Thomas George Davies (born ) better known online as GeoWizard, is a British

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

r and adventurer known for his skill in playing the internet geography game '' GeoGuessr'' and his "straight line mission" adventures.

Career

Growing up in

Aldridge Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield ...

, West Midlands, Davies held a number of jobs before becoming successful on

, including roles as a

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, m ...

, van driver, and bartender.

''GeoGuessr''

Davies registered his YouTube channel, "GeoWizard", on 15 May 2015, building it around the game '' GeoGuessr'', a

browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

in which the player must identify locations in

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since exp ...

. As of May 2023, Davies has over 1.2 million subscribers and over 180 million views across all his public videos.

Straight line missions

Davies is also known for his "straight line missions", in which he uses a

GPS device A satellite navigation device (satnav device) is a user equipment that uses one or more of several global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to calculate the device's geographical position and provide navigational advice. Depending on the ...

and attempts to cross countries in a straight line. In 2019, Davies' first attempt was to cross Wales, but a mix of bad weather and steeper terrain than expected resulted in failure from the coast. In 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, he attempted to cross Wales again, this time with his childhood friend Greg, but the effort was halted roughly midway for health reasons. Later in 2020, Davies successfully crossed Norway in a straight line. In early 2021, Davies and Greg attempted to cross Scotland but failed when they were caught by police for breaking

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

guidelines. In October 2021, Davies and his brother Ben attempted to cross Wales for a third time. The pair managed to complete the crossing, but a GPS battery malfunction on day three caused them to temporarily leave the line, making it non-continuous. In August 2022, Davies and a small support crew dribbled a football across the width of Britain along

Hadrian's Wall Path Hadrian's Wall Path is a long-distance footpath in the north of England, which became the 15th National Trail in 2003. It runs for , from Wallsend on the east coast of England to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. For most of its length ...

in a continuous run. Starting on the west coast, they walked and jogged the route in approximately 23 hours, stopping only for brief periods for food and water. Davies was the only member of the team to touch the football, making no hand contact with it at any point and becoming the first person to achieve this feat. The event was recorded and named ''Dribbling Britain'', and raised £70,000 for charities supporting efforts to end youth homelessness, improve men's

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

, and reduce youth violence. In January 2023, on his fourth attempt, Davies successfully crossed Wales in a continuous straight line and claims to be the first person to have done so. In his series ''How Not to Travel'', Davies and Greg travel across locations using methods such as

hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads hav ...

, biking, and on

scooters Scooter may refer to: Vehicles Ground Human or gravity powered * Eccentric-hub scooter, propelled by a standing rider making a bouncing motion * Kick scooter, propelled by a standing rider pushing off the ground * Knee scooter, a mobility devic ...

Music

Davies also composes music, and his most recent album, ''16-Bit Adventure'', is used as the

underscore An underscore, ; also called an underline, low line, or low dash; is a line drawn under a segment of text. In proofreading, underscoring is a convention that says "set this text in italic type", traditionally used on manuscript or typescript as ...

to his videos.

References

External links

* *
GeoWizard's channel
on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

"16-Bit Adventure"
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:GeoWizard British YouTubers Walkers of the United Kingdom People from Aldridge Living people YouTube channels launched in 2015 Year of birth missing (living people) GeoGuessr players