As reported by The Telegraph, the unusual discovery was made by a user of Hacker News. How the offending Android figure got to be on the map has become a subject of some dispute.
Some have suggested that the image may be an Easter Egg that was deliberately placed there by a fun-seeking employee. Others have argued that it is more likely to be the consequence of a Google Maps user abusing the company’s “Map Maker” tool that allows individuals to edit the content of maps.
Map Maker is designed to allow people to edit inaccuracies in maps. The submissions are moderated by Google but it is clear that some erroneous “edits” can slip through the net.
As The Telegraph reports, a Hacker News user claims to have found the person who edited the map. On the Map Maker page of a user called “nitricboy” resides several published edits that show the construction phases of the urinating Android.
The figure can be found at coordinates 33°30’52.5″N 73°03’33.2″E, just south of the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Google has now responded to the wide reporting of the offending robot and is taking steps to remove it from the map. At the time of writing this article, it is still visible however.
A Google spokesperson told the Telegraph:
“We’ve terminated the Android figure involved in this incident, and he’ll be disappearing from Google Maps shortly.”
The Android isn’t nitricboy’s only edit though. In the Takht Pari Forest – a few miles east of the peeing robot – lies a message to Google with a rather obvious meaning:
Other “additions” by the user include a random green grass face and a Skype logo made of water just north of Lahore. Nitricboy has clearly been making several amendments to Google Maps but it seems as though his time as a Map Maker could be about to end, now that his changes have been noticed in the wild.
