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Google Maps: Swim across the Atlantic Ocean

Now ain’t that interesting ? You can use Google Maps to get directions from one location to another. It is most of the time pretty accurate displaying information about highways, signs, exits and so on to give you a good impression of the route that lies ahead. You can try it now and head over to the Google Maps website and use the Get Directions tab to enter a starting point and destination to see how the system works.

swim across the Atlantic OceanNow guess what happens if you enter a starting point in Europe and a destination in North America ? Let us see what happens: I start in Berlin and want the direction to Fort Knox. (I love gold, hehe). Everything appears to be looking fine. I’m receiving 64 parts that detail the journey from Berlin to Fort Knox. Nothing unusual so far but take a look at the image that details the route, it goes straight through the Atlantic Ocean.

swim across the Atlantic Ocean

Now if we analyze direction 40 on the list we see something very astonishing. It says “Swim Across the Atlantic Ocean” with a distance of 5572 kilometers, that is 3462 miles! Think this is a pretty strange suggestion: What do you do with your car btw, leave it behind ?

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Wednesday April 11, 2007 -
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Responses so far:

  1. kristina says:

    someone sent that to me on myspace =]

  2. john says:

    This is also true if you start in the US and end in Europe. This fact has been bouncing around for quite some time. I read it in a forum a couple of months ago.

    john

  3. Gil says:

    It’s gets better if you go read down the step-by-step directions…. About step 24 they say “swim across the atlantic”. Someone at Google has a sense of humor.

  4. apu says:

    this is about 8 months old . find something new

  5. google fixed says:

    argh…google fixed it. it now just says google cannot calculate between —- and —- whatever your transatlantic locations were :(

  6. stephen says:

    You can still do it if you click and drag the desitination to the middle of brazil from anywhere in the US.

  7. Jessica says:

    even the drag doesn’t work any more, to bad, old or not, it was funny

  8. Fragg says:

    If you do one from Mass to Tokyo, it tells you to Kayak to Hawaii and then to Japan.

  9. pykler says:

    It would be nice if google added airline info too!

  10. lisa says:

    i google mapped driving from ohio to brisbane, australia and it says to kayak across the pacific ocean with stops in hawaii and japan lol

  11. feestaap1 says:

    from China to Japan it’s saying take the jetski across the ocean…

  12. Mikey says:

    haha if you enter Taiwan to China, it says: Swim across the Great Ocean for 165 km, lol!

  13. Dee says:

    If you go from Japan, to China, you’ll need a jet ski at some point (43).

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