When using Google Maps, you're usually looking up directions or viewing your own house. But you never expect to come across something which raises more questions than it answers.
Users have been left baffled after spotting a 'QR code' in the East River in New York, hovering just above the Pier 2 Field at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sharing the discovery on Reddit, one confused user said: "WTF? You need to select and drop the pegman to see - East River New York."
While some users speculated whether it was a 'secret message' left by Google, others wondered whether it's just a coding mistake. However, nobody has successfully been able to scan the 'QR code' as yet, as they try to figure out what resolution is needed.
One user said: "I'm going to try and use my TV as a monitor and see if I can get a better resolution."
Another user added: "That looks like it's a QR code. Depending on how close you're zoomed in, the points change.
"I can't get my phone to recognise it, but maybe if you had a big enough monitor you could zoom to the right point to get your phone to recognise it.
"I'm looking at the corner points, I can get two of them to be the same but the third just won't line up.
"Somebody hid this here - and I'm very interested to see where it will bring me."
A third user said: "That's really cool that you found this!"
One more user said: "If you zoom in you can get the three reference points begin to form in the corners. I was able to get two complete points but not the third."
Google Maps launched in February 2005 as a "new solution to help people get from point A to point B". It is now used by more than one billion people all over the world every month.
Most recently, it announced its Live View, which helps users better navigate the world around them by providing them with arrows and directions clearly overlaid on their maps.
A Google Maps statement reads: "We launched Google Maps as a useful way to help people get around.
"As we’ve added features and capabilities, Google Maps has evolved into much more than a website that gives you turn-by-turn directions.
"Today, it’s a gateway to exploring the world—both digitally and in real life, on foot or by car, via public transit or a wheelchair.
"The world is constantly changing, and so is the way we get around in it. And as it does, Google Maps will be there every step of the way, building new tools that help you navigate, explore and get things done, wherever you are."
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