You’d think the kilometer-wide phase “Google review policy is crap”, cut into the greenery of Takht Pari Forest near Rawalpindi, Pakistan, alongside a gigantic sad face, would be visible from space. But this is, of course, visible only on Google Maps.
A sly easter egg was added by someone apparently wanting to make clear how easily-fooled the service is into adding things that are not in fact there — and how potentially unsafe it may be for those depending on it for accurate information.
The discovery—posted to Hacker News by user ilamparithi—comes not long after a huge Google Android robot was spotted urinating on an Apple logo, also near Rawalpindi.
The pitfalls of allowing anonymous editing notwithstanding,
the snarky virtual lawnmowing is also suggestive of the sprawling nature of Google’s international services, recently in the news due to its domination of European search markets.
Google Maps surprises have included penises and secret swastikas, but those were real landscape features revealed by the technology. Lost cities are uncovered, too—though sometimes turn out to be glitches, such as these mysterious, Atlantis-like markings under the sea.
Trap streets are historically added to maps to expose copycat publishers, but this is the first example of a crap park being added to expose the original’s own shortcomings.