No Atlantis on Google Earth

A little while ago, Google Earth users noted something unusual, something off the grid; what seemed to be a collection of streets along the sea floor about 600 miles off the coast of Africa. Experts had said, in the past, that this area was one of a few possible locations for the lost city of Atlantis, something people around the world have been looking for for centuries. 

Google Earth squashed that idea though, publicly stating that the lines that looked like streets, were in fact sonar data collected by boats.

“Many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth, including a pristine forest in Mozambique. In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data,” said an official Google statement, BBC reports.

Atlantis, a city first described and mentioned by the Greek philosopher Plato, was supposedly a utopian society which existed more than 2,000 years ago.

The civilization that existed in Atlantis was, according to Plato, highly advanced and wealthy. There are several supposed locations for the city, which is thought to have been destroyed and subsequently engulfed by the ocean.

Some say its remains lie near Cuba, some say smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic. Some say it didn’t exist at all. But one thing is for certain, Google earth won’t aid in the potential discovery (if the city ever existed) of this ancient utopian society.