Have you ever tried to find the location of a place from a view generated using Google Street View (1)? Gabriel Doujy, yes. He even became one of the best players in France thanks to the game GeoGuessr which made this discipline popular. A talent that he was able to show on the show France has incredible talentbroadcast this Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
From a randomly generated view using Google Street View, Gabriel Doujy is able to locate it in space.
© Photo Julien Theuil/M6
At 23 years old, this native Tourangeau – his maternal family, notably his grandparents and his little brother, still live in Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, where he goes very regularly – developed a passion for this geography game during confinement. “With friends, we started playing geography games online. We could play ten to twelve hours a day. We became really strong”he confides.
“When I travel, I try to go to places I don’t know”
His level is such that he begins to recognize road signs, fonts, electric poles, etc. and gradually learns to master new alphabets (Bengali, Cyrillic, Thai, Greek, etc.). “I had a very good basic memory when I was little. I learned hundreds of football players' names. » Added to this is a passion for geography born when he moved to Reunion Island.
After reaching the semi-final of the GeoGuessr Team World Cup in 2022, Gabriel Doujy decided to share his passion on video on the Internet. “I grew up with the Internet. YouTube has been at the center of my life since I was 10-11 years old. I've made dozens of channels. The videos had 30 views »smiles the videographer. This time, thanks to his TikTok account, the counters are exploding. At the end of 2022, his first video exceeded one million views.
Millions of views on the Internet
Since then, the success has not been denied. All platforms combined, the content creator is followed by 400,000 subscribers. His videos have millions of views, not counting collaborations with other YouTubers like Domingo and Pierre Croce.
His most spectacular concept? Guess where a location is seen 0.1 seconds. “People say it’s fake. Participate in France has incredible talentit allows me to do it on stage in front of an audience and give myself credibility. » More recently, he was also seen in the new M6 show, Destination X.
A passion that allows him to live
Thanks to the monetization of videos, partnerships and even copyrights, Gabriel Doujy has managed to make a living from his passion. “At first, it was complicated to explain to my parents. » Today, his family feels ” pride “ and got used to seeing the young man regularly recognized in the street.
Based in Limoges (Haute-Vienne), Gabriel Doujy wants to continue to evolve in the world of GeoGuessr. He was recently chosen to be the French commentator for the world championship in Stockholm (Sweden). “There is a real circuit, a real competitive scene”assures Tourangeau.
Besides that, he continues to explore the world on and off Google Street View. “I know most of the landscapes and regions. When I travel, I try to go to places I don't know, like recently in Uzbekistan (which is not covered by Google Street View). » A way to further perfect your knowledge of the world.
(1) Google's virtual navigation system.
