When 21-st century technology doesn’t work quite as intended, people revert to good-old time-tested ways to remedy things.
A large banner proclaiming an incorrect route on Google Maps has been going viral over the Indian internet over the last few days. “You are fooled by Google Map,” declares the banner, which was hung near Baga beach in Goa. “This road don’t take you to Baga beach. Turn back and take a left turn, Baga is 1 km from here,” it advises.
The image was shared and reshared by several users, all marveling both the impact Google Maps has on our daily lives, and the ingenious way someone had decided to fix it. Goa is visited by millions of tourists each year, all of whom seem to use Google Maps to get around, and many people said that they’d indeed seen the sign.
On the way to Baga Beach @googlemaps #DesiMapofIndia pic.twitter.com/nhveJKSesi
— Anshuman Pattanayak (@AnshumanPatta12) February 18, 2019
Hahaha. @googlemaps what's the route to Baga beach? ?
Photo credits: masud. pic.twitter.com/0K2wK2TQD2— Sumanth Raj Urs (@sumanthrajurs) February 16, 2019
There can be a good movie named “Fooled by Google Maps”.
— anil (@anildigital) February 16, 2019
At this point, Google stepped in. “Thank you for pointing this to us. We, actually, already fixed this in 2017. Looks like the banner needs fixing now :D,” it tweeted back to the original poster. Google even decided to share a new Google maps search, which now showed a route that didn’t require users to pass through the road with the banner.
@tweesumz thank you for pointing this to us.
We, actually, already fixed this in 2017.
Looks like the banner needs fixing now 😀 pic.twitter.com/i1gIr6arMc— Google India (@GoogleIndia) February 18, 2019
Some were impressed with Google’s response.
Savage reply?
— UNO? (@unnatip52891522) February 19, 2019
..while others started pointing out other locations where Google Maps doesn’t work quite as intended.
Two very famous 5-star hotel in Raipur which are being seen as 4-star hotel in google map. Should be fixed ASAP. Google map is unable to show even a single 5-star property. Plz fix this and show those 2 hotels as 5-star property.
Here's the authentic proof.@GoogleIndia pic.twitter.com/rPt3AQS9RA— Vishal Nirmalkar™ (@VNX09) February 20, 2019
? this too will be fixed
Take a lookhttps://t.co/fvbRZ7guMD— Vishal Nirmalkar™ (@VNX09) February 18, 2019
When you’re trying to set out to map the entire world, it’s a process that might always seem to be a work in progress.