A GoogleEarth screenshot showing the missing island of Jura, Scotland.
Jura, a small island off the Atlantic coast of Scotland with a population less than 200, disappeared from GoogleEarth in early July 2013. Instead of showing the 144-square-mile island, GoogleEarth depicts Jura’s single road running through the ocean. The loss of the island is not due to sea level rise but a glitch in digital mapping, and Google is working to fix the problem.
The island of Jura is best known as the place where George Orwell retreated to write 1984.
Read more about the digital disappearance of Jura and the fascinating complexities of digital cartography at The Atlantic Online.