February 12, 2026
Summit snark, peak pettiness
HeyWhatsThat
Name that mountain! Hikers feud over the best peak-spotter
TLDR: HeyWhatsThat labels far-off mountains from a 360° view, but commenters split on the best way to spot peaks. Many praise its free, global scope; others call it clunky and prefer camera overlays like PeakFinder or power tools like CalTopo/Horizonator—fueling puns, national pride, and budget debates.
HeyWhatsThat promises hiking magic: point at the horizon and it tells you which mountains you’re seeing in a slick 360° sketch. The crowd loved the idea—but the comments instantly turned into a summit-sized showdown. Fans praised the global reach and the free web view on HeyWhatsThat, while skeptics dragged the browser experience as “clunky”, muttering about old-school vibes and Firefox-only quirks. Cue the gear wars.
Team Phone flexed hard: one user swore the camera-overlay app PeakFinder is “worth the five bucks,” while Swiss locals waved the flag for swisstopo (limited to Switzerland, but beloved). Tinkerers rolled out the maps-and-math brigade with CalTopo and the hackable Horizonator, calling them the power-user’s peak cheatsheet. The pun avalanche was real—someone even warned “pun ahead” before crowning a “peak of this method.”
Meanwhile, the site’s extra tricks—like eclipse simulations—sparked retro jokes about plugins and time travel. And the thread couldn’t resist riffing on the FAQ’s mythical “Mount Jellyfish vs. Mount Squid” scenario. Bottom line: HeyWhatsThat is the global, free, nerdy classic; PeakFinder is the slick, pay-once camera overlay; CalTopo/Horizonator are for the map wizards. Different trails, same destination—knowing what you’re staring at, with maximum peak drama.
Key Points
- •HeyWhatsThat generates labeled 360° panoramas identifying mountain peaks from a chosen viewpoint.
- •The site computes horizons, viewsheds (visibility cloak), and line-of-sight profiles for visual analysis.
- •Users can view existing panoramas, create their own, and access the service via mobile browsers; an Android app is in development.
- •An Eclipse site uses the Google Earth plug-in on Windows and Mac OSX to simulate solar and lunar eclipses.
- •Peak detection relies on horizon visibility, elevation maxima with sufficient slope, and database inclusion; browser compatibility is optimized for Firefox.