Taiwan

Traditional Chinese - one of the most complex scripts on Street View, many-stroke characters

Hong Kong: HK drives left, English everywhere, ultra-dense urbanity → HK.

Japan: Japan mixes in simpler kana (hiragana loops); Japan drives left with low-cam.

China: Simplified characters + tripod-only coverage → mainland China.

Poles almost always have black-yellow diagonal stripes running all the way to the ground

South Korea: Korea's stripes are shorter (don't reach the ground) and more yellow; Hangul vs Chinese characters.

Drives on the right (Japan & Hong Kong drive left)

Double yellow middle + single white outer lines (thin roads: single dashed yellow); roads with only outer white lines, no middle are a great Taiwan tell

Red outer lines (no-parking), esp. in cities

Plonk It: 'essentially unique' - red kerb/edge markings exist in a few other places (e.g. HK kerbs), so confirm with script & driving side.

Chevrons black on yellow; intersection mirrors with orange hoods

Bollards: 2-3 circular reflectors on a black rectangle; lollipop guardrail reflectors (Japan-like)

Concrete drainage ditches along roads; boxy distribution transformers (dark green/grey) esp. urban

Architecture: cramped multi-storey to flat single-storey; very boxy; walls covered in (usually white) tiles; light-green tin sheds

Gen3: black car w/ long antenna + central red brake light (Russia-like) or a car with a huge blur that looks like low-cam (but camera height is normal)

Counties + outlying islands: Kinmen & Lienchiang/Matsu (at the Chinese coast!), Penghu (mid-strait), Green & Orchid Island (SE, Taitung county) - beginners get caught out

Area codes 02-08, increasing southward (mobiles 09…); National Freeways: odd = N-S, even = E-W, numbers grow W→E & N→S (1 & 3 = long west-coast routes); township-road signs carry the county character

Blue pole plaques = coordinates: letter = 50×80 km grid cell, 4 digits = % east / % north within it (e.g. E3264) - precise region-guessing tool

Landscape: flat/rolling crop plains → central west; forested mountains → central-east two-thirds (high up: temperate/coniferous); Hualien-Taitung valley → flat plains between forested ranges E+W; Yilan plain → mountains N/W/S but open to the east, rice paddies w/ houses beside fields

Vegetation metas: areca/betel palms → central & south (mountains); coconut palms → southern coast; fish farms → west coast south half (Yunlin/Chiayi/Tainan/Kaohsiung); tea → mountains (Chiayi, Nantou, Hsinchu, Miaoli); Pingtung = areca in neat flat-plain rows

North: old disorganised housing + dingy apartment blocks; Taoyuan: red-brick/red-tile apartments (also greater Taipei); Yilan: rich gated multi-storey villas

Infra metas: white-speckled pavement → east coast; Kaohsiung lampposts red-white stripes on trapezoidal base; Yunlin poles w/ thicker support below top; Changhua traffic boxes w/ big yellow stickers; Chiayi City green square stickers on every pole; bent chevron holders w/ 2 striped stickers → only Pingtung/Kaohsiung/Taitung; transformers on dark-green raised holders → New Taipei + Keelung

Low rolling hills, winding roads, sparse messy/unkempt farmland; Taichung: open plains ringed by distant low mountains

Norfolk pines in tight rows beside roads + many leafless trees; cream-white houses; blue outer lines almost exclusive here

Fuzzy-leaved trees lining roads + red-tinged soil; no Gen4; small traditional houses; lampposts w/ red-white diagonal stripes

Tropical, coconut palms, lush cliffs, run-down concrete pavement - Green Island uses yellow outer lines and is more built-up (Orchid doesn't)

Hilly + frequent concrete roads, overcast coverage

Road spotlights: PH-8 (Taichung-Hualien) - yellow guardrail in W-Hualien, towering rock cliffs in the east; PH-20 through Yushan NP - conifer mountains + tube-like double guardrails (only Gen2 & overexposed sunny Gen4); Taipingshan road (Yilan) - fog, conifers, guardrail w/ red legs (some Gen3 sunset); Guangfu/Fenglin (Hualien) - short-tree forests around narrow grassy roads, often Gen2

Rare finds: green train car → east Chiayi near Alishan; blue pickup → Taipei riverside parks