It would be wonderful if it turned out to be a lost city!

I'm reserving judgement until it's been investigated more closely. It might be some kind of image processing glitch, data corruption or even the result of hacking. Or who knows, maybe even some natural process that we don't yet understand.

Personally I'd love to think Google is such a powerful search engine it can even find lost civilisations! But the guy that spotted this deserves credit. It's one thing to have data, and another to have smart people's eyeballs looking at the data.

Thanks for highlighting a great story Jeff!
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Hard to say... even for Google officials:

"Google today claimed the criss-crossing lines were sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.

But the internet giant said “blank spots” within the lines could not be explained.

A spokeswoman said: “Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor.

“The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.

“The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”"
Source(s):
http://tinyurl.com/deqghm

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According to Google, the pattern is an "artifact" of its map making process.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1150846/Hopes-dashed-Google-Ocean-image-lost-city-Atlantis-proves-sort.html
Source(s):
@manuelvillegas just sent me the link

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No...
http://www.ogleearth.com/2009/02/media_stupidity.html
Source(s):
http://www.ogleearth.com/2009/02/media_stupidity.html

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I wouldn't doubt it. People denied the existence of Troy and Jericho for centuries before their ruins were finally located. I want to believe!
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This question was asked elsewhere on Mahalo, and here is my answer:

"The ruins of ancient cities that I have visited were tiny by modern standards. This one is the size of Wales, apparently. Google says it's an artifact of the sonar ships going back and forth but that sounds strange since the lines include perpendicular ones.
Meanwhile, although the Sun has an excellent reputation for news about how attractive young ladies look without their tops, they are not so good at regular news and science. And the Mail which had the counter story is even worse. Dueling tabloids. I suppose if there is anything to this a real paper will investigate. "
The Telegraph seems to have picked it up now. When it is reported favorably in the Times then it will be time to sit up and pay attention.
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Or it could be....a secret underwater alien UFO base !
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If they can find this, THEN WHERE ARE THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!?!
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10168269-36.html

"According to the United Kingdom's Press Association, the pattern of streets equated to an area the size of Wales."
Those are pretty big and straight streets to equate to the size of Wales from the ancient times.

"In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data."

This does sound fishy.
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I got some canals on Mars to show you too.
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