InstaMaps

Games · daily

Beat the Geocoder

Five real US addresses, typed as messily as people type them into a spreadsheet. Drop a pin on a map with no place names, then see the real spot, and how close the InstaMaps geocoder got reading the same text. About two minutes.

Today's gamePast games

#1 · the first address

350 5th Ave, New York, NY

Loading the game…

Put Beat the Geocoder on your site, newsletter or class

Free, no sign-up, nothing to install. A new game every day, the same for everyone.

On a web page: paste this

<iframe src="https://get-instamaps.com/embed/games/beat-the-geocoder" title="Beat the Geocoder" width="100%" height="760" style="border:0;max-width:720px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://get-instamaps.com/games/beat-the-geocoder">Beat the Geocoder</a>, a daily US geography game from InstaMaps</p>

In a newsletter: today's one-liner

📍 Today's Beat the Geocoder (#1): where is "350 5th Ave, New York, NY"? Drop a pin on a map with no labels, then see how close the machine got. https://get-instamaps.com/games/beat-the-geocoder?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=game

Email can't run a game, so newsletters link to it. Morning Brew runs its game at the bottom of every issue.

Teaching or running a library guide? The classroom page has practice by topic and questions to start a lesson.

How it works

  1. 1Read the address, exactly as it might sit in someone's list: missing commas, a ZIP and no city, a typo.
  2. 2Tap the map where you think it is. There are no place names until you lock in your pin.
  3. 3See the real place, how far off you were, and where the InstaMaps geocoder put the same messy text.
  4. 4Five addresses a day; share your grid and how many you beat the machine on.

FAQ

Where do the addresses come from?

Public places only: landmarks and buildings from OpenStreetMap, and stores from AllThePlaces, which collects the store finders on chains' own websites. Never homes, and never anyone's customer list. We only use places where the store's own location and its clean address agree, so the right answer is right.

What is "the geocoder"?

A geocoder turns an address written as text into a point on a map. The blue pin is where the InstaMaps geocoder put each messy line when we read it, with how sure it was. We show its misses too.

How is it scored?

Up to 1,000 points an address: a direct hit scores 1,000, 100 miles off about 670, 500 miles off about 135. Squares: green within 10 miles, yellow within 100, orange within 500, red beyond.

Can I put it on my site or in my newsletter?

Yes, free. Copy the embed code or the one-liner above. The credit line links back to InstaMaps.

Is it free? Do I need an account?

Free, no account, no email. Your scores stay in your own browser; we count plays without names.

More free tools

All games → Free geocoder → States Higher or Lower → For classrooms →