Is France testing a cloaking device in the Pacific?

[viper37]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20442487

A South Pacific island, shown on marine charts and world maps as well as on Google Earth and Google Maps, does not exist, Australian scientists say.
The supposedly sizeable strip of land, named Sandy Island on Google maps, was positioned midway between Australia and French-governed New Caledonia.

The phantom island has featured in publications for at least a decade.
Scientist Maria Seton, who was on the ship, said that the team was expecting land, not 1,400m (4,620ft) of deep ocean.
"We wanted to check it out because the navigation charts on board the ship  showed a water depth of 1,400m in that area - very deep,"  Dr Seton, from the University of Sydney, told the AFP news agency after the 25-day voyage.
"It's on Google Earth and other maps so we went to check and there was no  island. We're really puzzled. It's quite bizarre.
   "How did it find its way onto the maps? We just don't know, but we plan to  follow up and find out."
Australian newspapers have reported that the invisible island would sit within French territorial waters if it existed - but does not feature on French government maps.
Australia's Hydrographic Service, which produces the country's nautical charts, says its appearance on some scientific maps and Google Earth could just be the result of human error, repeated down the years.
A spokesman from the service told Australian newspapers that while some map makers intentionally include phantom streets to prevent copyright infringements, that was was not usually the case with nautical charts because it would reduce confidence in them.
A spokesman for Google said they consult a variety of authoritative sources when making their maps.
"The world is a constantly changing place, the Google spokesman told AFP, "and keeping on top of these changes is a never-ending endeavour'.'
The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Sydney says that while most explorers dream of discovering uncharted territory, the Australian team appears to have done the opposite -  and cartographers everywhere are now rushing to undiscover Sandy Island for ever.

There is no other explanation: France is testing a cloaking device 

[Grey Fox]

I'm thinking they nuked it out of existence 30 years ago & no one had noticed yet.

[mongers]

I wonder who at Google thought this island up and why ?

I doubt it's that old cartographers trick of 'watermarking' their maps, maybe a social experiment of some for to see how far it spread or just someone doing for shit and giggles. 

[CountDeMoney]

Doesn't matter;  it'll be under water soon enough anyway, what with the climate change that's not occurring.

[crazy canuck]

They have finally developed the technology to remove english from signs.

[Grey Fox]

They have finally developed the technology to remove english from signs.

Oh but France doesn't care about that. They actually add english to sign. Like using Parking.

[crazy canuck]

They have finally developed the technology to remove english from signs.

Oh but France doesn't care about that. They actually add english to sign. Like using Parking.

According to the lastest edition of the Economist France's economy is in bad shape.  France is no doubt thinking about the licencing possibilities of such a technology.

[viper37]

They have finally developed the technology to remove english from signs.

Oh but France doesn't care about that. They actually add english to sign. Like using Parking.

According to the lastest edition of the Economist France's economy is in bad shape.  France is no doubt thinking about the licencing possibilities of such a technology.

Lots of countries are in bad shape.  Maybe the UK kidnapped the island and is holding it for ransom.

[mongers]

This is rather old news, for instance radio hams have already demonstrated it's non-existance some 12 years ago, here (via the register:

http://www.n4gn.com/tx0dx/16.html

[Sheilbh]

According to the lastest edition of the Economist France's economy is in bad shape.  France is no doubt thinking about the licencing possibilities of such a technology.

I think that's the Economist's line on France since the defeat of Giscard d'Estaing.

[dps]

According to the lastest edition of the Economist France's economy is in bad shape.  France is no doubt thinking about the licencing possibilities of such a technology.

I think that's the Economist's line on France since the defeat of Giscard d'Estaing.

Hasn't France's economy been in bad shape more-or-less since the Thirty Years' War?

[viper37]

According to the lastest edition of the Economist France's economy is in bad shape.  France is no doubt thinking about the licencing possibilities of such a technology.

I think that's the Economist's line on France since the defeat of Giscard d'Estaing.

Hasn't France's economy been in bad shape more-or-less since the Thirty Years' War?

Since Waterloo, actually.

[Razgovory]

It has been kinda downhill for them since 1812 hasn't it?

[Syt]

Mystery solved?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/29/sandy-island-whaling-ship-origin

It was a remarkable story: the "undiscovery" of a Pacific island which had made its way on to navigational charts and even Google Earth. Last week a group of Australian scientists announced they had sailed to the spot where Sandy Island is supposed to be, in the shimmering Coral Sea, only to discover it wasn't there.

Now museum staff have identified the source of the original error: a 19th-century whaling ship. According to Shaun Higgins, a pictorial librarian at Auckland Museum in New Zealand, the Velocity first "spotted" the island back in 1876.

After returning from a voyage in the Pacific, the ship's master reported two unusual features. The first was a series of "heavy breakers", the second some "Sandy Islets", or Sandy Island. Both then appeared in an Australian maritime directory for 1879. It noted the islets extended north and south "along the meridian 159º 57' E" and "between lat 19º 7' S and 19º 20' S."

Higgins said the captain was not entirely convinced of his findings, with the islets regarded over a century ago as somewhat suspect. Rummaging through the museum's extensive collection of maps, the librarian found the island first recorded in a 1908 admiralty chart. Sandy's existence continued unchallenged until last week, with Google Earth erroneously recording it as a dark sliver.

In an email to the Guardian, Higgins said: "Sandy Island itself, although relatively large, is drawn with a dotted edge [on the 1908 chart], more akin to the way that reefs have been recorded." He added that the chart did offer a disclaimer of sorts, and came with the warning: "Caution is necessary whilst navigating ... several details have been collected from the voyages of various navigators extending over a long series of years; the relative position of the many dangers, may, therefore, not in all cases be exactly given: while it is possible there may be others undiscovered."

Higgins said: "From the information we do have, it appears as if the island was sighted (or at least they saw fit to record something hazardous) with no further investigation. Perhaps the mistake has been perpetuated ever since the 1876 recording, pending any other mention of the island in association with a vessel."

One of the scientists who "undiscovered" the island, Dr Maria Seton from the University of Sydney, said her team of scientists had been puzzled by the discrepancy between Google Earth and navigational charts. "It's on Google Earth and other maps so we went to check and there was no island. We're really puzzled. It's quite bizarre. How did it find its way on to the maps? We just don't know, but we plan to follow up and find out."

The museum has now posted the 1908 chart on its website. In a blogpost, Greg Meylan writes: "How it managed to appear, disappear and reappear onto various maps and charts is a mystery of the sea. No doubt some out there will believe the island is still there, or has simply moved south for the summer."

Meylan admits this isn't the first case of maps showing islands that aren't there. The museum's 1650 map of the Pacific is spectacularly wrong, with its string of large islands extending from the tip of South America to a point not far from where Auckland ought to be.

The identity of the captain who first spotted Sandy Island is not known. Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1874-5 records five different ships called the Velocity.

• This article was amended on 30 November 2012. The original credited the museum blogpost to publicist Melanie Cooper rather than Greg Meylan. This has been corrected.