Did Apple's iOS Maps App Just Find The Loch Ness Monster? (Update: No They Did Not)

See update below. Apple’s iOS Maps app was once criticized for displaying melting buildings and roads to nowhere. The mapping and navigation app may have now uncovered the famed Loch Ness Monster, according to The Mail. A satellite image from Apple’s app shows a shadowy form that measures 100 feet long and seemingly has two giant flippers attached. Located just south of Dores, Scotland, the image was first spotted by two iPhone users at the end of 2013. According to Gary Campbell, Loch Ness Monster Fan Club president:

It looks like a boat wake, but the boat is missing. You can see some boats moored at the shore, but there isn’t one here. We’ve shown it to boat experts and they don’t know what it is. Whatever this is, it is under the water and heading south, so unless there have been secret submarine trials going on in the loch, the size of the object would make it likely to be Nessie.

Whether the image actually shows the Loch Ness Monster is open to debate. What is clear, however, is that the image remains in Apple's Maps app. The following images were taken today, April 21, on my iPhone 5s: Here's the same image found today on my iPad Air: The Loch Ness Monster has reportedly been spotted numerous times since 1933. Update: Not surprisingly, this latest Nessie sighting has been debunked. The folks over at Metabunk.org say the image is that of a boat, the Jacobite Queen to be exact. They explain:

It's dimmer because of the way different images are stitched together to create a seamless image. The area with Nessie is not simply the low contrast image, but it's also blended with a higher contrast image without the boat, which is why you can see some texture in the surface of the water through the boat wake, making it look like it's underwater.

If you still believe in the Loch Ness Monster, I'm sure another sighting will be reported very soon.

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