Google Maps Blamed After Wrong House Demolished

A demolition company is apologizing after blaming Google Maps for an error it made when it demolished the wrong house in Texas, according to Fox News.

“As an organization we have acknowledged and accepted our mistake since the beginning,” Billy L. Nabors Demolition told Fox News on Monday. “We are devastated that a series of unfortunate events led to something like this and are deeply sorry that this happened.”

The company was originally supposed to tear down a house that had been damaged by a tornado, according to WFAA. The building that was supposed to be demolished was located on 7601 Calypso Drive in the town of Rowlett, but the company went to 7601 Cousteau Drive down the street.

An employee of the company reportedly sent screen captures from Google Maps to the owner of the building they knocked down to show why the mistake was made.

The owner of the home was not satisfied with the implication that Google Maps was to blame when she learned the wrong house had been demolished.

“I was driving home from work and I get a call from my neighbor,” Lindsay Diaz told Kera News. “She’s very frantic, crying and I asked her ‘what’s going on?’ She said, ‘a company came and demolished the house by mistake.'”

No one from Google Maps has responded to the story officially, but the demolition company’s owner felt it was important to apologize for an employee blaming Google Maps for the mistake.

“It was never our intent to place blame on anyone during this devastating situation and are distraught that anyone felt otherwise,” the statement sent to Fox News said.

Google Maps has been blamed for tragic situations in the past. A recent car accident in Texas was blamed on a teen using Google Maps when she was lost and driving, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The teen was looking at Google Maps to figure out where she was when she accidentally drove into the path of an 18-wheeler and was killed. This kind of problem has occurred many times. Google Maps is useful for navigation, but people not keeping their eyes on the road can be very dangerous.

A Google Maps error last year caused many headlines, as people saw Google Maps appeared to be showing parts of Los Angeles underwater, according to Tech Times. Headlines said Google Maps was showing what Los Angeles would look like if climate change isn’t slowed down, but the company contacted publications to inform them it was just an error that they had to fix.

Another Google Maps error sent people trying to go to Round Valley State Park in New Jersey to a couple’s home near the park. It kept happening for several years, and the couple would have to tell people they went to the wrong place.

“I just want them to do their fact checking, before something happens or somebody gets hurt,” one of the residents told ABC at the time.

Perhaps the biggest Google Maps error ever happened in 2010 when the map showed that a disputed piece of land in Central America was owned by Nicaragua instead of Costa Rica. Apparently, the countries have been debating who owns the land for hundreds of years, according to Fox News. Nicaraguan authorities were not happy when Google Maps changed it back and gave ownership to Costa Rica.

Accurately mapping almost all of the world is a big goal to tackle, and Google Maps has been leading the effort to do that for many years, but that doesn’t mean Google Maps doesn’t make a mistake now and then. The Texas demolition situation isn’t being blamed on Google Maps anymore, though, and it might just be a case of user error.

[Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Images]