I figure other Local Guides have got to be using the Google Maps app all the time, right? Maybe some of you know something about this.
In the US, when you cross a state boundary, you often (but not always) get a little pop-up notification welcoming you to that state, or Washington DC, showing a little character relevant to that state as well. I travel all over the country for work, and so far, I’ve collected 22 of those images.
I’d have a couple more, but sometimes, these don’t trigger, even if it triggers for the adjacent state on the same road when going in the other direction. Sometimes it’s because the app is actively giving directions at the time. But I’ll get the notifications sometimes after the directions are complete and I’m already a mile or two into that state. Or, I’ll have no directions for 50+ miles and get no notifications at all. That’s why I have Arizona but not Nevada, it triggered going south but not north.
Sometimes the images reference a specific person and sometimes they don’t, and there are a few I haven’t been able to identify.
Connecticut: Noah Webster
North Carolina: Wilbur or Orville Wright
New Jersey: Diner waitress
South Carolina: Southern belle
Georgia: Peach farmer
Ohio: Neil Armstrong (There are several well-known astronauts from Ohio, but this one is shown on the moon, and Armstrong is the only Ohioan to have been there)
Pennsylvania: Betsy Ross
West Virginia: Apple farmer
Kentucky: Woman in Kentucky Derby attire
Indiana: IndyCar driver
Tennessee: Elvis Presley
Arizona: Cactus costume
New Hampshire: Teacher
Rhode Island: Tennis player (the International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, RI)
Massachusetts: Plymouth Colony Pilgrim
Iowa: Dr. Byron McKeeby (the male figure modeled in American Gothic by Grant Wood)
Nebraska: University of Nebraska Cornhuskers fan
Alabama: Joe Louis
Mississippi: Man in fishing waders
District of Columbia: Judge/Supreme Court Justice
Maryland: Crab costume
Virginia: George Washington
Does anyone else “collect” these images? I’d be interested to see some of the others. Or if you’re in another country, do these show up, like for Canadian provinces or something like that?
I’m collecting these also, and have several public on Instagram under #googlestateicons
I agree that the icons are inconsistently triggered and I’ve missed Kansas and South Dakota this way. Minnesota is my favorite so far; it’s Prince.
@user_not_found wrote:
I figure other Local Guides have got to be using the Google Maps app all the time, right? Maybe some of you know something about this.
In the US, when you cross a state boundary, you often (but not always) get a little pop-up notification welcoming you to that state, or Washington DC, showing a little character relevant to that state as well. I travel all over the country for work, and so far, I’ve collected 22 of those images.
I’d have a couple more, but sometimes, these don’t trigger, even if it triggers for the adjacent state on the same road when going in the other direction. Sometimes it’s because the app is actively giving directions at the time. But I’ll get the notifications sometimes after the directions are complete and I’m already a mile or two into that state. Or, I’ll have no directions for 50+ miles and get no notifications at all. That’s why I have Arizona but not Nevada, it triggered going south but not north.
Sometimes the images reference a specific person and sometimes they don’t, and there are a few I haven’t been able to identify.
Connecticut: Noah Webster
North Carolina: Wilbur or Orville Wright
New Jersey: Diner waitress
South Carolina: Southern belle
Georgia: Peach farmer
Ohio: Neil Armstrong (There are several well-known astronauts from Ohio, but this one is shown on the moon, and Armstrong is the only Ohioan to have been there)
Pennsylvania: Betsy Ross
West Virginia: Apple farmer
Kentucky: Woman in Kentucky Derby attire
Indiana: IndyCar driver
Tennessee: Elvis Presley
Arizona: Cactus costume
New Hampshire: Teacher
Rhode Island: Tennis player (the International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, RI)
Massachusetts: Plymouth Colony Pilgrim
Iowa: Dr. Byron McKeeby (the male figure modeled in American Gothic by Grant Wood)
Nebraska: University of Nebraska Cornhuskers fan
Alabama: Joe Louis
Mississippi: Man in fishing waders
District of Columbia: Judge/Supreme Court Justice
Maryland: Crab costume
Virginia: George Washington
Does anyone else “collect” these images? I’d be interested to see some of the others. Or if you’re in another country, do these show up, like for Canadian provinces or something like that?
I’m collecting these also, and have several public on Instagram under #googlestateicons
I agree that the icons are inconsistently triggered and I’ve missed Kansas and South Dakota this way. Minnesota is my favorite so far; it’s Prince.
Hey Scrummy, thanks for your reply. I was really happy to see Vermont since that was one that I tried to get but couldn’t!
I put up all of my photos on Instagram with your hashtag. I left out the duplicates, except Mississippi, since mine was different - the one up there is holding a fish, but mine wasn’t. It looks like those pictures were taken in Android, and I use iOS (not by choice, work phone).
The Prince one is pretty cool, but my favorite is probably the crab person for Maryland. I laughed so hard when I saw it, I nearly veered off the road.
I spent the 07/04 long weekend road tripping from Houston (TX) to Memphis (TN), passing Arkansas and back through Mississippi and Louisiana. I noticed these icons in October last year when I drove from Houston to New Orleans… I just love 'em!!!
Luca
P.S. I’m not from the U.S., so you guys are probably better than me to get how icons refer to the various States
So awesome, thanks for sharing! Not sure if you have Instagram, but if you do, you should post these under #googlestateicons. I don’t believe anyone has posted / shared Arkansas yet!
I tried doing the same thing on my recent trip from Florida to N.Y. but the images came in and went so fast that I missed the screenshot…i thought it was really cool. Usually when I travel up to CT. Or down to NJ, PA and DC it never did that before. It’s a cute feature! @glowblue1
Hey LBonato, thanks for sharing. It looks like Arkansas’ icon is Johnny Cash, a singer-songwriter born in that state. Texas’ icon is a cowgirl, and Louisiana’s icon is a Mardi Gras reveler.
I dont see this mentioned yet but today I was crossing the border from Mexico into US and saw the same type of message “welcome to the USA” I didnt get the picture but it was an eagle icon
So far I got one … I missed to capture while entering in Tennessee and North Carolina but I do plan to capture all of them as and when I cross the borders
I wonder if we could see same thing at Canada and Mexico border crossings
Yes, I save them and have 39 states as well as DC. Hope to hit as many as 5 more states in the coming month. IF you have any questions regarding what is the icon on the states I have I can probably decipher all but a couple, if in fact a couple are real people who were either from that state or have something to do with it.
