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He’s the human MapQuest.
A TikTok creator named GuessNotLost has gone viral for his uncanny ability to pinpoint a person’s location based on the most obscure social media photos.
In a recent clip with 17.6 million views on TikTok, the social media sleuth used his uncanny geolocation skills to track down the secret spot where an X user bought a corndog.
“I found the best corndog and I’m not telling anyone where it is,” read the post, which included a shot of the person’s hand holding the meat popsicle in the middle of a busy but unremarkable walkway.
The flesh-and-blood GPS took up the challenge — and was unfazed by the generic imagery.
“You don’t have to tell us, because I already found it,” he declared, pinpointing the mystery corndog was most likely in Prague, the ancient capital city of the Czech Republic.
The social media spy said he was able to triangulate their location based on several seemingly imperceptible clues, from the style of sidewalk to the outfits of the pedestrians.
He initially focused on a man in a red-and-black uniform toting a package, deducing that he was a courier with DHL.
“Maybe there’s a DHL express point nearby,” the TikTok whiz said.
After a subsequent search for an office came up empty, he decided to pound the virtual pavement, which he noticed was paved with cobblestones and bore a distinctive cross pattern.
By doing a grid across the Czech urban center, our Sher-Tok Holmes was able to rule out all the sidewalk squares that didn’t match the corndog’s surroundings. Eventually, he found a corresponding patch of concrete with the same “trashcan and kiosk as the picture.”
“Funny enough, just a few steps behind that spot, there’s this place that sells corndogs,” GuessNotLost declared.
The digital bloodhound then flashed a Google Maps Street View screen showing a food stand and even a menu. He circled the poster’s order in red.
“You got the original with mozzarella in it, which comes out to 130 Czech Koruna,” said the Geospotter. (That’s a little over $6 in US dollars.)
Viewers were blown away by GuessNotLost’s talent for triangulation with one exclaiming, “You might be FBI.”
“If I ever go missing, please call this guy instead of the police,” quipped another.
Other TikTok jokesters inquired if GuessNotLost could find them a “job” or a “husband.”
Some even challenged him to pinpoint their location based on a blurry photograph.
Along with finding Slavic street meat joints, GuessNotLost has used social media photos to deduce that hip-hop star Drake was in Turks and Caicos — and to determine the provenance of a UFO-like shadow on a mountain.
Sadly for “Arrival” fans, his research pointed to a much more boring source than aliens — it was just a cloud passing in front of the sun.
English (US)