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Sandy Island, the Undiscovered Country
Big Hairy Ian writes "A South Pacific island, shown on marine charts and world maps as well as on Google Earth and Google Maps, does not exist, Australian scientists say. The supposedly sizeable strip of land, named Sandy Island on Google maps, was positioned midway between Australia and French-governed New Caledonia. But when scientists from the University of Sydney went to the area, they found only the blue ocean of the Coral Sea."
You are John Galt and I claim my five gold dollars.
RTFA
A spokesman from the service told Australian newspapers that while some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to prevent copyright infringements, that was was not usually the case with nautical charts because it would reduce confidence in them.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
What is stranger is that on Google maps' satellite view at that exact location there is a black area
For lands, Google Maps is displaying satellite/aerial imagery. For seas/oceans, they're displaying a seabed topology map. The black is just the color of the ocean as seen by satellites, showing through the sea/land mask.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.