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Pavement #pavement
139 clues · 64 countries.
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139 clues · 64 countries.
Showing 139 clues across 64 countries.
Highway 5, from the Yukon border to Tetlin Junction, can be recognized by the foggy, rainy weather, and Generation 2 camera.
NOTE: The Top of the World Highway on the Canadian side also has similar weather, but is mostly paved and has no outer lines, unlike the American side, which is only paved west of Chicken, and does have outer lines.
Roads with reddish pavement lined with long Argentine needle-grass are common in San Luis.
You can sometimes see sloped kerbs in Perth, where it gradually declines to the road, whilst in other cities kerbs go straight down at a 90 degree angle.
The pavement which the trekker walks on in Minsk is mostly grey rectangular tiles. On a small part, there are pink-ish tiles in a specific pattern.
A lot of rural roads in Belgium are made out of concrete slabs, almost like you would see in the Philippines or Thailand.
NOTE: The Netherlands almost never uses concrete slabs for roads.
Almost all roads (big or small) in Belgium use gutters on both sides. This is much less common in neighbouring countries.
Bolivia has a lot of standard asphalt roads, but concrete slab roads are also fairly common.
There are also a lot of cobblestone roads. These roads often have a specific pattern, with several neat lines of stones separating the more disorganised cobblestones in between.
Within this tropical area, coverage on unpaved roads is only found around Santa Cruz. These roads again prominently have the pink soil that is very characteristic of the area east of Andes.
Aside from being a useful identifier for the country, cobblestone roads are mainly found in and southeast of Cochabamba. They also appear around Sucre and, very rarely, in La Paz.
This type of pavement, consisting of rectangular grey bricks with slightly wavy edges, is very common in El Alto.
The eastern section of Ruta 4, east of Santa Cruz, runs in a general east-west direction, through a mostly flat, green landscape. In some places, you can see some low hills. This road has both asphalt and concrete pad sections.
The section of Ruta 5 around Chaco, just north of Sucre, has distinct sunset coverage. Most of this road has concrete pavement, and meanders through semi-arid hills.
The section of Ruta 4, southwest of Patacamaya, runs through a semi-arid grassland landscape. Many parts of that road between Patacamaya and Callapa have worn-down grainy asphalt.
The section of Ruta 6 between Tarabuco and Zudáñez is paved with extremely light-coloured concrete, bordering on white. This pavement is very recognizable and unique to this road.
This map shows which covered roads are paved, and which ones are unpaved. It is slightly simplified for ease of reading. Small, unpaved side roads in and near towns are not shown.
The A20 has mostly clean, recent asphalt. Some sections of the road are much thinner than usual. The landscape is characterised by red soil, dry grey-coloured trees, and very little grass.
There are frequently white painted kerbs on Brazilian roads.
Cobblestone pavement is most common in the northeast and in Rio Grande do Sul.
Roads with hexagonal concrete tiles can be found across Brazil, but they are more common in Santa Catarina and Minas Gerais.
Some roads in Acre are made of red brick.
Cobblestone roads with randomly sized stones are most common in southeast Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais.
These uneven but mostly square stone roads are seen in western Rio Grande do Sul and west Santa Catarina. The soil will often be very dark in these regions too.
NOTE: The same roads are seen in the Misiones province of Argentina.
You can often see pavements in Rio Grande do Sul that have brown tiles but are either jagged and random, or square. This style can sometimes be seen in Santa Catarina.
Most roads in Piauí have red gravel on the side of the road. Some roads in Generation 4 now have tarmac and kerbs, but some gravel shoulders remain.
The Amazonas 319 has a very lush, bright green and tropical landscape, as it cuts through the Amazon rainforest. The road is flat and mostly unpaved, featuring bright orange soil. However, closer to Manaus the road becomes paved. There are wooden or ladder poles alongside the entire stretch. It is covered by the blue Generation 4 car.
Bulgaria generally has fairly poor-quality roads, with many small cracks and occasionally potholes.
The old town of Nessebar, and to a lesser extent Sozopol, can be recognised by the well-preserved old buildings made of a combination of unpainted stone, white stone walls and brown wood. Most of the streets are paved with cobblestone.
Many roads are unpaved. Usually, only main roads and roads in and near urban areas are paved.
The road between Road 48 and Kiri Sakor is under construction and only has one paved road side. The unpaved side has red soil.
Road 41, southwest of Phnom Penh, has a recognizable look and road angle:
It is a wide road, with a grey and very gravelly road surface
It runs in a general NNE direction
The landscape close to the road is flat and agricultural. However, you can often see hills in the distance.
NOTE: There are other roads that can look similar. Therefore, the road angle is very important to identify this road.
Puyehue National Park can be recognized by the dense vegetation surrounding the road. The pavement itself has triple yellow lines, and tar snakes are frequently seen. In the east, many dead trees can be seen with a lack of leaves.
Bantam Village can be recognized by the cross-hatched brick pavement.
The Cocos Islands runway can be recognized by it being the widest paved road on the island, with mowed grass on both sides of the runway and this follow car.
In Colombia, it is particularly common for sidewalks to be decorated with reddish tiles.
The Punta Leona Resort, which can be found by the “Playa Mantas” POI, can be recognised by the red brick pavement, with the bricks having the same shape as you’ll commonly find in Turkey.
Most of the coverage in Filadelfia de Guanacaste was taken on the edge of a park, with a distinct red brick pavement where the bricks are placed in the shape of an “L”.
Streets in downtown Prague are commonly paved with grey and white marble stones, which is also typical for Portugal. They’re often arranged in intricate square mosaics, but some sections are far more plain. NOTE: Similar pavement can be found in much lower volume in other towns too. Consider the apparent size of the city before guessing Prague.
You may sometimes see bicycle paths on the side of the road.
NOTE: Bicycle paths are also commonly seen in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Roads in the Dominican Republic are often made of this smooth asphalt, which has a noticeably darker colour than in other countries.
Concrete roads are relatively common in Ecuador.
In urban areas, you can sometimes find this pavement consisting of hexagonal tiles.
Åland roads have two unique aspects that separate them from the rest of Finland: their pavement tends to have a red tint, and they have dashed outside road lines that resemble those found in Sweden.
This map shows the distribution of paved and unpaved roads across the country.
You can click on the image to enlarge it.
The section of the N1 road near the border town of Elubo is very new: it has dark and unblemished asphalt, a very crisp-looking middle line, and no outer lines. The vegetation is dense and occasionally features palm trees.
NOTE: This new road surface continues until the town of Azuleti. The middle line can be dashed or solid. Near Azuleti, the road does not have a middle line.
In Upernavik, the airport runway is covered on Street View, making it by far the widest paved road found on Street View in Greenland.
The CA9, going between Escuintla and the coast, can be recognised by being a divided highway with concrete pavement.
Raised pavement markers in Hawaii will commonly be placed in a specific pattern: a single reflector, followed by four reflectors put close together and then a single reflector, repeating the pattern.
Parts of roads NH6 and NH206 southeast of Shillong can be recognised by the presence of khasi pines with distinct yellow outer road lines and fresh dark pavement.
NOTE: This is the only road in Meghalaya that uses yellow outer road lines, but these lines exist in other states as well.
Snow prevention roads, known as ‘Shosetsu’, are found mainly in northwest coastal prefectures. They appear as tiny circles in the pavement, and spray warm underground water to clear snow.
On occasion, the road quality in Jordan is reflective of its age. Roads are well travelled and can be in poor condition. The heat has caused the asphalt to buckle, creating warped cracks in the road.
NOTE: In general, the road quality as a whole tends to be worse than Israel.
The A26 goes from Kandyagash to the intersection of M32/E38.
It has very bad road quality throughout, ranging from poor grainy pavement, to completely unpaved. Apart from the northernmost section, the weather is either cloudy or overcast.
The landscape consists mostly of flat, semi-arid grassy plains.
Driving direction: North towards Kandyagash. (Mostly)
The A17 going to Ulytau Region can be recognised by the bad pavement quality, where the edges of the road are almost crumbling away, along with the single white middle road line, which can be dashed or solid. The landscape itself is a grassy steppe, with some fall coloured trees occasionally lining the roads.
West of Atasu, the sun is distinctly low on the horizon.
NOTE: A small section east of Atasu has pristine new pavement, which has a slight red tint to it.
Driving direction: Towards Atasu from both directions
Going further south, you will reach this next valley, which seems equally dry, but the mountains are more rocky and have trees growing on them. The road now has very bad pavement, and as such you can see dust clouds.
This road going west of Naryn is situated south in the dry Naryn valley. You will typically see hills close to the road on the southern side. There are also bigger mountains not too far behind. While to the north, there is a wide plain, with hills and mountains in the distance. Many parts of the road also have a pavement with a salt and pepper-like quality.
This valley is full of vegetation. This area also has a lot of buildings and fences near the road. Most of the road is in poor shape, with it being unpaved and potholes littering parts of it. To the north, you can see some darker clouds, and closer to Arkit, the weather will get cloudier, and there are more dead trees.
The south to north driving direction on this road is worth noting.
Striped curbs of various colours, such as red, yellow, or black with white, can be seen throughout Laos.
Road 450 east of Vientiane is made entirely of concrete blocks. It is also one of the very few divided highways in Laos with coverage.
Coverage was taken along parts of the promenade in Beirut, with a grey brick pavement and a large number of fan palms.
The section of the A2 between Maseru and Mafeteng has by far the best road quality in all of Lesotho.
Morondava is most easily recognized by the bald person wearing either a light green or a light red striped shirt. It is also one of few towns where the trekker walks on a paved road.
The ER211 can be recognized by the dark pavement combined with its exposed brownish soil.
Black-and-white curbs are commonly found in Malaysia.
NOTE: Many other countries in Asia can also have black-and-white curbs.
Coverage outside of the Djingareyber mosque in Timbuktu features brick buildings and a paved street with rectangular tiles.
Grainy pavement with a blue-ish grey tinge is a common sight for the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.
NOTE: In Tamaulipas, larger roads very commonly feature dashed outer lines.
This style of cobblestone pavement, unorganised with irregular tiles, can be found in most of the central states, but is by far most commonly found in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Queretaro.
This pavement consisting of hexagonal tiles is found in Puebla and Tlaxcala.
This exact pavement design with three lines of cobblestone patterning is mainly found in Oaxaca.
There are a couple of paved desert roads in southern Mongolia.
You can learn more about these roads later in the guide.
The other main desert highway in Mongolia runs through Mandalgovi, and can be differentiated from the Choir Highway by its cloudy skies, darker pavement, and deep blue tent instead of the tentless car.
The highway connecting the towns of Chinggis and Baruun-Urt stands out as one of the only paved highways in the east. It is considerably cloudy and the road seems freshly paved, making it a very dark road, combined with a mostly flat landscape.
Choibalsan is the only major city to have several concrete roads. In most parts of the city there is a visible smoke stack, which is in the southeast corner of the city. It appears to have just rained as the roads are slightly wet and the sky is overcast. Additionally, you may occasionally find unique pedestrian signs with a short figure over three stripes.
Murun is a town in the north built on a north-south grid with a large jagged hill nearby to the north. It has a lot of alley coverage with dark cloudy skies and muddy, unpaved roads.
NOTE: Murun occasionally has sunny coverage where it isn’t cloudy, so consider other clues as well.
The small, hilly town of Tosontsengel, frequently has red-tinted roads and uses these unique lamp posts that have a wavy design.
This map shows pavement type as well as the driving direction on all major roads.
Knowing where the Google car is blurred, will help narrow down your options significantly. Below are some useful use cases:
In the north, the blurred car is only northwest of Ondangwa.
The blurred car on an unpaved road likely places you on one of many sideroads of the B1 or other major roads, or in a town.
The paved road between Nordoewer and Aussenkehr has the car unblurred.
Other notable paved roads not north of Windhoek include the C20, C22 (south of Gobabis), C23.
NOTE: The blurred car strongly correlates with a 2024 copyright. Use with caution.
Between Gibeon and Tses, the road has wider shoulders, and the pavement quality in general is excellent.
The section of road B1 between Mariental and Rehoboth can be recognised by a combination of the generic arid steppe landscape, the paved road, and mainly the distinct NW bound road angle. It can also help to know that the sun is in the SE for this section.
You can recognise this long stretch of B8 by the light coloured grainy pavement as well as the general E-NE angle and vegetated northern landscape.
The C14 bears resemblance to the previous road, except this road is unpaved, and the skies are covered in a blanket of clouds, especially in the northern half. Near the southern end, the sky becomes clear.
NOTE: The stretch south of Bethanien is paved.
Red tinted and slightly grainy pavement along with the green savannah-like grassy landscape crowned with low-lying cumulus clouds can be used to recognise the northern section of road C35.
East of the intersection with the C35, the road has a constant SW to NW angle, and grainy pavement. The grass looks soft to the touch, and the somewhat sandy soil is typical of this region. Cumulus clouds dot the sky.
West of the C35 intersection, the same grainy pavement and clouds remain, but the landscape is much hillier, and the road angle changes.
Often fairly poor quality pavement with only white road lines, no road lines at all, or just slightly faded road lines and red tinted pavement, are all good clues for the C49 in the panhandle. Near the western end, the sun is very low in the sky, and the weather is fully clear.
NOTE: A small section by Makolonga has good pavement with wide shoulders, so look for the orange patches on the road.
The D3600 and the unlabelled road going NE to Mpungu, have a very light coloured, sometimes grainy pavement, with at times very faded yellow lines, which are hard to even see. Combined with the either exactly N to S or NE angle, as well as the northern landscape, make this road very distinct.
A few roads in the north lack the typical outer yellows.
The C46, which is a long road going generally NW to SE. The E-W section by Ruacana, has very poor pavement. SE of Oshikuku, the sun is low in the sky to the NW.
C41 (M123) also has a NW angle but has more clouds in the sky than the C46.
B10 west of Eenhana is an E-W stretch, which is more vegetated, and also has the sun low in the sky to the west.
B10 east of Nkurenkuru is another NW bound stretch with the sun low in the sky, but this part is much more vegetated than the C46. You can also see the moon to the east.
D3615 is a short road with a constant N-NE angle that technically has outer yellows, but they are quite faded.
The coastal cities of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are flat and often have sandy streets, with palms and Norfolk pines planted around. Street and road signs often have square-shaped signposts.
Road angles can be used to line up parts of the city, but a northeast bound angle is common in both.
These white and blue plastic containers are common in Swakopmund, as are yellow lamp posts in downtown areas.
While very similar to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, Henties Bay is less gridded and noticeably poorer, with most roads being unpaved. Unlike in Swakopmund, where yellow lamps are only found near the downtown, here they can occasionally be found throughout the town.
The cloudy weather can be used to confirm the town.
Langstrand is a small resort town between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay with pink brick sidewalks next to essentially every road. The weather is always overcast and gloomy.
Flat square shaped stone tiles that are grey in colour are common south of Kathmandu, more specifically around Birgunj and Janakpur.
NOTE: Neat, square, stone tiles are not found in parts of India that tend to look similar to Nepal.
Brick roads are common in the Netherlands, both in rural and urban areas. The brick pattern shown in the image is especially common.
Most Dutch sidewalks use the same type of square grey tiles and offset tiling pattern. In some historic areas, you might find smaller brick sidewalks.
Baarle is a town in the south of the Netherlands which contains a number of Belgian enclaves. Throughout the town, you can sometimes see signs of this, such as markings on the pavement and Dutch and Belgian flags being flown together.
Roads are not always well-maintained in Nigeria, so roads without roadlines or faded roads are common. Potholes, cracked roads and unpaved roads are also relatively common.
Black-and-yellow curbs are common in Oman.
NOTE: The UAE also commonly uses similar curbs.
Just west of ميتان, only labelled in Arabic on Google Maps, literally translating to methane, there is a stretch of road, which has a uniquely light-coloured pavement. To the north, you can see sand dunes.
West of Sahiwal, just northwest of Harappa, you can find a trekker starting in the south at Harappa Museum. This trekker can be recognised by most of the coverage being taken on a very narrow path made of concrete.
Highway 9 going from Panama City north to Colón is a divided concrete highway. The road is visibly grainy and has a lot of tar lines. The landscape is lush and hilly.
Most of Road 407 features a freshly paved road, with visibly orange soil on the sides of the road. The southern portion is hilly, right before the road quality deteriorates.
Concrete roads are extremely common in the Philippines.
NOTE: Thailand also has a lot of concrete roads.
Adamstown is the only settlement on Pitcairn Island, and is found near the northeastern shore. Some of the roads going through the town are made of concrete rather than dirt.
Neatly tiled sidewalks are very common in Poland. Tiles are often grey or light red. Occasionally, even roads have tiled pavement. Many different types of tile patterns occur, including larger square tiles.
Cobblestone roads are very common in Portugal. These will typically be made of square cobblestones arranged diagonally compared to the road direction.
Similarly, cobblestone sidewalks made of distinctly bright stones are very common.
Education City features distinct black-tiled roads.
As you go further north in Russia, some roads are made out of several concrete blocks. It is notably common in the Komi Republic, Nenets, and Yamalo-Nenets.
Cobblestone pavement is notably common in Kaliningrad, Nizhny Tagil in Sverdlovsk, and Kizel in Perm Krai.
The section of NR15 from Muhanga till the Western Province border has very poor pavement, with a lot of potholes and a lack of road lines.
The section of NR15 from the Western Province border to this point is under construction, with no pavement at the moment; making it the only covered National Road to be unpaved for this long. Also, most of the road hugs a steep cliffside made of red dirt.
NOTE: Non-national roads are often unpaved, but they are usually not as wide, and have more stuff going on around them.
Many roads in Butare feature cobblestone pavement.
You can recognise St John and Lazarus Islands thanks to the Generation 3 trekker, the smooth asphalt roads and the sea almost always nearby.
The miniscule Kusu Island is easily identifiable because of the red paving stones used for the entire pathway.
You can find this grainy, almost Texas-like pavement with a hint of pink in Limpopo.
The old town of Stockholm can be recognised by the old stone buildings, usually painted in warm colours, towering over the narrow cobblestone alleyways.
The stretch of the E45 going between Orsa and Älvros can be recognised by the brown-red wet pavement with forest consisting of thin pines and birches along the roadside.
Pavement with white speckles is commonly found along the east coast.
The islands east of Taitung, Green Island and Orchid Island, are distinct due to the more tropical climate, abundance of coconut palms, and lush cliffs. Additionally, it is common to find run-down, concrete pavement.
NOTE: While the landscape between Green Island and Orchid Island are quite similar, a good way to distinguish the two is that Green Island frequently uses yellow outer lines. Additionally, Green Island is slightly more built-up.
Lienchiang County, also referred to as the Matsu Islands, is recognizable from the hilly landscape and frequent use of concrete roads. The coverage is overcast and this pavement can also commonly be found.
Concrete roads are common in Thailand. They often have a large square shaped pattern.
NOTE: In Southeast Asia, these can also be found commonly in the Philippines, and less commonly in Indonesia.
Gravel roads can be found all throughout Thailand, but are most common in the darkly highlighted areas.
Rolling hills of corn or sugar cane fields can be found in the west of the Tak province. In this area, paved roads are often very brown.
Brown paved roads among fields of sugarcane, cassava, and corn can be found in southeastern Nakhon Ratchasima.
Brown paved roads among fields of bananas, durians, rubber, and corn can be found in southern Sisaket.
NOTE: Southeastern Nakhon Ratchasima may look similar at times.
An offroad from road P12 southwest of Sousse can be recognised by the dark pavement surrounded by bright sandy soil combined with the east-west road angle. The eastern part of the road is fairly vegetated, with large numbers of prickly pears, while the western part of the road is very arid with little to no vegetation.
Many roads have pavement with a grainy “salt and pepper” texture.
Brick pavement is very common in urban areas, and the bricks will typically have the shape shown in the image.
In the city centre of Kampala, you will see paved roads with black-and-white curbs. In contrast to the rest of the city, the city centre looks richer and very built-up, with lots of multi-storey buildings.
The only paved road with coverage outside Kampala can be found here. The pavement almost entirely lacks the red tinge which is typical for most roads in the country. The road has white, solid outer lines and a yellow middle line.
A power line runs parallel to the road, to your east. To your north, you will be able to see hills.
On average, Ukraine has some of the worst roads in Europe. Most rural roads have lots of potholes, cracks and warped pavement.
This abysmal road quality can really help with tough 50-50s with Russia, which generally has somewhat better roads.
Houses in residential areas are typically made of light-coloured stone. Reddish stones are often used for sidewalks.
Interstate highways, US highways, and some state roads have rumble strips in each edge of the road; which are small indentations in the pavement perpendicular to the road. These can be located on the outside edges of the road and in between lanes on multi-lane highways.
NOTE: Rumble strips may appear in Canada, but are much more rare.
These rectangular raised pavement markers are found in the south and west of the US and also in Massachusetts.
Snowplowable raised pavement markers can only be found on highways in the eastern states shown in the image. They are built into the road and somewhat resemble the letter H.
Concrete paving on main highways is much more common in Iowa than in other states.
NOTE: Concrete paving on residential streets is commonly seen throughout the Midwest states and parts of the East Coast.
Texan roads often have a grainy, ‘salt and pepper’-like road surface.
NOTE: Similar pavement can sometimes be seen in adjacent states such as New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado.
Some rural roads in the Upper Midwest use a similar road pavement to Texas. They will have a grainy, ‘salt and pepper’-like road surface, but will vary in colour. These roads are most common in the state of Illinois.
A large part of the coverage on the Midway Atoll was taken on two runways, which are the only areas where it can be difficult to spot the albatrosses.
A nicely paved runway can be seen going west to east on the southern side of the Midway Atoll.
A poorly paved runway can be seen going north to south on the Midway Atoll. The pavement gets increasingly poor to the north.
Minor roads made of concrete blocks are very common in Vietnam.
NOTE: This is also common in both the Philippines and Thailand, and to a lesser extent in Indonesia.