Google has put the residents of Los Angeles in a rather precarious position: underwater, according to the search giant’s Maps software. Toggle over Venice, Malibu, or select parts of Route 1, and you’ll see parts of land — streets, beaches, and presumably a handful of homes — perched out over the Pacific Ocean. It’s not the land that’s moving, it seems, but rather the ocean that’s encroaching and LA staples like the Venice Beach Boardwalk and some of the ritziest suburbs of LA covered in blue.
Google thinks Los Angeles is underwater
A glitch, or climate change commentary?
A glitch, or climate change commentary?
is a Senior Producer on Decoder. Previously, he reported on the technology and gaming industries for more than a decade.
Here’s what the scene looks like under Google Earth:
Twitter users here and there who have picked up on the weirdness think Google could be making a statement on climate change, indicating sea level changes and the swallowing of the California coast. Whether it's a Maps glitch or Google's own way of telling us the end is near is unclear. A Google spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Update, September 12th, 2:15PM ET: A Google spokesperson says the incorrect map display was due to an error from one of the service’s many mapping partners. It has since been fixed.
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