A Google Maps blunder in Chennai - CEO Sundar Pichai’s hometown - has internet in splits

Sundar Pichai (File image)

There is no denying that Google Maps has changed the way we commute. Instead of stopping for directions at every turn, one can now simply follow the map on screen to reach one’s destination. Google Maps has not just made commuting faster and easier, it has also cemented markers of local identity.

In Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s own words: “Not only do maps make it easier to get around; they also can give you a sense of identity when you see your street on the map for the first time.”

But what happens when Google Maps messes up the name of a street? Something like this has been happening in a major Indian city – the hometown of the CEO of Google, no less -- and it has come to wider attention after a local posted about it on Twitter.

A Chennai resident tweeted about how Google Maps has been mispronouncing the name of a major road in the Chennai suburb of Adyar in Tamil Nadu. The Lattice Bridge Road is popularly shortened to LB Road, which has become the root cause of confusion for Google Maps.

According to the Twitter user, Google Maps pronounces LB Road as “Pound Road” – a blunder that certainly occurs because “pound”, a unit of mass, is abbreviated as “lb”.

Dear @googlemaps , Chennai is the hometown of your CEO. There is a major road in Chennai suburb of Adyar called Lattice Bridge Road, or in short LB Road. And you are reading it out as Pound Road. Please rectify.

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— செந்தில் / Chenthil (@chenthil_nathan) October 28, 2022

The blunder has amused many, racking up a ton of reactions:

Lollll

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— Rukmini S (@Rukmini) October 28, 2022

Should’ve ended with a “RT until Sundar reads this” ;)

— Ashokha Varshini (@ashokhavarshini) October 28, 2022

— What The Hack! (@ebbruz) October 28, 2022

Sundar Pichai, 50, completed his schooling at Vana Vani in Chennai. He went on to study at IIT Kharagpur and then to Stanford University.