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

[MacRumors]

Police in Victoria, Australia issued a warning to motorists this weekend regarding Apple Maps after several travelers became stranded in the Murray-Sunset National Park trying to reach the city of Mildura using Apple's directions.

Local Police have been called to assist distressed motorists who have become stranded within the Murray-Sunset National Park after following directions on their Apple i-phone.

Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping systems lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 70km away from the actual location of Mildura.

Police are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the Park and temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees, making this a potentially life threatening issue.

Some of the motorists located by police have been stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water and have walked long distances through dangerous terrain to get phone reception.

In Maps, the city of Mildura is listed in the middle of the Murray-Sunset National Park, which is actually 70km or 43 miles from the city's actual location. In the photo pictured to the right, the red pin is where Apple lists Mildura, while the purple pin displays Mildura's actual location.

A report from Australia's ABC News reveals that Victoria police have had to rescue a total of six people in the last two months after they became lost using Maps.

After the launch of iOS 6, which included the new Maps application, Apple received criticism over inaccuracies in mapping data like the mislocation in Victoria, which led to the termination of several people involved with the Maps project, including Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall and Maps manager Richard Williamson.

Apple CEO Tim Cook even issued a personal apology to the public over the debacle, promising to improve the app. In his recent interview with Brian Williams, Tim Cook spoke again about Maps, reiterating that Apple "screwed up" and is "putting the weight of the company behind correcting it."

Police in Victoria have contacted Apple about the Maps discrepancy and are warning travelers to use an alternative mapping system until it is fixed.

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

[faroZ06]

For the first time, I'm first.

Geez, Apple Maps must be total poop outside the USA. This is hilarious.

[gmanist1000]

This will be a good test to see how fast it gets fixed. Did anyone ever follow up on the issue with the Home Depot in Colorado?

Here's the article link: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/24/...s-6-maps-data/

Update: Checked for myself, the problem hasn't been resolved. The article was posted September 24th...

[faroZ06]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

This will be a good test to see how fast it gets fixed. Did anyone ever follow up on the issue with the Home Depot in Colorado?

They'll probably fix this first. Other problems will wait. The Faroe Islands used to not really have map data at all, but it's fixed now.

[DeeGee48]

A good friend of mine, Pr. Russell Standish, on the way to a preaching engagement in May 2008, was killed, along with the driver, entering a highway in Mildura. If Apple Maps had been around then, perhaps he'd be alive today! How ironic...

[gregwyattjr]

Oh my god. I can't wait to see the internet memes that result from this story.

[faroZ06]

When I heard about Apple Maps sucking during the beta stage of iOS 6, I thought there was no way Apple would release it like that. They did, and they should have waited for iOS 7. Why the huge rush to release it in iOS 6??? Also, this story is HILARIOUS.

[Quu]

This is hilarious.

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by faroZ06

When I heard about Apple Maps sucking during the beta stage of iOS 6, I thought there was no way Apple would release it like that. They did, and they should have waited for iOS 7. Why the huge rush to release it in iOS 6??? Also, this story is HILARIOUS.

Some people explained that Apple needs "crowd sourcing" to improve its Maps app.

Well, I have reported a wrong POI for ~10 times already and it's still there after a few months.

[fermat-au]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

This will be a good test to see how fast it gets fixed.

While Apple will probably fix the location of Mildura in the next week or so, this is one serious error in Apple Maps. There are many many more still there. Maps has taught Apple that what Google does, collection and organisation of massive amounts of data, is hard and not something that can be done over night, Google has spent years and Maps including Thousand of hours of physically driving the roads.

[devilstrider]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

This will be a good test to see how fast it gets fixed. Did anyone ever follow up on the issue with the Home Depot in Colorado?

Here's the article link: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/24/...s-6-maps-data/

Update: Checked for myself, the problem hasn't been resolved. The article was posted September 24th...

So people getting lost is a good test?

----------

[bedifferent]

Originally Posted by devilstrider

So people settling lost is a good test?

----------

Image

Image

Cannot stop laughing! Thank you

[JoshGlzBrk]

Just hope for kangaroo jack to hop along and catch a ride in their pouch.

[Otterblue]

Oh dear.

[ArchAndroid]

*Click*

Every time I click my finger, an Australian is attacked by wild kangaroos in the outback thanks to the cartographic iArrhoea which is Apple Maps.

*Click*

Save an Australian today; tell them to use Google.

*Click*

[Kr00]

Originally Posted by ArchAndroid

*Click*

Every time I click my finger, an Australian is attacked by wild kangaroos in the outback thanks to the cartographic iArrhoea which is Apple Maps.

*Click*

Save an Australian today; tell them to use Google.

*Click*

This is not a subject to make fun of. Kangaroos can seriously injure a person and kill dogs and small children. They are not just in the outback. They are in the suburbs around major cities. Just last week a kangaroo entered the grounds of my kids high school. It entered a hallway and ended up in a teachers office.

As for Apple maps, it is still showing the false info for Mildura. What does it take for them to actually DO something. Apple, you seriously need to get your ***** together, as this is not funny any more.

[parish]

I'm waiting for someone to post that it shows an Apple Store in the wrong location

I think the most damning thing about this is that there are so many errors in the US. Apple is a US company so the least you'd expect is that things would be correct on their own turf.

One thing I don't expect to get fixed anytime soon - if ever - for UK users is the colours of roads. We have, as I expect every country does, standard mapping colours for the different classes of roads. For UK roads Apple Maps is just totally non-standard which means that even when looking at an area around where I live I often have to zoom in to orientate myself because all it shows is a rats nest of white roads whereas Google Maps uses the standard UK colours (for the most part - it uses orange instead of red for non-trunk A-roads) so the pattern of blue and green routes allows me to orientate easily. This was always an issue with MS's Auto Route too.

[macs4nw]

Originally Posted by Analog Kid

Here's the thing-- Apple and Google are separate companies. Sometimes they cooperate, and sometimes they don't. For example, Google had been promising turn by turn directions on iPhone for years, but never delivered:
http://mashable.com/2010/04/22/free-...ctions-iphone/ With Google's teams of developers, why haven't they released an iPhone version of Google maps yet? Are they holding back? Who knows. It's certainly no skin off their back if Apple keeps getting abused like this. Maps on IOS is a free gadget. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes not. When driving alone, the old Maps wasn't so useful without audible turn by turn. I've got a few different GPS apps on mine because if I'm really going to be driving someplace I'm not familiar with, like the Australian outback, I want a backup plan and I don't want to have to worry about whether I've got cell coverage.
What I'm seeing are people who didn't check where they were going, blindly followed a machine, got lost, and are covering their embarrassment. If you're driving to a city, and it shows up in the middle of a National Park, you might want a second opinion. Or, call me old fashioned, but I like to look out my windshield when I drive:

Old fashioned or not, that's definitely a good policy.

Originally Posted by skellener

Why does Apple NEED to do it's own closed Maps app? Steve Jobs of all people made a deal with Microsoft that basically buried the hatchet between the companies. MS continued to make Office for the Mac and both Apple and the Mac thrived. Sure Apple created their own suite of apps but they don't necessarily compete with the ones from MS. But they fill a niche for people who do not use or need Office. Why can't this spirit of cooperation exist with other vendors and Apple? Why does Apple feel it must crush Google to win? That is a failed concept......

I believe that it's a different marketplace now compared to back then, and I also don't believe that APPLE feels "it must crush GOOGLE to win". They just don't want to rely on GOOGLE, which all things considered, makes good business sense. Your scenario would be great in a perfect world, but it's a dog-eat-dog world out there; also it takes at least two parties to have a good business relationship.

GOOGLE is not the benevolent benefactor some people make them out to be; they too are in business to make money for their shareholders, and as we, as a society, become more and more information oriented, GOOGLE holds if not all, definitely most of the 'cards', something for companies like APPLE, to keep in mind, as they develop their strategy.

[newyorksole]

Originally Posted by faroZ06

For the first time, I'm first.

Geez, Apple Maps must be total poop outside the USA.

Inside the USA too. There's an entire shopping plaza near my house that Apple considers an "airport".

Also, it sucks being in NYC without having the native Google Maps App's transit info. I know there's other apps, but Google Maps was so detailed. The Web App SUCKS.

[tdmd]

as much as i like apple, apple maps ABSOLUTELY SUCKS. it might be good for where you're at, but once you start traveling, you will realize how HORRIBLE it is. It has gotten me lost at least 5 times already. So bad that I carry my Garmin with me instead of using the iPhone for directions.

[MuddyPaws1]

Originally Posted by tdmd

as much as i like apple, apple maps ABSOLUTELY SUCKS. it might be good for where you're at, but once you start traveling, you will realize how HORRIBLE it is. It has gotten me lost at least 5 times already. So bad that I carry my Garmin with me instead of using the iPhone for directions.

Agree. Last time I used it, it wanted me to turn left and cross a bridge over a large river. Would have been fine, except there wasn't a bridge and by the looks of it, there never was one.

Maybe Apple Maps is in the future and knows where there WILL BE a bridge. LOL

[XtraSmiley]

Originally Posted by tdmd

as much as i like apple, apple maps ABSOLUTELY SUCKS. it might be good for where you're at, but once you start traveling, you will realize how HORRIBLE it is. It has gotten me lost at least 5 times already. So bad that I carry my Garmin with me instead of using the iPhone for directions.

This seems sort of dumb, why not download the excellent and free Mapquest app for your iPhone?

[bluespark]

Originally Posted by newyorksole

Also, it sucks being in NYC without having the native Google Maps App's transit info. I know there's other apps, but Google Maps was so detailed. The Web App SUCKS.

Download iTrans NYC -- it has incredible Subway information, right down to showing all of the alternate entrance staircases for each station. That said, you're right: the lack of this information in the default Maps app is inexcusable, especially given that we're taken to this app if we click any online map link. At the very least, Maps needs to show each NYC Subway station and what trains stop there (see Google Maps). Otherwise, Maps is nearly useless to the millions of New Yorkers who take the train rather than driving.

[cdmoore74]

If Apple can sue Samsung for bouncy effects and multitouch (ideas that Steve Jobs stole from prior art) then these people should sue for having maps put them in danger. Sounds fair right?

[linuxcooldude]

Originally Posted by cdmoore74

If Apple can sue Samsung for bouncy effects and multitouch (ideas that Steve Jobs stole from prior art) then these people should sue for having maps put them in danger. Sounds fair right?

Apple maps can't fix stupid. If you live in or going to a location that has potential dangers you have to be prepared. I always carry a paper map that can't loose power, reception, along with emergency rations.