Google Street View 'holiday' shows man relieving himself on Canary Islands beach
Rotating the Street View icon showed a man answering the call of nature Photo: Google
More photos:Thursday November 12 2009
A new Google feature encouraging people to take a virtual holiday in the Canary Islands pointed users to a Street View image of a man relieving himself on a beach.
The man's "private" moment was caught by the search giant's eye-level cameras as they toured the Playa de las Teresitas in Santa Cruz, Tenerife.
Not only was the image uploaded to Street View for the world to see, but Google inadvertently drew attention to his indiscretion by featuring images from the beach in a new promotion.
To celebrate the ongoing roll-out of Street View to non-urban areas, Google Maps UK is currently inviting all its users to "Take a holiday to the Canary Islands and Hawaii" in a message at the top of the site.
Clicking on the Canary Islands link yesterday brought up a Street View shot of the Playa de las Teresitas, complete with white sand, blue sky and palm trees.
But rotating the image presented a very different side of life at the tourist resort, showing a middle-aged man in a red shirt answering the call of nature against a skip at the edge of the beach.
The image has now been removed by Google after IT website The Register highlighted the error.
Google Street View allows web users across the world to "walk" along streets, exploring 360 degree images recorded from eye level.
It has been criticised for privacy campaigners for recording intimate moments without the consent of those pictured.
- Matthew Moore
© Telegraph.co.uk
