Google Maps error briefly showed the White House as "N***a House"

Google Maps has fixed an embarassing blunder which depicted the White House as "N***a House" in its search bar.

If a user searched for "N***a House" in Google Maps,showed a map of Washington D.C. highlighting the White House. Also, if someone in the D.C. area typed in the full slur (with an -er at the end) the result is still the same, TMZ.com reports.

A Google spokesperson has apologised for "any offense that it may have caused", but the cause -- an external hack or a rogue Google employee -- is still unclear.