds.

[@EvillAnime]

what I'm getting here is that learning some common trees by heart could be extremely useful

[@bigbraingenius_]

very enjoyable video, Nebula seeing impressive trees is such a treat. I know he mostly knows the US but I'd love to see a world wide duel, or just a part 2 to this!

[@Fenrakk101]

This kind of video is actually really helpful for me still just learning the game, seeing what regions you immediately call to mind and then what sorts of information you look for to narrow it down from there helps tell me a lot about what I can look for and what it can tell me

[@Nooticus]

Really great video. Super entertaining and edited perfectly to keep suspense

[@Nooticus]

Unbelievably impressive from both of you. Mind blowing

[@undeadgoat]

USA is such a great country to feature plants since you can't go off car and things the way people do in other countries! Very fun video.

[@finntheperson670]

Been watching a ton of your videos recently, and this has got to be my favorite so far!

[@blossomcherrypink]

Always nice to hear enthusiastic people talk about their field.

[@whoflore]

i mean its sooooo impressive. not knowing any meta he won against one of the best players, its crazy to think about it.

[@yuzuku2397]

nebula talking about the trees is so cute more with this guy

[@katrinaxharhus3747]

Red dirt is a huge givaway for the OKC area. As you drive from Tulsa (Northeast Oklahoma) to OKC you can tell you're getting close when the soil color changes.

[@kimkimcard6835]

If he starts learning metas, he would be unstoppable.

[@Prosperuhty]

Will have to play another one for the tiebreaker, GGs to both. Very fun to watch

[@thespleenenator]

What this is telling me is that being a botanist is a cheat code for this game, and if one of them put in the time to learn the game we'd all be cooked.

[@shreychaudhary4477]

probably only for particular regions idk

[@Raaaaaaaaaaaaawr]

I don't even have a favorite desert shrub...

[@OsloRS]

would be fun to see you in a duel against a long-haul truck driver in the US

[@mattf9019]

Super fun video. I always love when Nebula is on the channel.

[@stefanschneider3681]

Two weeks ago we visited our daughter that is visiting college in Shreveport Louisiana, much flying all over there from Switzerland and being part of her Seniors Day with her soccer team! We even managed to get tickets for a Dallas Cowboys game. Driving from Louisiana to Dallas straight west through northern Texas I was really surprised how green it was! The first hour or so thick forests with high I think pine trees along the highway, then slowly getting a bit dryer and only just around Dallas it was more like what I had expected from Texas. Of course it was October / November and raining every other day, but still, very green. Thanks for the great video.

[@GRZUX]

As an east coast resident I’m happy to say I got that dry Oregon round correct. It’s that sage and the few snow capped mountains in the distance that solidified it

[@sampon9328]

cheat code for Iowa/Illinois. we dont have paved secondary roads unmarked in iowa. those are just gravel vs. IL, southern WI and IN pave almost all what we would just use as gravel road

[@sampon9328]

without markings and narrow

[@elainerose8799]

This is the kind of content that I’m really here for! ❤

[@DJprofessorK]

There is actually a lot of green in Arizona and New Mexico, a lot of the top of Arizona is almost like Oregon and Washington and a lot of at least the southern part of New Mexico has a lot of green areas

[@07kamichamakarin]

Both of you are amazing in using your expertise to play the game.

[@wizwilzo]

this is one of the funniest videos ive ever seen bro im actually dying

[@ellenfromnowon]

Greattt game, so interesting to see how he played. Definitely showing my botanist friend this to finally get him to play some geo

[@pencil6703]

first video I watched from this channel, very enjoyable

[@AOOA926]

4:23 there is an Arkansas sign

[@palmtreegal3]

Super interesting to hear about the vegetation!

[@Akronstudent]

This one was a very interesting one! I hope to see more like this :)

[@michaelwisniewski6047]

That's a way to get ATTONTION among YT thumbnails

[@pinkdragon4830]

Attontion

[@michaelwisniewski6047]

@@pinkdragon4830Wow, it works, I got your attention!

[@roltthehunter]

one of the snowiest places in the lower 48 is a town called Flagstaff and it is in Arizona and it's north but not as north as you'd think. also Arizona has the largest pine forest

[@seamripper0000]

That whitish gravel road is super common near and in Iowa, i grew up driving those roads

[@miguelfelipedias]

nice little collab, great video!

[@michaelchen2718]

32:05 that's water, not elevation! also the anchor indicates it's by the shore :)

[@baaaaark]

When you used to live near one of the drop points and know exactly where it is without them even having to move the camera 😄

[@13prusej]

Great Vid! Game 2 round 1 was only 30mi from me. Love that

[@dfwlurking123]

by far my favorite duel! so good!

[@Enchantaire]

Really interesting to see how two completely different mindsets can get accurate results

[@patrickgilles4870]

31:05 I only learned some of the most basic geoguessr meta and mostly watch yt nowadays, but I remember on a rain bolt vid where he got stumped on cape cod: Someone in comments said white driveways are very common in cape cod, they make them out of crushed shells and I think it’s pretty unique so potentially a super useful clue here

[@isakoolsson]

Now challenge a geologist

[@BirdsOnTheBat2]

Im from Springfield, Illinois (so about an hour away from the area in the 2nd game) and you are 100% correct about our roads.

[@nathanhass]

That Kansas round I almost immediately shouted out Kansas near Emporia, & in fact that was about the 5k. Of course I live in Kansas but I was still happy with that shoutout

[@TenaciousBOD]

Do more if these with people of different regions that have their own niches

[@theofficialdorg]

I’d love to see Nebula play on ACW

[@autumnturner1415]

I live in pittsburgh and that guess was so funny to me because that area was WAYYYY to gorgeous to be here in pgh. those hills are very pennsylvanian tho

[@sebastianbucur5135]

This was awesome! Can you do another one but on the whole world? To see him mistaking Latam for Asia ha ha

[@michaelchen2718]

Interesting disclaimer at the bottom of the description!

[@zengrath]

19:54 "Very plain looking round here" As she's staring at the plains, hahaha. Unintentional pun?

[@doofuspy]

the first and the last time i see someone say that they have enough time to check out pine trees

[@wintrywind]

Imagine if you're playing with someone that is both a botanist and a geologist, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

[@seekthuth2817]

I feel so vindicated on that Montana guess because I pegged it almost immediately as Montana, then Zig starts saying Colorado. That was the most Montana looking road I've seen since I left, lmao.

[@zengrath]

Oscar? Your literally an Oscar, who needs an Oscar when they are an Oscar! Haha just kidding. I love these type of videos, seeing how people do at geo guessing based on their real life knowledge instead of google street view meta. I was really impressed at his ability to find many locations pretty closely, expecially since he's not a professional botanist (Not working as a botanist for a living)

[@samadkins8101]

Great video!!

[@latifoljic]

Bro looked right at sitka spruces and went New York 💀 cool video though

[@42tai-chan]

when he locked in cleveland and i drove there recently and knew that was definitely wrong lmao

[@rottingcorpse6565]

Knew round 5 was in Wisconsin the second I saw how shitty that road was.

[@moosewizard33]

There are mountains in New Mexico. Taos is higher elevation than Denver.

[@martinclerked-6262]

Great video

[@michaelchen2718]

32:45 I was thinking cape cod!

[@Buff_MC]

7:22 i live literally 10 miles from this guess (I live in omaha) and I didn't know how close it was til the last 5 seconds roughly. And I've also worked in that area A LOT. And I still didnt know right away lol.

[@chir0pter]

I actually would have outdone Nebula here, but the thing is if you know enough human geography like bollards or lines this is usually quicker, especially if both are allowed move which allows looking for signs/plates etc. this would work best for maps in rural areas, maybe nm only

[@user-nt2ho7oi1t]

Hey Zigzag, I am enjoying your videos quite a while now and started to play geoguesser my self too. In one of my last rounds I got an opponent wich makes really insane guesses on elo 600 (for example guessed Bali in 15 seconds correct). So I got a question to you as advanced geoguesser player. Is this a common guess in this rang? I could never guess it! XD If it is uncommon, do you know a way to report someone, to check if he used google etc and cheated. Best regards

[@tyow1]

Definitely not common in that rating, but it’s possible that person is an alt. If it was a duel there should be a replay so you can watch from their prospective, and see if they’re doing anything sus. There’s a report player button on every profile (like midway down? Just cmd/ctrl+f it) where you can report them and paste a game link or links you’re sus about

[@facksmasheen]

You can report people from their profile and link the game by copying the address from the end screen of the game if you think something sus happened. That said, "Bali roofs" or even "Java roofs" are a pretty well known distinct little meta, and even low rank people may know some random specific metas so it can be hard to tell. You can watch a replay of game now too and that may help figure out if they are cheating as well.

[@HazewinDog]

super fun! and it's shockingly even haha

[@juda_n1324]

The botanist oak is really wholesome :)

[@odduro8751]

Good thumbnail zigzaggy

[@MetalLika1997]

BOTONIST

[@ToniDz92]

Botanist

[@kijetesantakalu5593]

@@ToniDz92botonist

[@notmeowth]

good to see the thumbnail fixed xd

[@toastoftriumph]

I wonder how well you could train an AI to recognize locations using the same thought process? Like, in the future, you'll be able to plug in a random photo (without any GPS metadata) and an algorithm will give you an accurate prediction.

[@kimkimcard6835]

Would be really fun if we can get an actual geographer play geoguessr

[@psyche1182]

Doubt they would be good

[@EvillAnime]

I'm pretty close to that and I can also do a lot of languages- I'm silver

[@arneshpal7702]

​@@psyche1182they would

[@michaelchen2718]

Question, does this map not include Hawaii and Alaska? update: final round

[@SlutForInstantNoodles]

Really fun video, would love to see more with GeoNebula

[@Goose9595]

ONe of your best vids

[@joshyaash]

can't really guess off of front plate/no front plate. lots of cars everywhere only rocking the back plate for looks alone, though technically illegal in some states

[@Schmuni]

Vegetation meta is insane!

[@Romainandancers]

Nebula using logic pure logic 😎 Zigzag saying this dirt looks Montanan 😂 Zigzag wining 💀

[@SnipingCons]

ooooo kentucky got me haha

[@offroadoverlords]

I laughed out loud at "acacias"

[@AngryLS]

I'm excited cause this is exactly how I guess

[@timwildauer5063]

“Cars travel” 😂

[@jareds3834]

Flat with nothing as far as the eye can see - always North Dakota

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

It's funny you say he is from Texas when his accent sounds so much like Northern California