Modern technology has confirmed Brighton and Hove is home to the biggest white elephant in the world.

Artist Jeremy Wood and computer expert Hugh Pryor made the discovery while trying out a bizarre new drawing technique which combines pioneering satellite science with a love for join-the-dot puzzles.

The eight-mile landmark's trunk touches The Lanes and its tail lashes Denmark Villas in Hove.

The pair have discovered this and a host of other figures, hidden in cities across Britain, using Global Positioning System handsets to trace their path as they walk the streets.

Among their vast gallery is a giant fish in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, and a snail in Oxford.

The pair have mapped out trips on boats, on planes and even attached the handset to a dog's collar.

Jeremy, 25, who lives in Hove, is now looking at ways to transform his creations into something physical for an exhibition of Britain's hidden street art.

He said: "I've always been into drawing pictures, but not in ordinary ways."

The pair met during a foundation course in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Jeremy moved to Hove to train to become a web designer.

He came up with the idea while completing his Spotmap, an internet-based map of Brighton and Hove's seafront with pictures taken with a Gameboy camera.

He photocopied some road maps and started looking for recognisable shapes created by the layout of roads and streets.

He said: "It was during a drunken conversation in a pub that we came up with the idea of looking for images within maps. Now I just take a map and stare until inspiration strikes."

Once he has traced the route, Jeremy heads out with the handset which records his path in its memory, using its constellation of 24 satellites.

Then Hugh, 27, who lives near Oxford, downloads the information on to a personal computer to convert it into a 3D image.

Jeremy said: "At first we found some squiggles but nothing like a Rembrandt."

It was while analysing the roads around Oxfordshire they made their first catch, now known as the Wallingford Fish.

Enthused by the discovery they jumped in the car and spent the next three hours carefully tracing its outline, using the positioning handset to record their path.

Jeremy said: "I travel up to London and Oxford quite a lot and I like walking around Brighton. Whenever I get a chance I'll pull out a map."