Helga Dis Isfold Sigurdardottir, a Norwegian game researcher and assistant professor at Nord University in Norway, got lost in the mountains and forests of Spain. When Google Maps failed to guide him, he found the route back to the city through the “Pokemon GO” map. .
This summer (2024), Helga Dis Isfold Sigurdardottir traveled to Spain with her husband and friends, but got lost in one of the mountain forests. They couldn’t find their way back because the forest was full of trails that weren’t shown on Google Maps. The possible reason is that Google Maps mostly uses cars and motorcycles to take photos and scan street views, so it is unable to detect paths in the natural environment.
After being lost in the woods for 2 hours, Helga Dis Isfold Sigurdardottir decided to take a breather and started playing “Pokemon GO” for a while. She unexpectedly found that “Pokemon GO” showed routes that were not shown on Google Maps. These routes were more in line with their journey in the mountains and forests. Paths seen in the terrain, through which one then finds his way back to the city.
The map information for “Pokemon GO” comes from OpenStreetMap, an open source map created by a community of mappers who provide and continuously update information about roads, paths, cafes, train stations, and more around the world. When Niantic launches version 0.137.1 of “Pokemon GO” in October 2022, it will make the map more relevant and reflect the latest state of the real world.