It is not difficult to add a landmark or attraction visible to everyone to the Google Maps system. Someone took advantage of this, but it slightly crippled the people living in Cyffylliog in Wales. The small village has less than 500 inhabitants, so traffic was relatively low, until someone placed an Aldi store in the Google system nearby.
Needless to say, Aldi did not open where the map indicated, however, those who wandered in from further away were not aware of this until they actually reached the location of their planned shopping. After that, the people left behind started searching, cruising up and down with their cars, and they also asked the locals where Aldi was.
The residents of Cyffylliog called the events an “occupation”, and if the crowd of people wanting to shop wasn’t enough, there was even more trouble. The goods carriers appeared in the vicinity of the village, presumably targeting one of the other Aldi stores, but they also fell victim to the navigation scam.
When the narrow streets of Cyffylliog already had bread cars and a milk delivery truck trying to turn around in confusion, the people who lived there were already very bored. They had already tried to remove the phantom store from Google before, but since it didn’t work, they contacted Aldi, asking them to do something too. Of course, the store network confirmed that there is no Aldi in the location marked by the map, and that there are no plans to open one either – only after that was the world restored.
It’s not just this case that proves that Google Maps instructions don’t always have to be taken at face value. The person for whom the system recommended stairs as a shorter route was more uncomfortable than the missed shopping.
Source: www.vezess.hu
