Strata is a free daily geography game that challenges players to identify a real-world city from an interactive 3D map. Each day, the game presents a new mystery city, initially displaying only the topography—such as elevation, coastline, and landform—requiring players to deduce the location based on geographic features rather than trivia or street-level imagery. The core mechanic involves making up to five guesses, with each incorrect attempt revealing an additional map layer to provide more clues: weather, water features, roads, and finally buildings. This gradual unveiling transforms a bare landscape into a recognizable cityscape, rewarding players who can interpret the physical characteristics of cities from above.
Strata is played entirely in the browser and does not require an account, making it widely accessible. The game offers two pools of cities: US and Canada for a gentler introduction, and Worldwide for a greater challenge. The interface supports autocomplete for city names, handling alternate spellings, accented characters, and common misspellings. After each guess, the tool provides distance feedback to help narrow down the correct answer. The interactive 3D model allows players to study the city from an overhead perspective, simulating the experience of identifying cities from satellite imagery or aerial maps.
Every map layer in Strata is constructed from real geographic data, ensuring that the features—such as rivers, lakes, street grids, and building footprints—reflect actual locations. The game is positioned as distinct from clue-based or street-view geography games by focusing on visual deduction from authentic terrain and urban form. Players who enjoy interpreting maps and landscape features, or who are interested in geography and city planning, are likely to find Strata engaging.
Strata is free to play, with daily puzzles available at no cost and no account required. An optional premium upgrade removes advertisements. The game is part of a broader collection of daily geography and travel-themed games offered by FlightQ.
Strata is a Games product. It focuses on making geography learning and city recognition fun through interactive daily games. Strata is a consumer product aimed at geography enthusiasts and casual gamers. Strata is free to use. Strata is available on the web.
FlightQ builds and maintains Strata, and the product first shipped in 2026. Across PulseGate's embedding index, Strata has few near neighbours, marking it as relatively distinct. Among its 5 catalogued features are 3D terrain maps, daily game, and city guessing.
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Show HN: Strata – guess the city from its real 3D terrain and bathymetry discovered by the PulseGate indexer
Other apps tracked under the same category.
