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. As long as you are living on the same continent, everything should be fine.
Now 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.
Everything appears to be looking fine.Google Maps displays a suggested route that I can take and divides it up in 64 different parts that take me from Berlin to Fort Knox in the US. Nothing unusual so far but take a look at the image that details the route: it takes you directly through the Atlantic Ocean. One could assume that Google wants you to take a boat or maybe a plane to cross the ocean, but no, this is not the case.
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?
Update: Please note that Google in the meantime has fixed the issue. When you now try to get directions from Europe to America or vice versa you only get the message that Google "cannot calculate directions" between the two locations.
You may sometimes get related directions though. The route from Mass to Tokyo for instance suggests to " sail across the Pacific Ocean" at one point, which is not really that of a precise direction to continue the journey.
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“has fixed the issue”
No, they removed a joke. Thanks to ****** like you and articles like this.
Humor-impairment is sadly not a treatable condition.
If you go from Japan, to China, you’ll need a jet ski at some point (43).
haha if you enter Taiwan to China, it says: Swim across the Great Ocean for 165 km, lol!
from China to Japan it’s saying take the jetski across the ocean…
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
It would be nice if google added airline info too!
If you do one from Mass to Tokyo, it tells you to Kayak to Hawaii and then to Japan.
even the drag doesn’t work any more, to bad, old or not, it was funny
You can still do it if you click and drag the desitination to the middle of brazil from anywhere in the US.
argh…google fixed it. it now just says google cannot calculate between —- and —- whatever your transatlantic locations were :(
this is about 8 months old . find something new
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.
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
Lol!!!!!
someone sent that to me on myspace =]