Plan B Forum

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.

The phantom island has featured in publications for at least a decade.

Scientist Maria Seton, who was on the ship, said that the team was expecting land, not 1,400m (4,620ft) of deep ocean.

"We wanted to check it out because the navigation charts on board the ship showed a water depth of 1,400m in that area - very deep," Dr Seton, from the University of Sydney, told the AFP news agency after the 25-day voyage.

"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." [a bit like Swansea.]

Australian newspapers have reported that the invisible island would sit within French territorial waters if it existed - but does not feature on French government maps.

Australia's Hydrographic Service, which produces the country's nautical charts, says its appearance on some scientific maps and Google Earth could just be the result of human error, repeated down the years.

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.

A spokesman for Google said they consult a variety of authoritative sources when making their maps.

Gob wrote:
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.

Geologists from the University of Sydney have discovered that Sandy Island, a Manhattan-sized island that shows up on Google maps and other charts between Australia and New Caledonia, does not actually exist.

The Australian scientists were aboard the RV Southern Surveyor on a 25-day expedition studying plate tectonics when they "undiscovered" the island.

The crew thought they would check out the mysterious island since it was in the path of their route, but immediately grew skeptical of its existence when they did not see it on a navigation chart aboard their ship, according to The Guardian's Luke Harding.

The island's non-existence was confirmed when the RV Southern Surveyor sailed right through where the 60-square-mile island should have been.

A crew member told The Guardian:

"This was one of those intriguing questions. It wasn't far outside of our path. We decided to actually sail through the island ... Lo and behold there was nothing! The ocean floor didn't ever get shallower than 1300 metres below the wave-base. There's an island in the middle of nowhere that doesn't actually exist."

The non-existence of Sandy Island was also reported in 2000 by ham radio enthusiasts who embarked on a voyage to find the island, according to The Daily Mail's Damien Gayle. Apparently, not all maps were changed.

A cartographic expert tells MailOnline that Sandy Island is "the result of an error in digitizing satellite photos."

keld feldspar wrote:In Rubatos defense the OP article never actually read that it was on navigational charts.

OP:

while some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to prevent copyright infringements

.

rubato:

I had heard, I don't know if it's true, that mapmakers sometimes add things which aren't really there in order to prove copyright infringement

And

Gob wrote:From the OP.

Gob wrote: 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.

Yer velvet gloved smartassness aside

MajGenl.Meade wrote:Brilliantly restrained and effective!

Gob wrote:You two!! Shake and make up like gentlemen!!