Oceania – GeoTips

Australia

Country Flag:

Capital City:

Canberra

Google car:

–

Bollard:

The most common Bollard is flat, and white apart from a red rectangle towards the top.

There are variations on these but they all maintain the colour theme:

Camera Generation:

Gen 1, 2, 3, and 4

Road Lines:

Australia uses all white lines.

Road Signs:

Australia uses yellow diamond-shaped warning signs often featuring the local fauna.

Road numbering system:

–

Electricity poles:

Australia uses wooden poles.

License plates:

All plates are white except for New south wales where they are yellow.

Phone number:

Australian states each use a different first two digits with a couple overlaps.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Australia has a wide variety of landscapes, ranging from desert in the center, grasslands in the south, and tropics in the north.

Specific tree:

Australia has a wide variety of unique Flora/Fauna to be found there, here are just 3 examples out of hundreds:
Eucalyptus.

Paperbark.

Strangler Fig.

Architecture:

–

General look:

–

Alphabet/script:

Australia uses a typical English alphabet.

Subdivisions:

Australia Has 8 states which are as follows, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Australian Capital Territory.

Internet domain:

.Au

This is a test

New Zealand

Country Flag:

Capital City:

Wellington

Google car:

When it is Gen 4, you can see a bit of the blue car. However, the other Gens were covered by a white car. However, you will only see pieces of it if the coverage is slightly glitched.

Bollard:

(Front)

(Back)
New Zealand has some unique bollards, so it is worth learning them. If you don’t, you may often confused New Zealand with Australia.

(Front)

(Back)
You can also find these near bridges.

Camera Generation:

Gen 1, 2, 3 and 4

Road Lines:

New Zealand uses a yellow divider line and white shoulder lines.

There are some cases where you can find just white dashed lines. This means that you can pass other drivers.

You can also find these in cities. They tell you that there is no parking in this spot.

You can also find Green bus lanes and red or green bicycle lanes in urban areas.

Road Signs:

New Zealand has these green signs that are on most major roads. That red shield is important as it is the New Zealand State road system.

New Zealand uses Diagonal warning signs, and they appear on White wooden poles. The exception is pedestrian crossings, which have black and white striped poles.

These are the pedestrian crossing signs mentioned above

Electricity poles:

These concrete poles are mostly found in Suburbs and urban areas.

The wooden poles are mostly found in rural areas, but they can also be found closer to urban areas. There are some areas of the country that are replacing these poles with the concrete ones above.

These metal poles are found mostly on large highways and near some major cities.

New Zealand uses Yellow poles for their traffic lights. There were found in major cities quite frequently.

License plates:

Phone number:

Cellphone number formats:
02X-XXX-XXX, 02X-XXX-XXXX, 02X-XXX-XXXXX or 02XX-XXX-XXXX
Landline number format:
(0X) XXX-XXXX or 0X-XXX-XXXX. (Sometimes the area code is omitted)
Toll-Free number format:
0800-XXX-XXX or 0508-XXX-XXX
Area codes in New Zealand can be incredibly useful.
02 = Cellphone
03 = Entire South Island
04 = Wellington area
06 = East side of North Island
07 = Central and west side of North Island
09 = North end of North Island (from Auckland northwards)

Regions:

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

–

General look:

This is the General feel of the North Island. While New Zealand is really diverse, its a generic feel.

This is the General feel of the South Island.
The best thing to do is imagine the Lord of the Rings movies. If it looks like Middle Earth, its New Zealand.

Alphabet/script:

New Zealand uses English and Māori. Most of the North Island contains both languages.

Domain:

.nz

Christmas Island

Country Flag:

Google car:

You can see the edges of the tray on the back of the google car.

There is also boat coverage on the north coast.

There is also trekker coverage.

Bollard:

Christmas island has a few different bollards, including the same bollard as mainland Australia.

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Christmas island uses white lines though most are faded.

Road Signs:

Street names are on yellow signs.

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

Christmas islands use yellow backed plates.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

Christmas island is a tropical island containing dense rainforest.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

Many of the houses feature satellite dishes.

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Christmas island uses English.

Domain:

.cx

Guam

Country Flag:

Google car:

Guams google car features a long antenna on the front right of the vehicle.

Bollard:

–

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Guam uses white shoulder and yelllow centre lines, however interestingly it is more common to find studded roads rather than lined.

Road Signs:

Guam uses US style signs.

Electricity poles:

Guam uses wooden and concrete poles, with the bases of many being painted with a white and blue stripe.

License plates:

Guam uses a US style white plate.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

Guam is a rather flat tropical island.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

Guam features lots of bungalow style housing.

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Guam has 2 official languages in Chamorro and English, however everything is signed only in English.

Domain:

.gu

Northern Mariana Islands

Country Flag:

Google car:

The Mariana islands car has an antenna on the front right of the vehicle.

Coverage:

Only the Northern most Island of Saipan is Covered.

Bollard:

–

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Lines are quite rare on the Mariana island roads, however they will have yellow centre lines.

Road Signs:

The Mariana Islands use US style signs.

Mariana street names are on blue signs.

Electricity poles:

The Mariana Islands use wooden poles.

License plates:

The Mariana Islands use US style plates.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

The Marianas are mountainous tropical islands.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

–

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Northern Mariana Islands use English as their official language.

Domain:

.mp

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Country Flag:

Google car:

There are actually two different vehicles. One of these can be found on the eastern half. It has a weird air filter on the passenger side of the car. It is a snorkel much like Kenya’s, but its a cone filter instead.

This truck can be found on the western half (Mostly on Home Island). All that is visible is the bed of the truck.

This Ferry can be found between West island and Home Island. It is in the middle of the lagoon.

This boat is found along the south, connecting the West Island with the other end. There is plenty of boat coverage down here.

This boat with the brown tarp is found in the north, Connecting Pulau Luar and Direction Island.

Google Coverage:

The Cocos Islands are an atoll in the middle of the Pacific ocean. There are not many roads, and that can be seen from the image above.

The northern most island, Pulau Luar, as well as Direction Island, are only covered by a trekker. You get some wonderful shots of beaches, as well as a small interior pathways.

Follow Car:

There is a car that follows you ONLY when you are near the Cocos airport. It looks like a security car.

Bollard:

(Front)

(Back)
The Cocos Islands use Australian Bollards, although they are tough to find.

Camera Generation:

Gen 3

Road Lines:

There are no road lines in the Cocos Islands. However, you can find either gravel roads, dirt paths, or this cobble stone road. The only paved road is on West island near the airport.

Road Signs:

You can often find Bilingual signs on Home Island.

These black and white arrows can be found in a few places, but they are almost always on these thick wooden poles.

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

There are so few cars in the Cocos Islands. That can be seen with the license plates being in the 100’s.

Phone number:

The Cocos Islands use the same number format as Australia. There are not many numbers listed, but they are typically 8 digits long.

Vegetation/Landscape:

The Cocos are rather flat, and you’re often treated with wonderful views of Palm trees and other tropical flora.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

A lot of the houses feel the same, and even look the same. Some people may have a different trim color, but houses in towns generally all look similar. (The Image is from Home Island)

General look:

Alphabet/script:

You can often find Bilingual signs with both English and Malaysian in the East, with mostly English signs on West Island.

Domain:

.cc

Vanuatu

Country Flag:

Capital City:

Port Vila

Google car:

Vanuatu is covered by a trekker. It appears he has a guide along most of the village. The guide carries a machete and a coconut.

Google Coverage:

Vanuatu only has a single island covered. This island is Ambrym, located South of the main island. There is also only one town covered, on the eastern end of the island called Endu Pahakol.

Volcano:

Vanuatu has an active volcano, aptly titled the Ambrym Volcano, and you can actually find images of the volcano and the lava that is boiling.

Camera Generation:

Gen 3

Road Lines:

–

Road Signs:

–

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

–

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

The island generally is flat and raises to a peak towards the volcano (which is west of the only town coverage). The trees are very tropical and it feels like you are on an island.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

These thatched huts are the most common house. The pattern of the weaving can be helpful and should tell you that you are in Vanuatu.

You can also occasionally find these cinderblock and sheet metal houses. They are more rare, but they do exist.

General look:

The town of Endu Pahakol has a dirt road. There don’t appear to be any vehicles around, so its most likely a footpath.>br>

Leading up to the volcano, you get these really dark soil mixed with some vegetation. It looks beautiful.

Alphabet/script:

Vanuatu uses the English Language. There appears to be a general store and a towel that contains some text.

Domain:

.vu

Indonesia

Country Flag:

Capital City:

Jakarta

Google car:

White, black car, with or without the antenna, no car, or scraped paint car:

White car with an antenna can be found in eastern Java.

Indonesia is the only country which has this “scraped paint” car.
The Gen 4 cars in Indonesia are unique – they are black or grey, and not blue like in other countries:

The front of the car is seen on Gen 4 coverage in Indonesia.

Bollard:

Camera Generation:

Gen 3 and 4

Road Lines:

Usually all-white:

However they are changing to orange centreline, which can be seen on newer, mostly Gen 4 coverage:

The double centreline in Indonesia is found only on highways, unlike Malaysia which often uses it on 2-lane roads.

Road Signs:

Directional road signs in Indonesia are usually found only at important crossroads:

Indonesia uses the yellow diamond-shaped warning signs, like the rest of Southeast Asia:

The turn arrows are black with a yellow background:

Guardrails:

Bridge railings:

Settlements can often have these welcome and goodbye signs stating the name of the settlement and the subdivision(s) it is in:

These boards containing information can usually be found in front of important buildings in a settlement:

Location information can be found in many places in Indonesia (boards, billboards, shop fronts, etc.). The meaning of certain important words found on these boards and other places can be found below in the “Alphabet/language” section.
Indonesian flags can be found everywhere, and in many forms:

Prayer flags on the side of the road are very common too, each colour carrying a meaning:

Sometimes there are these ornamented structures by the side of the road, usually when entering or exiting a settlement:

Road numbering system:

Usually you won’t see any road numbers on signs nor on the map:
Indonesia Road Numbering System

Electricity poles:

License plates:

The plates in Indonesia have 3 parts, while those in Malaysia have 2, and that can be sometimes seen through the blur.
Motorcycle plates:

Indonesia has front motorcycle plates too, in contrast with Malaysia.

Ads:

Cigarette ad banners and boards are everywhere in Indonesia:

Indomaret is one of the most popular convenience store chains in Indonesia:

Bank BRI is one of the largest banks in Indonesia:

If you find a Sumsel Babel bank, you know you are in the provinces of South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) or Bangka Belitung:

Phone area codes:

Vegetation/Landscape:

–

Specific tree:

Oil palms are very specific agricultural planted trees which are mostly found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia:

Another agriculturally planted tree species is the rubber tree, which can be found here and there all over Indonesia:

It is characterised by thin whitish bark trunks and is planted in an arranged pattern, just like oil palms.
Rice is also grown all around Indonesia:

Rice growing map of Indonesia:

Trees in Indonesia can sometimes be painted with the flag colours on the trunks:

Architecture:

Classic Indonesian houses:

Houses with brick tile roofs can most frequently be found on the main islands (e.g. Java, Bali), while the metal roof ones are more frequent on the other, less populated islands (Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggaras). However, this is not always fool-proof and both house types can be found on all the islands.
This type of roof is very specific to Indonesia:

Mosque:

Religion:

Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country, although some parts of it are Christian, Hindu or Buddhist:

So, by finding a church or a Hindu/Buddhist temple you can usually tell in which part of the country you are.
A Hindu shrine on Bali:

General look:

–

Alphabet/language:

Indonesian uses the Latin alphabet:

Useful vocabulary:
North – Utara
East – Timur
West – Barat
South – Selatan
Central – Tengah
Southeast – Tenggara
Kota – City
Desa – Village
Street/road – Jalan (abbreviated as Jl.)
Province – Provinsi
Regency – Kabupaten (abbreviated as Kab.)
District – Kecamatan (abbreviated as Kec.)
Selamat datang – Welcome
Selamat jalan – Goodbye (bon voyage)
Peringatan: Merokok membunuhmu – Warning: Smoking kills you
Additional language notes:
If the place names start with Ci-, like for example in Cirebon, that is a place name of Sundanese origin. The part ci- means “river” and Sundanese is the language spoken in the provinces of West Java and Banten. You can also find some of these languages – Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, etc. around but it is still unknown to us how to distinguish them (Sundanese, for example, has more consonant clusters than Indonesian) as they are not written in their native script, but in the Latin script, and Indonesian (Malay) is still the most widespread language.

Subdivisions:

1st level – Provinces (provinsi). Indonesia is composed of 34 provinces:

Province names in Indonesian:

Sometimes the province names are abbreviated:

2nd level – Regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota). Indonesia has 514 regencies/cities:
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia
3rd level – Districts (kecamatan). There are a total of 7024 districts in Indonesia:
Districts of Indonesia

Internet domain:

.id (.in = India)

Christmas Island

Country Flag:

Google car:

You can see the edges of the tray on the back of the google car.

There is also boat coverage on the north coast.

There is also trekker coverage.

Bollard:

Christmas island has a few different bollards, including the same bollard as mainland Australia.

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Christmas island uses white lines though most are faded.

Road Signs:

Street names are on yellow signs.

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

Christmas islands use yellow backed plates.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

Christmas island is a tropical island containing dense rainforest.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

Many of the houses feature satellite dishes.

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Christmas island uses English.

Domain:

.cx

Guam

Country Flag:

Google car:

Guams google car features a long antenna on the front right of the vehicle.

Bollard:

–

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Guam uses white shoulder and yelllow centre lines, however interestingly it is more common to find studded roads rather than lined.

Road Signs:

Guam uses US style signs.

Electricity poles:

Guam uses wooden and concrete poles, with the bases of many being painted with a white and blue stripe.

License plates:

Guam uses a US style white plate.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

Guam is a rather flat tropical island.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

Guam features lots of bungalow style housing.

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Guam has 2 official languages in Chamorro and English, however everything is signed only in English.

Domain:

.gu

Northern Mariana Islands

Country Flag:

Google car:

The Mariana islands car has an antenna on the front right of the vehicle.

Coverage:

Only the Northern most Island of Saipan is Covered.

Bollard:

–

Camera Generation:

3

Road Lines:

Lines are quite rare on the Mariana island roads, however they will have yellow centre lines.

Road Signs:

The Mariana Islands use US style signs.

Mariana street names are on blue signs.

Electricity poles:

The Mariana Islands use wooden poles.

License plates:

The Mariana Islands use US style plates.

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

The Marianas are mountainous tropical islands.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

–

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Northern Mariana Islands use English as their official language.

Domain:

.mp

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Country Flag:

Google car:

Google Coverage:

Follow Car:

There is a car that follows you ONLY when you are near the Cocos airport. It looks like a security car.

Bollard:

(Front)

(Back)
The Cocos Islands use Australian Bollards, although they are tough to find.

Camera Generation:

Gen 3

Road Lines:

There are no road lines in the Cocos Islands. However, you can find either gravel roads, dirt paths, or this cobble stone road. The only paved road is on West island near the airport.

Road Signs:

You can often find Bilingual signs on Home Island.

These black and white arrows can be found in a few places, but they are almost always on these thick wooden poles.

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

There are so few cars in the Cocos Islands. That can be seen with the license plates being in the 100’s.

Phone number:

The Cocos Islands use the same number format as Australia. There are not many numbers listed, but they are typically 8 digits long.

Vegetation/Landscape:

The Cocos are rather flat, and you’re often treated with wonderful views of Palm trees and other tropical flora.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

A lot of the houses feel the same, and even look the same. Some people may have a different trim color, but houses in towns generally all look similar. (The Image is from Home Island)

General look:

Alphabet/script:

You can often find Bilingual signs with both English and Malaysian in the East, with mostly English signs on West Island.

Domain:

.cc

Vanuatu

Country Flag:

Google car:

Vanuatu is covered by a trekker. It appears he has a guide along most of the village. The guide carries a machete and a coconut.

Google Coverage:

Vanuatu only has a single island covered. This island is Ambrym, located South of the main island. There is also only one town covered, on the eastern end of the island called Endu Pahakol.

Volcano:

Vanuatu has an active volcano, aptly titled the Ambrym Volcano, and you can actually find images of the volcano and the lava that is boiling.

Camera Generation:

Gen 3

Road Lines:

–

Road Signs:

–

Electricity poles:

–

License plates:

–

Phone number:

–

Vegetation/Landscape:

The island generally is flat and raises to a peak towards the volcano (which is west of the only town coverage). The trees are very tropical and it feels like you are on an island.

Specific tree:

–

Architecture:

General look:

Alphabet/script:

Vanuatu uses the English Language. There appears to be a general store and a towel that contains some text.

Domain:

.vu

American Samoa

Country Flag
Capital City
Most Helpful
Google Car
Bollards
Google Coverage
Unique Vehicle
Camera Generation
Road Lines
Road Signs
Electricity Poles
License Plates
Phone Number
Vegetation / Landscape
Architecture
General Look
Language
Domain
Rose Atoll

Country Flag:

As this is a territory of the USA, you can also find that flag here as well.

Capital City:

Pago Pago

Most Helpful:

(Tutuila) The truck here is blue. Its definitely blue, and not a dark grey / black or a similar color. The front of the truck is mostly blurred, and its the back of the truck that matters here.

(Ofu and Olosega) The truck here is a silver. Its the only silver car used for coverage in American Samoa.

(Tau) The truck here is a dark grey. It can occasionally look black under the right lighting.
Each island in American Samoa has a different vehicle, check out the coverage map below for the island names.

Google Car:

Bollard:

While these are technically not bollards, these concrete squares can be found off the side of the road in most locations.

Google Coverage:

The island of Tutuila is the largest of the American Samoan islands. It is also the one with the most coverage. There is some boat coverage in the bay, just south of the National Park of American Samoa as well as on the Northern coast of the park. The boat is the same in both locations.
You can also find a boat going to the island of Aunu’u just off the coast of Tutuila. Its different from the other boats here. Aunu’u is trekker only.

The islands of Ofu and Olosega are connected by a bridge. Technically they are two different islands, but you might not be able to tell the difference.

The island of Tau has limited coverage as well.

Unique Vehicle:

These busses are more common than taxis in American Samoa. They can be painted different colors and patterns. They will be mostly on the main island of Tutuila.

Camera Generation:

Gen 3

Road Lines:

Only the island of Tutuila will have yellow lines painted. All other islands have concrete roads without markings. There is a small chance to end up on a dirt road, but you can use the car in these situations.

Road Signs:

The most common sign in American Samoa is this Tsunami warning sign. It makes up nearly 50%, if not more, of all the signs you will see on American Samoa.

American Samoa uses a traditional guardrail with a white reflector.

Electricity poles:

The poles can be painted, with blue seeming to be the color of choice.

License plates:

The white plates are reserved for taxis, but you can occasionally see them on the island.

Phone number:

There are a few area codes in American Samoa, however you wont really find those in front of the telephone numbers.
Nice

Vegetation/Landscape:

American Samoa is a very mountainous region. Some sharp peaks exist, and it makes the area feel like Jurassic Park / Kong island.

Architecture:

There seems to be a lot of buildings that have pillars.

General look:

Alphabet/script:

American Samoa has two official Languages. Samoan and English.

Domain:

.as

Rose Atoll:

Rose Atoll is technically apart of American Samoa. However, its extremely limited coverage. It is trekker only and most map makers tend to stay away from adding this coverage. Both spots are uninhabited island, and you will mostly find birds here.

Pitcairn

Disclaimer

Pitcairn is not actually located where you clicked. In fact, its another 40 degrees Longitude to the east (Its about 2100 miles). The issue is, if we were to put Pitcairn where it actually was, it would be on the South America map. We also tried to get this marker further east, but due to the positioning of the map, we were unable to do so.

Country Flag
Capital City
Most Helpful
Google Car
Google Coverage
Camera Generation
Road Signs
Electricity Poles
Vegetation / Landscape
Architecture
General Look
Language
Domain

Country Flag:

Pitcairn is an overseas territory of the UK. You can tell because of the Union Jack on the flag.

Capital City:

Adamstown

Most Helpful:

Henderson Island has a trekker with a light grey / tan hat. It almost blends into the sandy soil you see everywhere.

The Adamstown hair. Its a classic meta for the town / city of Adamstown on the island of Pitcairn.

Also on the island of Pitcairn, you can find this tan hat or no hat / hair at all.

Google Car:

Google Coverage:

Henderson Island has incredibly limited coverage. There is a bit of interior, but its mostly beach coverage.

Pitcairn has a lot more interior coverage. There is also some third party here, so its not as much coverage as you think.