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Australian Police Warn Against Use of Apple Maps Due to Safety Concerns

S

sectime

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2007
530
0
rocknblogger said:
They had a Rand McNally Atlas. It's a tragic story but GPS or any kind of electronic map is not why they got lost.
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Looked it up, your correct. I only saw the initial reports about him using electronic maps, never saw the paper map correction.
 
Beeplance

Beeplance

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2012
1,564
500
katewes said:
Apple is living in a distortion field where they think Apple is invulnerable. I suspect that most Apple employees weren't around in the bad old days when the company was a few weeks away from bankruptcy. Apple staff seriously cannot see the possibility of Android taking over the dominant place in smartphones and tablets. Thus, Apple is living dangerously.

In a recent interview, Tim Cook said that Apple could avoid Sony's spiral by keeping focused on a core area of excellence. Sure, Tim, if that was Sony's one and only frailty. There was a time in the late 90's where Sony had the slogan, "because it's a SONY". That was the era when consumers were willing to pay a bit extra just to get a Sony ... me included. Apple is there now, and it cannot see itself losing that aura. Hence, Apple is now in the danger zone. The worst way to navigate the danger zone is sheer arrogance to the point of blindness. Apple is exhibiting arrogance and blindness in bucket loads.

Baked into Apple's DNA is Steve Jobs' mantra that Apple does not listen to customers - "We don't do customer research .. we see what customers don't see etc etc". Well, I would say that every mega titan corporation that ever was the darling of its era went through a purple patch where they had a string of products that captured the market. But history shows that titans do fall.

The sheer arrogance of Apple thinking that it can focus on consumer product features, and thumb its nose at professional and corporate users. Take for instance, the issue of matte anti-glare screens. Probably a minority -- a large one though -- mostly in the professional areas, but also ordinary users who suffer from eye strain. Apple, fro 6 years, has thumbed its nose at those segment who need such products.

Then there's the removal of key features, ostensibly because the majority of consumers don't use that feature. Key example, the removal of colored icons from the left column in the Finder. Apple could have had an option in Preferences to show or hide the colors, but, no, Apple shafts those users, and focuses on the consumer majority. There are some users, who rely in their computers to get work done, and value speed over visual art. Don't tell me that the monochrome look appears nicer, because I AGREE, it does look cool, but sometimes I need to work fast, and having to read the writing in the Finder is slower than having colors to visual cues.

See this expose from a software developer on why the removal of color hinders usability. http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=271

Every aspect of Apple's approach reeks of Steve Jobs' arrogance that's been hard baked into Apple's DNA. If you don't believe that a $120 billion cash company can be reduced to dust in 2 decades, first (1) read some history books, and (2) let's bookmark this for 2 decades and see who's right. Errr, anyone remember Digital Corporation, the Sony dominance of the 80's and 90's, Netscape etc.

Apple's penchant for crippling the upgradeability of its products, forcing you to buy new hardware, rather than extending the lifespan by a few years -- all that is going to come back reaped as a whirlwind. So many years ago now, Apple loyalist used to rave about how Apple computers last longer than PC's, and that the higher cost was actually an investment. Now, look at iFixit's rant from their disgust at how what used to be upgradeable components are either soldered, GLUED, or positioned behind major components so you cannot upgrade the memory and hard drive. How many of you, given the choice of having a smooth rear panel for the iMac, versus a removable panel to replace RAM and hard drives, would choose the non-upgrade path. Sure, there's the argument that 90% of people don't replace the RAM and hard drives -- but that's because Apple makes you jump through hoops to open up. If it was a simple matter of opening up a window, and inserting the new RAM or hard drive, more people would. I raise these points as evidence of Apple's sheer arrogance of dictating its agenda to consumers, with the vindictive knowledge that people will continue to buy Apple's products irrespective. Well, that's the sort of attitude that form the seeds of destruction where a titan corporation can disintegrate over a decade or two.

I speak this bitter disappointment in Apple, as a user who has been loyal to Apple since the mid 80's. I speak these words, not as an outside critic, but as someone who's grown up with Apple products all my life, who's been a Mac evangelist, someone who felt Apple was a special part of my life. Only to see it evolve into a corporate huckster, where the first decision is whether any step is going to make more money. Apple is so nice about it, couching it words such as, "we can't please everyone" and "we need to be focused" -- but how many of you would argue that that's just spin for: "If we can't make buckets of money out of you, then we're not going to make stuff for you". Without thinking, you can argue that any corporation's first role is to make money, but I'd argue that when a company gets to a certain market dominance, where people rely on its products, there comes a responsibility to supply certain minority niches that don't necessarily make tons of profit. I come back to the matte, anti-glare issue. Let's get this straight, not everyone needs matte, anti-glare screens. Not every likes them. Not every sees any need for them. Great. But many people do. Unlike DVD's - where you can carry an external DVD drive, people who need matte screens can't substitute them. It would be fine if Apple made the Mac Mini as powerful as the iMac, but, no, the Mac Mini is made slower than the iMac, so that people who are forced to buy non-Apple matte screens are restricted to using a slower Mac Mini.

All I'm saying is that, inspite of the $120 million cash mattress that Apple sleeps on, there are in 2012 the seeds of Apple's destruction clearly shown in its corporate arrogance. I grieve, because, over my lifetime, Apple has been one of my loves.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Click to expand...

I take my hat off to you, sir! Lots of interesting points that you bring across, especially the part where Apple needs to get out of the mentality that they're always superior to others.
 
I

imageWIS

macrumors 65816
Mar 17, 2009
1,281
822
NYC
faroZ06 said:
Not total. It's great in southern California, and the app itself is a lot nicer than any of the Google UIs, so I can actually use it. But I hardly ever need to use Maps on my iPhone...
Click to expand...


Try using it with any public transportation system. Check and mate.
 
marksman

marksman

macrumors 603
Jun 4, 2007
5,764
5
Benzman said:
Had two such occurrences in the past week, in a city of approximately 5 million people (Phoenix).

I was looking for a Subway Sandwich shop near my house and Apple Maps had it located between Circle K (a convenience store) and Fedex/Kinkos on the west side of 83rd Ave. The only thing between those two places is a place for the drunks to urinate. The address was correct, so knowing how the local streets are laid out here, I was able to find it by the address on the EAST side of 83rd Ave. The location pin (and subsequent directions) delivered me to the wrong place.

The other time was when I was looking for a particular high school that my granddaughter was performing at. Apple Maps found a High School, by a different name, in a different city, miles from the one I was looking for. I had to copy and paste the actual address (by searching for it by name) from Google Maps into Apple Maps so I could use turn-by-turn directions.

Time for Apple to put the "heavy" weight of the company behind this problem. I love apple products, but I dislike the "light" weight of Apple Maps.
Click to expand...

You may need to have your vision checked as you are seeing quadruple. Phoenix has less than 1.5 million people not 5 million
 
N

nutjob

macrumors 65816
Feb 7, 2010
1,030
508
Analog Kid said:
No, they're lost because they're ignorant. The fact that they happened to have an iPhone turned it into an international news story.
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Yeah sure, they're ignorant because they consulted a map during travel? What would not being ignorant entail? Were they supposed to know beforehand that their premium product had utterly unusable parts? Or do you say that just because they're Australians?

Why don't you say what you mean: Apple can do no wrong, and anyone who criticizes Apple, their products, their services or anything else is ignorant.
 
A

Al Muhammed

macrumors newbie
Dec 10, 2012
11
0
If someone drops their iPhone in the bath and electrocutes themselves, is it Apple's fault? Then why are people complaining when someone misuses the Maps app and get themselves in trouble? Apple can't be responsible for people's stupidity. These people don't deserve iPhones, honestly. They are called smartphones for a reason. Seriously Apple should be giving IQ tests to people before they allow them to buy their products. There are too many stupid people out there that shouldn't be allowed access to a butter knife, much less a sophisticated device like an iPhone.
 
L

louis.b

macrumors regular
Jun 24, 2012
155
0
Sydney
This is pretty funny. SOme local police issued a warning and then boom!, the press (and the fan boys) make it look like police from the whole nation warn against the use of Apple map.

So apply the same principle, if 2 policemen are corrupted, I can legitimately call the whole national police force evil.
 
Beeplance

Beeplance

macrumors 68000
Jul 29, 2012
1,564
500
Al Muhammed said:
If someone drops their iPhone in the bath and electrocutes themselves, is it Apple's fault? Then why are people complaining when someone misuses the Maps app and get themselves in trouble? Apple can't be responsible for people's stupidity. These people don't deserve iPhones, honestly. They are called smartphones for a reason. Seriously Apple should be giving IQ tests to people before they allow them to buy their products. There are too many stupid people out there that shouldn't be allowed access to a butter knife, much less a sophisticated device like an iPhone.
Click to expand...

This situation is partly Apple's fault as well. If Apple maps did not have so many errors of POIs being wrongly located, this whole fiasco wouldn't have happened.

People have the right to point their fingers at Apple, a USD$120 billion company, for releasing a half-baked mapping solution. And if the app itself displays the wrong route to a place, can you blame people, who might be going there for the 1st time, to know whether the route is right or not? Sure, you can say that people can ask for directions if the route doesn't look right. But at the end of the day, if people have to rely on other humans to get to a destination, then it DEFEATS the primary purpose of a turn-by-turn navigation device.

Apple touts TBT as one of it's hallmark feature, it's only natural that people would want to believe that it works as advertised. Not every individual out there is a tech-geek like us who know that Apple maps is screwed long before it was even released.
 
I

Idefix

macrumors 6502a
Jul 10, 2012
523
72
The point here isn't that Apple Maps is a disaster (but of course it is!), rather the point is that Apple is going to continue getting really bad press over and over again.

The Apple Maps problem isn't going to go away quickly--it may take years, many years, because of the scope of the disaster, worldwide.

Articles like this will continue to crop up, over and over again, because of the worldwide scope the Apple Maps disaster.

And the bad publicity will say over and over again, "Don't trust Apple Maps!"
 
S

syd430

Guest
Apple should just stick to hardware and their OS platforms. Even their productivity tools for these platforms suck, let alone their services (look at Pages and Numbers if you want to see how seriously they take productivity/cross-compatibility).
 
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S

Swytch

macrumors regular
Jan 24, 2006
150
0
ElZeus said:
Wonder how much Apple is going to get sued for after someone dies because of this.
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Really!? you think that someones stupidity is Apple's fault? How stupid would someone have to be to die from following incorrect directions? that is just plain absurd. There is no way Apple could be held responsible for something like that, people getting lost due to this issue just lack common sense.

Take this case for example, who in their right mind would see a city placed in the middle of a National Park, and think it is correct? really!? and then when they drive there and there is no city, they continue to drive around for 24 Hours? Really!? this is Apples fault?

Also, when driving, regardless of where you got your directions, you should be reading all road signs, and highways should have signs pointing where exits to cities are, should be a red flag when you dont see one for where you are heading.
 
S

Swytch

macrumors regular
Jan 24, 2006
150
0
Beeplance said:
This situation is partly Apple's fault as well. If Apple maps did not have so many errors of POIs being wrongly located, this whole fiasco wouldn't have happened.

People have the right to point their fingers at Apple, a USD$120 billion company, for releasing a half-baked mapping solution. And if the app itself displays the wrong route to a place, can you blame people, who might be going there for the 1st time, to know whether the route is right or not? Sure, you can say that people can ask for directions if the route doesn't look right. But at the end of the day, if people have to rely on other humans to get to a destination, then it DEFEATS the primary purpose of a turn-by-turn navigation device.

Apple touts TBT as one of it's hallmark feature, it's only natural that people would want to believe that it works as advertised. Not every individual out there is a tech-geek like us who know that Apple maps is screwed long before it was even released.
Click to expand...

Well the fact is, I never recall Apple saying their maps app is 100% accurate, and neither does Google or any other map company? you know why? because it is impossible especially since maps change.

Also, where do you think Apple got the Map information? Could it be possible that the authoritative reference in Australia responsible for locations of POIs provided inaccurate data? Oh wait thats exactly what happened:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/11/apple-maps-fault-mildura-australia-confusion

Of course people expect things to work perfectly when they buy them, but it is not apples fault if someone blindly follows technology without common sense.

If technology companies are responsible for releasing all electronics and software with 100% accuracy, then everything on the market should be recalled.

The fact is this story is a minor issue blown way out of proportion, its not like people couldnt have driven an hour back to the last town they passed instead of driving around for 24 hours. what did people do before technology? I dont think even someone on a horse and carriage would have gotten lost for 24 hours in this situation.
 
T

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Hog-wash...

I'll say two words "Hands free"

You don't NEED to look down at your iphone while driving.... you want to... (that what Siri is for)

People "actually" want to take their eyes off the road. Theres a huge difference.

Other apps which don't use any voice for navigation while driving, i'd be targeting them more.

When everything is "under-fire" its always "Apple" ....
 
Oletros

Oletros

macrumors 603
Jul 27, 2009
6,002
60
Premià de Mar
Analog Kid

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
8,862
11,403
nutjob said:
Yeah sure, they're ignorant because they consulted a map during travel? What would not being ignorant entail? Were they supposed to know beforehand that their premium product had utterly unusable parts? Or do you say that just because they're Australians?

Why don't you say what you mean: Apple can do no wrong, and anyone who criticizes Apple, their products, their services or anything else is ignorant.
Click to expand...
They're ignorant because they have less common sense than their phone. The directions are clearly non-sensical, there's road signs along the way pointing in the right direction, they're relying on a map through the desert that doesn't work when you get lost, and they blindly followed their technology to the point of no return.

And they weren't using a premium product, they were using a free accessory on a telephone. There are plenty of premium products available for the iPhone which would have still worked when they got lost.

So, I've said exactly what I mean. Addressing your points: Apple can do plenty wrong, and have. Maps deserves criticism. The level of criticism, I believe, is a little over the top here. Drivers who don't think deserve criticism too.

As I've said above-- this is a very hard problem. There is an enormous amount of data. Kudos to Google for setting a high bar and making a hard problem feel easy, but they ain't perfect either:
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/20...-google-maps-and-earth-doesnt-actually-exist/
 
N

nutjob

macrumors 65816
Feb 7, 2010
1,030
508
Analog Kid said:
They're ignorant because they have less common sense than their phone. The directions are clearly non-sensical, there's road signs along the way pointing in the right direction, they're relying on a map through the desert that doesn't work when you get lost, and they blindly followed their technology to the point of no return.

And they weren't using a premium product, they were using a free accessory on a telephone. There are plenty of premium products available for the iPhone which would have still worked when they got lost.

So, I've said exactly what I mean. Addressing your points: Apple can do plenty wrong, and have. Maps deserves criticism. The level of criticism, I believe, is a little over the top here. Drivers who don't think deserve criticism too.

As I've said above-- this is a very hard problem. There is an enormous amount of data. Kudos to Google for setting a high bar and making a hard problem feel easy, but they ain't perfect either:
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/20...-google-maps-and-earth-doesnt-actually-exist/
Click to expand...

No, you've just contradicted yourself. You call these people ignorant, yet you clearly have no idea what the Australian countryside is like. I've actually driven through there, lived there, and no, there are no roadsigns. Welcome to hypocrisy and ignorance, enjoy your (long) stay.

And you'd have to think I have a mental disability to somehow accept that the iPhone, a very expensive, "premium" product consists only of the phone itself, and Apple Maps is "free" and somehow isn't part of the phone. You must really think people are stupid to believe that, or, as I said, you think : "Apple can do no wrong, and anyone who criticizes Apple, their products, their services or anything else is ignorant".

You give yourself away.
 
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