Indonesia

Plates black with white text - usually three white sections through the blur (commercial = yellow; newer coverage can be white)

Malaysia: Count the sections: 3 → Indonesia, 2 → Malaysia. Language spelling helps too (televisi vs televisyen).

Drives on the left

Malaysia: Plate sections + all-white Malaysian road lines.

Philippines: Right-hand traffic → Philippines, never Indonesia.

Centre lines white or yellow (solid or dashed); outer lines always white - yellow centre is rare in Gen3

Malaysia: Any yellow centre line → Indonesia, not Malaysia.

Poles round, steel or concrete; steel often painted black, many with Indonesian flag colours (red/white); pole tops even or uneven by region

Black-and-white square/circular bollards + yellow-and-black ones (sometimes red reflector)

Yellow waystones angled towards the road with a cutout near the top (3 town shorthands, biggest on top)

Plonk It calls these 'unique to Indonesia'. The Philippines has waystones too - but perpendicular to the road with text facing away, so the angled orientation is the tell.

Philippines: Angled toward the road → Indonesia; perpendicular, text facing away → Philippines.

Indonesian looks like Malaysian, but was influenced by Dutch (Malaysian by English): televisi (≈ Dutch televisie) vs Malaysian televisyen

Malaysia: Dutch-style spellings (-si, -tas) → Indonesia; English-style (-syen, -titi) → Malaysia. Plates: 3 vs 2 white sections.

Rows of red-and-white banners everywhere (sometimes more colourful flags)

Cigarette ads everywhere - black/red schemes, ~18,000 Rp, graphic pictures, the word PERINGATAN

Motorcycles have front licence plates (unlike the rest of SE Asia)

Within covered Southeast Asia, front plates on motorcycles are an Indonesia tell - other SEA countries' bikes don't carry them.

Currency = Rupiah (Rp) on price signs

Coverage map: no Papua coverage; sparse in Kalimantan, Aceh, Central Sulawesi, North Maluku

Kabupaten (regency, 'Kab.') names on signs/billboards everywhere - 417 covered ones, learnable

Cardinal directions in addresses: Utara=N, Timur=E, Selatan=S, Barat=W, Tengah=Central, Tenggara=SE

Satellite dishes point toward mid-West-Kalimantan → tells you N/S of the equator + rough side of the country (angle ≈ distance)

Postal codes (5 digits) group by first digit: 1xxxx Jakarta → 9xxxx Maluku/Papua

Pole tops even vs uneven (symmetry of the insulator bar) - the base region-guessing meta

Poles with a triangle attachment under the horizontal bar → mapped regions (not valid on stacked poles)

Oil-palm plantations → Sumatra & Kalimantan (rare in Sulawesi); rice → Java (some S-Sulawesi & S-Sumatra)

Roof metas: tiled roofs → Java (+S-Sumatra, Nusas, S-Kalimantan - there flatter/less rounded); plain sheet metal → north (Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra); two-level symmetric triangle metal roofs → mainly Sulawesi

Muslim-majority country - churches/Christian signs are a strong clue for the mapped (Christian) regions

Gen3 antenna coverage → mostly Java (esp. East Java; very rarely Denpasar/Bali); black Gen3 car → almost everywhere, most common in Sulawesi

Poles with an extra-long support on the pole top (sometimes two); drier, low shrubby vegetation (Java can look similar - double-check)

Poles with an indent on both sides

Trident pole tops (rarely S/W-Kalimantan, N-Sumatra, Riau)

Pole tops with an extra attachment right under the horizontal bar

Even bar with uneven insulators (1 vs 2) - almost exclusive to North Sumatra

A-frame pole supports (also Nusas) - caution: A-frames appear anywhere wires bend; green paint on bridge sides → S/Central Kalimantan

Crossbar with the flat part facing away from the pole (normally it faces the pole); painted white+blue/red fences; Central Sulawesi: unique black-white-yellow bollards + thin black secondary poles with light-blue/green tape (East Peninsula)

Rectangle attachment on pole tops (mostly Bali, with the Nusa support beam); pole paint with horizontal text (usually dark blue, also light blue/green)

Asymmetrical poles with 2 supports below the bar (rare in Kalimantan/Java)

Very rounded green hills with palm/sugarcane/corn clusters

Savannah landscape on north Sumba (Gen3 there = always white car); distinct high-pitched roof peaks

Red soil with white topsoil spilling onto the road

Bugis roofs: horizontal slots inside the roof triangles (rarely E-Kalimantan/W-Nusa); gable horns common here too (also Riau, C/S-Kalimantan); around Rante Pao: unique elevated Tongkonan saddle-roof houses

Hindu-Balinese architecture: crown-like roof pinnacles everywhere, guardian statues, slit-drum towers, dark volcanic andesite gates/walls/carvings

Distinct boat-shaped roofs (Minangkabau); North Sumatra's version is less angled, without spires - most common near Lake Toba

Roofs made of wooden chips

Moiré-pattern camera glitch throughout Central Kalimantan

Mountains around the lake + Samosir Island in the middle; overcast coverage typical

Karst formations in the east, esp. along the highway to East Kalimantan (similar karst: S-Sulawesi, W-Sumatra)

Palu Bay: NW-facing bay north of Palu - mountains west, flat urban east

Steeply pitched palm-leaf roofs (SW of North Sumatra)

Rare cars: white SUV with black bars + wooden roof plank (east Bali); black cab with men in the truck bed near Jagasatru