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It shows up on Google Maps, coastal databases, and marine charts, but when scientists from the University of Sydney went to visit Sandy Island, it was no where to be found. Did the island, supposedly located between Australia and New Caledonia, suddenly disappear like a confusing LOST plot twist?
Unfortunately no, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the scientists had simply undiscovered the island.
They first became suspicious of its existence when they arrived at the proper coordinates only to discover a vast blue ocean and a water depth of over 4,500 feet. Had the island disappeared due to erosion, there would still have been a large chunk of land mass beneath the waves. And how exactly Sandy Island made its way onto maps and charts as far back as 2000 is currently a mystery that the team from the University of Sydney is now trying to solve.
Was it simply human error? It’s certainly been known to happen. Google Maps pulls its data from a variety of public and commercial sources, and unlike its fleet of Street View vehicles, it doesn’t have a flotilla of boats scouring the planet’s oceans for technical accuracy. So while the island still shows up in Google’s database, don’t expect it to be there much longer now that it’s been proven to be fake. [BBC]
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Ben moved it again, scientist should have known better!
i only logged in to say the same thing – seems you are better than me!
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3655gFTJ5wQUUdwbnpNakNBeWs
Well, it’s already been blacked out on Google Maps.
Its always been blacked out.
Or this is a conspiracy to allow a government to set up a new secret base on a now non existent island. Those scientist were actually agents from an evil organisation bent on world domination.
I think it would be in French territorial waters.. I never trusted those sneaky French!
I think this is where the script writers for Lost originally kept all the treatment, storyboards and synopsis documents for the direction the series was going to take.
It was probably put there as a cartographer’s mark so that they knew if someone else stole their work.
Like the map that was stolen to be used on the Euro notes that was missing out Wales.
“Google Maps pulls its data from a variety of public and commercial sources”
I suppose Apple Maps was their source for this part?
Damn, beaten to it
May be it was created for false accounting reasons (Corporate/individual/politician). Someone showed they bought/invested in this island.