Come Visit the Non-Existent Sandy Island

Have you used Google Maps to pick an awesome, remote looking vacation spot? You will be disappointed if you picked Sandy Island near Australia, only to show up and find out the island doesn’t exist. Despite our love for all things Google Maps related, it appears they made up an island in an area where the water depth is 1,400 metres.

However, it’s not just Google Maps and Google Earth that has this imaginary place – other maps do, too. The error was discovered by scientists at the University of Sydney (via Digital Trends).

“We wanted to check it out because the navigation charts…showed a water depth of 1,400 meters in that area – very deep,” the University of Sydney’s Maria Seton told the AFP news agency. “It’s on Google Earth and other maps so we went to check and there was no island. We’re really puzzled. It’s quite bizarre. How did it find its way onto the maps? We just don’t know, but we plan to follow up and find out.”

I recall Marlon Brando living on an island before his death. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out he sunk an island, given how to looked like he ate only gummi bears for his calories in his later days.

So long, Sandy Island – we hardly knew you.