Berlin: Google has apologized after its Internet mapping service accidentally renamed a popular Berlin square Theodor Heuss Platz as Adolf Hitler Platz on Thursday.
Google lets anybody suggest changes to its maps, and on January 2, an anonymous user suggested that Theodor-Heuss square in Berlin shouldn't be named not after Germany's first federal president but after Adolf Hitler.
Google uses a small army of volunteers and its own moderators to check all submissions before they go live, and whoever checked this one apparently thought the submission was correct. So for the next few days, the square was called “Adolf Hitler Platz” in Google Maps.
Google spokeswoman Lena Wagner said Friday the company quickly took down the name after the error was discovered.
The intersection was relabelled with its proper name, Theodor-Heuss-Platz, after West Germany's first post-World War II president.
Google says it's not clear how the error occurred, but that “we apologize for this mistake.”
The erroneous name was visible only for a few hours late Thursday.
