Washington, Feb 21 : Hopes for the discovery of Atlantis by Google Ocean have been shattered, with the criss-crossing lines near the Canary Islands that were presumed by scientists to be a `grid of streets', turning out be boat mapping lines.

Atlantis is believed to be an island civilization sunk by an earthquake and floods around 9,700BC - nearly 12,000 years ago.

Google Ocean captured an image showing a grid that features a rectangular perimeter of the seabed, a possible location for Atlantis.

This particular region, 620 miles off the west coast of Africa near the Canary Islands, is a location for the legendary continent seemingly suggested by the ancient philosopher Plato.

The "grid" showed up on Google Ocean, a Google Earth extension that uses a combination of satellite images and marine surveys.

But now, according to a report in the Telegraph, the criss-crossing lines, were explained by Google as sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.

"It's true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth including a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species and the remains of an Ancient Roman villa," said a spokeswoman.

"In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artefact 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," she added.

"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," she explained.

The network of criss-cross lines had been spotted 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

The perfect rectangle was noticed on the search giant's underwater exploration tool by an aeronautical engineer who claims it looks like an "aerial map" of a city. (ANI)