Thursday, July 18, 2013

Google Maps wipes out Scottish island of Jura

 The beautiful Scottish island of Jura, where George Orwell wrote 1984,
has sunk without trace into the Atlantic Ocean... at least according to Google.
The map error (probably an inside-out poly issue) was first noticed on July 4,
but two weeks later on Google have yet to rectify the glitch.

but it was still visible in the satellite view.

The GeoGarage's sources in Jura assure us that the island is still standing.
>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

From DailyMail 
 
  • Isle of Jura is located off the west coast of the Scottish Kintyre Peninsula.
  • When users search for the isle an outline appears where the land should be
  • Google has apologised and is working to fix the fault
Google has had to apologise for accidentally wiping a small Scottish island from its Maps service after the lastest update.
The Isle of Jura should be shown off the west coast of the Scottish Kintyre Peninsula yet when users search for island on Google Maps a red outline appears where the land should be.
Google said it was 'so sorry' for the mistake and added its engineers are 'bevearing away' to fix the flaw.
BBC News was the first site to notice that the mass of land had vanished.
It is visible on Google Earth and on the Satellite view of Google Maps, yet when the page is switched to Maps view, the island disappears.


Jura is part of Scotland's Inner Hebrides archipelago and is situated in between Islay and the Kintyre Peninsula off the west coast of the UK country.
It only has around 200 residents that live in an area of approximately 140 square miles.
The island is renowned for its whisky and its deer, which outnumber the people 25 to one.
It is only accessible by a small ferry that stops running at 18.30, small boats from Colonsay to Loch Tarbert or by water taxi.

Jura's single malt scotch whisky distillery, which once employed a quarter of the island's male population, somehow spotted a marketing opportunity in the peculiar situation, promising a free bottle of whisky to the Twitter user who could put an 'X' closest to the distillery's location.
(Google Maps geolocalization)

A Google spokesman told the BBC: 
'We are sorry about that. We're aware of the problem, and our engineers are beavering away to fix it.
We hope to have the map of Jura back to normal as soon as possible.'

Google Maps has suffered similar mishaps before :
  • in April 2009, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, two French islands off the coast of Newfoundland, were missing their land data in Google Maps — the roads and landmarks were there, but the outlines of the islands were not (see Google Maps forum)
  • in September 2010, the city of Sunrise in Florida vanished from the map while users were redirected to Sarasota (see CNN
  • in November 2010, Google Nicaraguan map error threatens to escalate into regional dispute (see Guardian / OgleEarth)
  • and in 2011, Google Maps placed the harbour in Emden, Germany, under Dutch sovereignty. This border dispute is said to date back to the 15th Century. According to the Dutch, the harbor lies between the northern Netherlands and Germany, but Germans claim the entire estuary as their territory. (see GeoGarage blog)
  • Late last year, a group of Australian geologists proved that a South Pacific Island — the mythical “Sandy Island” — does not exist despite appearing on both Google Maps and Google Earth. (see GeoGarage blog)

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