Bolivia

White Plates, Blue Text

Bolivia uses short, white licence plates with blue text. The blue text can be hard to see through blur, so the plates may appear plain white.

Front and Back Plates

Bolivia uses license plates on both the front and back of the vehicle.

White Square Signposts

Bolivia typically uses bulky, white square signposts.

Peru Zebra Signposts

Peru typically uses black-and-white striped “zebra” signposts.

Red Brick Architecture

Cities feature semi-finished red brick buildings. Some neighborhoods have a rundown, desolate look.

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Outer-Line-Only Roads

Roads with outer lines but no middle line are very rare in Bolivia.

Bolivia Road Markings

Middle road lines may be all yellow, yellow and white, or all white. Outer road lines are always white.

White Road Lines

Road lines are white on the outside and white on the inside.

Tall Buildings in La Paz

Downtown La Paz is the only place in Bolivia with very tall buildings of 10 or more storeys.

Sucre Historic Centre

Sucre has a well-preserved historic city centre with many old colonial buildings. Its downtown is recognizable for white walls, orange tiled roofs, and a more historic look than other places in Bolivia.

Black Roof Rack

Sajama National Park coverage used a Google car with a black roof rack featuring a series of metal bars.

Neo-Andean Buildings

In El Alto, a local architectural style called Neo-Andean can sometimes be seen. Its buildings are colourful with elaborate, futuristic-looking façades, and the style is almost completely limited to El Alto.

Red Brick Buildings

Many buildings in Bolivia use large red bricks. Buildings often have an unfinished look.

Tomarapi Traditional Buildings

This coverage is on an unpaved road with fluffy bushes around it, and Nevado Sajama is visible. It briefly passes through the small village of Tomarapi, where traditional buildings have adobe walls and thatched roofs.

Political Graffiti

Political graffiti may feature the words “MAS” and “Evo.” “MAS” refers to the ruling political party at the time Bolivia was covered by Street View, and “Evo” refers to then-president Evo Morales.

Sparse Vegetation

Near Villa Vitalina and Coipasa, there is virtually no vegetation. This applies both on the salt flat and on the unpaved dirt road near cone-shaped volcanic hills.

Mataral Vegetation

In the Mataral area, large cacti may appear between bushes, along with trees that have yellow flowers.

Green Low Hills

Around Mataral, the landscape can be very green and hilly under sunny weather with only a couple of clouds. The vegetation is not very dense and stays quite low.

Limited Vegetation Match

This vegetation match is limited to Ruta 7 from Comarapa to Mairana and Ruta 22 to Vallegrande. Similar vegetation on other roads in Bolivia tends to come with either overcast weather or flatter terrain.

Eucalyptus Mountain Slopes

A western road segment runs through a green mountain landscape with fields on the slopes and many eucalyptus trees nearby.

Tropical Mountain Road

The North Yungas Road east of La Paz is a small, bendy, unpaved mountain road with very tropical vegetation. Coverage on the southern part of the road is often very foggy.

Bare Mined Mountain

In many parts of Potosí, Cerro Rico appears as a colossal pyramid-shaped mountain. Its surface is stripped bare by extensive mining for silver ore, which is distinctly visible in street view coverage.

Arid, Treeless Hills

Potosí is situated in a very hilly landscape. The hills are much more arid, with little to no trees on top.

Round Tree-Covered Hills

Sucre is set in a very hilly landscape, with many elevation changes visible in its streets. Round, tree-covered hills can be seen in many parts of the city.

Dry Highland Plateau

El Alto sits on a very flat highland plateau. It appears much drier and dustier than La Paz.

Green Hills Around La Paz

La Paz is a very hilly city, with much of the city situated in meandering valleys. The surrounding hills are often covered in green vegetation.

Andes Mountain Corridor

Tall mountains can indicate the Andes. In Bolivia, the Andes run roughly northwest to southeast between the Altiplano and the Amazon rainforest.

Road Coverage Pattern

Side-street coverage is in-depth in six cities. Outside those cities, coverage is mostly limited to main roads, and many of those roads, including some marked yellow on the map, have large unpaved sections.

Avenida on Streets

"Avenida" is used as a street suffix and means "Avenue."

Morochata Dirt Road

Around Morochata, northwest of Cochabamba on Ruta 25, there is a small isolated piece of coverage on a dirt road through a mountainous landscape. This area can be useful to recognize for country streaks.

Arid Salt Flat Road

An isolated stretch of coverage runs through extremely arid desert terrain between Villa Vitalina and Coipasa. It is near the southwestern end of Ruta 12 close to the Chilean border and can blend in with the salt flat on the map.

Semi-Arid Ruta 4

The section of Ruta 4 southwest of Patacamaya runs through a semi-arid grassland landscape. Many parts of the road between Patacamaya and Callapa have worn-down, grainy asphalt.

Altiplano Mountains

The Altiplano has several smaller and solitary mountains.

Greener Titicaca Area

The landscape around Titicaca is very green compared to most of the western half of Bolivia.

Flat Roads, Nearby Relief

Roads are generally fairly flat. Hills and mountains are often visible around you.

Cochabamba Valley Setting

Cochabamba sits in a large flat valley. A prominent wall of mountains to the north is a consistent terrain clue for identifying the city within Bolivia.

Santa Cruz Terrain

Santa Cruz is the only large city in Bolivia located in a tropical, flat landscape.

Major Divided Highway

Bolivia has one large divided highway. Smaller divided roads exist in and near some urban areas, and these can be distinguished by the surrounding landscape and the road size.

Altiplano Divided Highway

Ruta 1 and Ruta 4 between La Paz and Oruro form a large divided highway. This route runs through the Altiplano landscape of western Bolivia.

Eastern High Terrain

Toward the east, the terrain transitions into a more arid, high-altitude landscape.

Arid Snow-Dusted Route

On Ruta 1 between Machacamarca and Guindal, the landscape is arid and hilltops often have patches of snow, sometimes even beside the road. Coverage here ranges from cloudy to fully overcast, giving it a gloomy look.

Flat Road Corridor

North of Challapata, the road runs in a general NNW direction through flat terrain, with hills on one or both sides. Sky visibility can be somewhat better there, especially when looking south.

Eastern Ruta 4 Terrain

East of Santa Cruz, the eastern section of Ruta 4 runs generally east-west through a mostly flat, green landscape. Some stretches also show low hills, and the road includes both asphalt and concrete pad sections.

Cloudy Mountain Views

Around Pongo on Ruta 3 northeast of La Paz, enormous mountains can be recognized by breathtaking views and low-hanging clouds. The mountains also feature dark grey rocks lightly covered in greenish grass.

Nevado Sajama View

On the southwesternmost section of Ruta 4, Nevado Sajama is usually visible. It is an isolated snow-capped volcano described as very distinct.

Dry Landscape Around Oruro

Among Bolivia’s major cities, Oruro is in by far the driest landscape.

Oruro Dry Hill

In Oruro, a large dry hill may be visible to the west. The surrounding landscape is mostly flat and very arid.

Potosí Terrain

Potosí is located in an arid landscape and is considerably hillier.

Curvy Wooden Utility Poles

Many wooden utility poles are noticeably curvy. This is particularly noted in the eastern parts of Bolivia’s Street View coverage.

Wiphala Flag

Bolivia has a second official flag called the Wiphala. It is a square patchwork of seven diagonally arranged colours and is sometimes seen on government buildings and project signs.

Right-Side Driving

In Bolivia, traffic drives on the right side of the road.

Ruta 1 Exception

One driving side of the divided part of Ruta 1 can look somewhat green all the way up to Oruro. This appearance is due to that coverage being captured in a different season.

Sparse Road Coverage

This clue set includes almost no towns or main roads in Bolivia.

Light Concrete Pavement

A section of Ruta 6 between Tarabuco and Zudáñez is paved with extremely light-coloured concrete, bordering on white. This pavement is described as very recognizable and unique to that road.

Sajama Road Position

If Sajama is visible, the location is south of Callapa and the Desaguadero River. On this section of road, Sajama is often hidden by hills and may not always be visible.

Nevado Sajama Coverage

Nevado Sajama can also appear in National Park coverage. This coverage is recognizable by a unique Google car.

Ruta 5 Near Sucre

A section of Ruta 5 around Chaco, just north of Sucre, has distinct sunset coverage. Much of this road has concrete pavement and meanders through semi-arid hills.

Ruta 7 Camera Glitch

On the section of Ruta 7 between Mairana and the outskirts of Santa Cruz, coverage has a camera bug that causes a distinctive neon-like discoloration. Depending on the road angle, the discoloration is usually more or less to the north.

Santa Cruz Glitch

A glitch can rarely appear in some limited areas in and around Santa Cruz. In these areas, it is often not as severe.

Southeast of Challapata

The section southeast of Challapata tends to be more curvy and hilly. Weather there tends to be worse, with grey skies.

Ruta 4 Camera Smudge

A long section of Ruta 4 has a distinctive square smudge on the front left of the camera. This coverage runs from the altiplano near Vila Vila east through Cochabamba to Buena Vista in the flat Amazonian part of Bolivia.

Jungle Hills Dirt Road

A recognizable clue in Bolivia is a dirt road meandering through jungle hills. The northern half may look less foggy and dangerous, but it should still be identifiable.

Ruta 1 Grasslands

West of El Alto, Ruta 1 is a paved, mostly flat road that runs through green grasslands, with hills often visible nearby. White-painted numbers are often marked on the road.

Lake Titicaca View

Near the western end of the road by Desaguadero and the Peru border, Lake Titicaca can be visible to the north.

Road Angle Similarity

This road can look very similar to Ruta 2 northwest of El Alto. Road angles can help distinguish it when unsure.

Santa Cruz Area Towns

Several smaller towns around Santa Cruz can look essentially identical. Some of these towns also have extensive side-road coverage.

Painted Gate Gradients

In El Alto, gates and doors are sometimes painted with a gradient pattern. Common examples in the clue are dark green to light green and red to yellow.

El Alto Pavement

Rectangular grey brick pavement with slightly wavy edges is very common in El Alto.

La Paz Sandstone Pillars

In many parts of La Paz, hillsides feature heavily eroded, pillar-like rock formations. These formations consist of recognizable yellow-beige sandstone.

La Paz Rock Formations

Distinctive rock formations are essentially unique to La Paz among Bolivia’s major cities with coverage.

La Paz and El Alto

La Paz and El Alto are twin cities that together form one large metropolitan area. Although they are located right next to each other, they have very different looks.

Cobblestone Road Areas

Cobblestone roads are mainly found in and southeast of Cochabamba. They also appear around Sucre and, very rarely, in La Paz.

Santa Cruz Dirt Roads

In this tropical area, unpaved-road coverage is only found around Santa Cruz. These roads prominently feature pink soil characteristic of the area east of the Andes.

Eastern Lowlands

East of the Andes, Bolivia can be very green and tropical with extensive agriculture, especially around Santa Cruz. This area is mostly flat, though some roads closer to the Andes have large hills, and the soil often has a pink color.

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca, on the border with Peru, is Bolivia’s most significant body of water. It lies entirely within the Altiplano.

Ruta 1 Lake Position

On the section of Ruta 1 between Desaguadero and Guaqui, the lake will always be to the north.

Ruta 2 by the Lake

On the section of Ruta 2 between San Pablo de Tiquina and Batallas, the lake will mostly be to the south or west.

Southern Altiplano Aridity

In Bolivia, the Altiplano appears more arid in the southern half, including around Oruro and on roads heading southwest toward Chile.

Northern Altiplano Grasslands

In Bolivia, the Altiplano grasslands tend to look more lush in the northern half, especially near El Alto and La Paz.

Limited Coverage

Coverage in Bolivia is very limited in both geographic scope and road density.

Coverage Concentration

Coverage is limited to the central and central-western parts of Bolivia. Most coverage is in and around the six main cities: La Paz or El Alto, Cochabamba, Oruro, Sucre, Potosi, and Santa Cruz.

Reddish Rocks and Soil

Rocks and soil in Bolivia often have a distinct reddish tint. This can be a useful clue in close guesses.

Tigo Urban Ads

In urban areas, ads for the telecom company Tigo and its distinct blue logo are often visible. Tigo does not operate in Peru, so this can help in urban 50-50s.

Traditional Women’s Dress

In Bolivia, many people wear traditional clothing, especially women. Women’s folk dress typically includes bowler hats, colourful shawls, and large pleated skirts called polleras.

Shared Folk Dress

Similar folk dress can sometimes be found in parts of Peru, especially areas close to Bolivia.

Kilometre Marker Style

Kilometre markers are black and white. The top part is black with the abbreviation 'Km', and the bottom part is white with the distance; these markers do not show road numbers.

Road Marker Distinction

Some road markers can look similar to Argentinian ones, especially from a distance. A distinguishing feature is that Argentinian markers include a road number.

Curvy Utility Poles

Extremely curvy poles are a very good clue for Bolivia. Slightly bent poles may also appear in other places.

Concrete Utility Poles

Round concrete poles are a clue. They often have small pinholes near the top.

Utility Poles

Poles in Bolivia are inconsistent and should not be relied on heavily. Pole tops vary, and Argentina-style concrete poles can occasionally appear.

Guardrail Stripe Pattern

Guardrails sometimes feature yellow and black markings. In these markings, the yellow stripes are always on the outside.

Cobblestone Road Pattern

Cobblestone roads can feature a specific pattern, with several neat lines of stones separating more disorganised cobblestones in between.

Road Surface Mix

Bolivia has many standard asphalt roads. Concrete slab roads are also fairly common.

Gen 3 White Car

Bolivia has only Generation 3 camera coverage. The country was covered by a solid white Google car with no antenna.

White Cars, No Antenna

White cars with no antenna can also be found in Peru and Chile.

Country Domain

Bolivia uses the .bo country domain.

Altiplano Grasslands

The Altiplano is an immense highland plateau that dominates most of western Bolivia. Its grasslands range from green to arid, with some areas suitable for agriculture and others extremely dry; grass growing in tufts is common.

Broad Bolivia Coverage

Coverage spans 25k+ locations with a slight focus on smaller rural roads.

Painted Party Colors

Random objects may be painted in black, white, and a large blue field. This color scheme can be a clue for Bolivia.

Balanced by Department

This Bolivia map has 40k+ locations balanced by department.