{"685179":{"#nid":"685179","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Graduate Student Wins GeoGuessr World Championship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith a keen eye and a passion for geography, Radu Casapu, a graduate student in the School of City and Regional Planning, won the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9Wbau6wdKzI\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E2025 GeoGuessr World Championship\u003C\/a\u003E in Copenhagen, Denmark.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe online game challenges players to identify specific locations using Google Street View in a race against the clock and \u2014 in multiplayer mode \u2014 their opponent. The World Championship tournament brought together the world\u2019s 16 top players, and Casapu entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning the Americas Regional in May.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach round is a best-of-five match. Casapu hadn\u2019t lost a game in the first three rounds of the tournament entering the final round, which came down to the wire. Tied at 2-2, Casapu correctly identified a Chilean landscape to win the decisive final game and the $50,000 prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Suwanee, Georgia, native has been playing GeoGuessr for nearly a decade, but it wasn\u2019t his first foray into competition. Casapu participated in geography bees in middle and high school before earning his bachelor\u2019s degree in geography from the University of Georgia. Outside the classroom, he says the game becomes a resource that challenges him and helps him learn.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeoGuessr is such a holistic game, just like geography is a holistic subject that includes not only physical geography, but also cultural and human geography around the world. The game helps you to study these concepts as well as other areas that provide global context, like architecture, ecology, botany, and other things that I would never have thought I\u2019d start noticing. It gives me a lot of perspective in my own line of work in planning,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a first-year graduate student at Tech, Casapu is familiarizing himself with his surroundings. Should he come across a campus location while playing the GeoGuessr, he believes he\u2019d first recognize the architectural style and the brickwork of the Institute\u2019s historic buildings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter completing his master\u2019s degree, Casapu will pursue a career as a planner at the city or regional level.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Radu Casapu\u2019s love for geography and competition led him to Copenhagen, Denmark, to compete in the GeoGuessr World Championship.  "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERadu Casapu\u2019s love for geography and competition led him to Copenhagen, Denmark, to compete in the GeoGuessr World Championship.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Radu Casapu\u2019s love for geography and competition led him to Copenhagen, Denmark, to compete in the GeoGuessr World Championship.  "}],"uid":"36418","created_gmt":"2025-09-23 14:11:10","changed_gmt":"2025-10-06 17:54:29","author":"sgagliano3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678100":{"id":"678100","type":"video","title":"Georgia Tech Graduate Student Wins GeoGuessr World Championship","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech graduate student Radu Casapu\u2019s love for geography and competition led him to Copenhagen, Denmark, to compete in the GeoGuessr World Championship.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758636879","gmt_created":"2025-09-23 14:14:39","changed":"1758636879","gmt_changed":"2025-09-23 14:14:39","video":{"youtube_id":"I6Ko8zrOumA","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I6Ko8zrOumA"}},"678101":{"id":"678101","type":"image","title":"Radu GeoGuessr Champion","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech graduate student Radu Casapu hoists the trophy after winning the 2025 GeoGuessr World Championship. Submitted photo.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758636930","gmt_created":"2025-09-23 14:15:30","changed":"1758636930","gmt_changed":"2025-09-23 14:15:30","alt":"Radu Casapu ","file":{"fid":"262084","name":"1000073213.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/23\/1000073213.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/23\/1000073213.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":23265280,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/23\/1000073213.jpg?itok=Fk39zT6-"}}},"media_ids":["678100","678101"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"137","name":"Architecture"},{"id":"142","name":"City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[{"id":"191777","name":"world champion"},{"id":"95781","name":"esports"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano \u003C\/a\u003E\u2013 Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}