So, I did a Geocoding API lookup for "Null Island" and it got me the following off of Ireland: $ ./bin/gmsj-cli geocode "Null Island" Results length: 1 Result 0: Formatted Addre... More on github.com

I'm using Google Maps GMSMutablePath to create a large polygon to highlight a route with a variable width polygon. I seem to get the Null Island coordinate from time to time. What is the proper wa... More on stackoverflow.com

Yep, been working in GPS tracking for over 10 years. The number of calls I get from a new customer complaining that their devices is showing in the middle of the ocean is a reliable barometer of how experienced they are. "What do you mean it won't get a GPS signal when installed under the metal hood strapped under a metal brace?" And God help you explaining GPS drift to them with a parked vehicle.... More on reddit.com

Short answer: No, not really, although Google will sometimes blur things like military bases. Long answer: Google Earth is far from perfect, but there are multiple independent sources for things like islands: many companies and several countries operate several different kinds of satellites, commercial planes fly over things, commercial ships pick things up on radar, etc., so it would be incredibly hard to hide a significant island. Of course there’s some wiggle room in “significant” – lots of tiny islands in Canadian lakes, or half-covered by Antarctic ice, are not well mapped. But I don’t think that’s what you’re asking. There are still whoopsie-doopsies. I posted about Sandy Island years ago, but the very fact that it was caught suggests that it would be really hard for Google to keep a secret like that on purpose. And that was before free global SAR survey data from Sentinel-1. Google blurs people’s houses in Street View if they ask, and military (and other) sites in the imagery map if governments ask. Other than that, they don’t seem to deliberately hide stuff. Honestly, they would be silly to try – they’d Streisand effect it. And remember, Google’s is not the only map. They have competitors who would love more examples of things they do better. I’ve worked with imagery for mapping (for one of the smaller mapping companies), and from my perspective it’s pretty funny how often people think Google is dElIbErAtElY hIdInG sOmEtHiNg when they’ve just made a mistake or sourced bad data. Some people seem to imagine that maps naturally exist in the wild as perfect, up-to-date composites of the world, and any imperfection must be deliberately introduced. No, imagery maps start from zero, and are difficult and expensive to build, and if Google messes up 1% of 1% of the time, that’s still a lot of glitches, mistakes, and holes on the map in absolute terms. Finding a glitch in Google Maps is like finding a piece of litter in Disneyland: don’t imagine that they’re so perfect that they must have put it there on purpose. More on reddit.com