Yes, you heard it right. Chennai has gone missing from Google Maps. Google Maps has accidentally marked Chennai as Kovur. Kovur lies in the neighbourhood of West Chennai which is around five Kilometers from Porur, a locality in the city.
Incidentally, a town in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district is also called Kovur. While the others districts surrounding Chennai are marked correctly, it is astonishing to see that the capital city has been marked wrongly.
If you thought this was the first major blunder by Google Maps, you'd be amazed at the numerous other instances -- even one where it nearly sparked a war.
Here's a look:
When Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica
2010 November might have been just another month for any one of us, but not definitely for the people of Costa Rica's Calero Island. Google Maps indicated that the border region belonged to Nicaragua. Troops led by former Sandinista guerrilla commander Eden Pastora consequently removed the Costa Rica flag and replaced it with theirs. The issue became so serious that the UN Security Council had to intervene only to determine that Google Maps had wrongly indicated that Calero Island was a part of Nicaragua.
When Germany's Emden came under the Netherlands
In the 15th century, Germany and the Dutch had issues over the border which even has a special place in history books discussing the European Border War. In 2011, Google Maps ensured that everyone revisited history, by displaying many of the places belonging to a harbour located in Germany's Emden as being a part of the neighbouring country Netherlands.
When people searching for Sunrise, Florida were redirected to Sarasota, Florida, 200 miles away
In 2010, people who had asked Google Maps for the direction to Florida's Sunrise were redirected to Sarasota, Florida. The two Florida cities were 200 miles apart. Later, Google fixed the technical glitch to put Sunrise back on the map.
When tourists in the US searching for Round Valley State Park landed on a woman's doorstep
Laurie Gneiding, who lives at a hill top in New Jersey's Hunterdon County in a 2011 interview to ABC News said that a technical glitch in Google Maps directed the tourists searching for Round Valley State Park land on her door step. As the number of visitors increased she even went on to put up plywood stating "NOT Park Entrance...Private Driveway... Google Maps is Wrong!"
When commuters had to take a six-mile detour in Maryland
When you are a commuter you won’t be pleased to take a detour after traveling for six miles. But that is exactly what happened to those who had taken the Intercounty Connector (Maryland's first all-electronic toll road). The toll road was set to open completely in 2012 spring. Prior to that in March, a six mile stretch was opened, but Google Maps accidentally displayed it as though the complete 18.8 miles were in use. Commuters who followed Google Maps ended up taking a long detour.