Camera Gens 📸
On Google Street View, there are four different types of cameras which have been used to capture the official coverage since its launch in 2007. They are referred to as the four camera generations (gens), with gen one being the oldest and lowest quality, and gen four being the newest and best. When playing Geoguessr, you can often use the characteristics of the photographs you're looking at to narrow down where in the world you might be.
The gen 1 camera is easy to spot by its very low quality and compression artifacts, and is rare. It is only ever seen in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
The gen 2 camera is best known for its distinctive 'halo', which is a visible lens flare around the sun. It was an upgrade on gen 1, but the images still pretty low in quality and resolution. The gen 2 coverage often has a circular purplish blur around the car when you look down.
Gen 3 has improved quality and resolution over gen 2. Text is noticeably clearer and easier to read.
Gen 4 has the highest quality and the brightest colours, but is much less common than gen 3.