Google released an apology after a Berlin intersection was renamed as Adolf-Hitler-Platz instead of its proper name Theodor-Heuss-Platz on a Google map service for a short time on Thursday night, the Associated Press reported.
Lene Wagner, a spokeswoman for Google, said the intersection was improperly labeled due to user submitted edits which "are reviewed either by the community of mapping volunteers or Google moderators," according to the AP.
Google users can submit edits to numerous services, including maps, to provide the services with user generated information, though the submitted information is always reviewed, the AP reported.
In the Google statement where the company apologized for the mishap, they explained that "in this particular case, the change in the street name was mistakenly approved," according to the AP.
The mistake was viewed by Google users for only a couple of hours before moderators realized and renamed the square to proper name bestowed in 1963 of Theodor-Heuss-Platz, after West Germany's first post-World War II president, according to the AP.
The intersection accidentally renamed by Google users is located in west Berlin, a location Nazis thought would be Berlin's main east-west axis in a plan to redesign the city that never went through, according to the AP.
"We fixed it as soon as we were made aware," the statement added, according to the AP. "We apologize for any offense caused."
During Hitler's dictatorship, numerous streets and public squares were named after him between 1933-1945, the AP reported.
According to NBC News, executives at Google said "they had no explanation for the incident, but are now investigating the error."
Sascha Lobo, a German Internet expert and blogger, told NBC the mistake happened due to a slip up caused by the map marker tool.
"The name Adolf Hitler Platz was then probably approved because it is historically correct, so in the end it might have been a simple error over the order of the names," Lobo told NBC.
