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Apple Fixes Australian Map Error That Caused Police Warning, Issue Traced to Official Gazetteer

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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A day after police in Victoria, Australia issued a warning to motorists advising them not to rely on Apple Maps for directions to the town of Mildura due to a location error that led several drivers to become stranded in remote Murray-Sunset National Park, The Guardian reports that Apple has fixed the error.

Apple-maps-Mildura-009.jpg
Purple pin represents actual location of Mildura; red pin represents original incorrect location​
The error placed the town of Mildura some 45 miles away from its actual location and led to numerous motorists being stranded. The Victoria police responded by describing using the app to navigate as "potentially life-threatening."

While the label on Apple's maps has not yet been updated to show the correct location of Mildura, searches for and directions to the town now show the proper location.

Interestingly, The Register reports that the error was not entirely Apple's fault, as the incorrect location was included in the official Australian Gazetteer.
In this case, the Australian Gazetteer - the authoritative list of 300,000-plus placenames, complete with coordinates - includes two Milduras. One is the "real" town, the other is an entry for "Mildura Rural City", coordinates -34.79724 141.76108. It's this second entry that points to the middle of the Murray-Sunset National Park, just near a spot called Rocket Lake.
Click to expand...
The report notes that this second point that Apple was mistakenly associating with searches for Mildura is in fact simply the geographic center of the area included within the Mildura Rural City local government area and thus does not correspond to the actual city of Mildura.

In his recent TV interview with Brian Williams, Tim Cook said that Apple "screwed up" with Maps and was now "putting the entire weight of the company behind correcting it." The company does, however, still have a significant amount of work ahead of it as it tries to catch up with Google's years-long head start.

Article Link: Apple Fixes Australian Map Error That Caused Police Warning, Issue Traced to Official Gazetteer
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/11/apple-fixes-australian-map-error-that-caused-police-warning-issue-traced-to-official-gazetteer/
S

shurcooL

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
939
118
Gmail service restored on Monday, Facebook is back online today, and Apple fixes directions in AU.

End of world averted.
 
annirowe

annirowe

macrumors newbie
Feb 6, 2008
6
0
Melbourne, Australia
Don't get too excited.. The rest of Australia is still incorrect.

They are still using the central location of the Council/Shire as the pointer. so whenever a town name is the same as a Shire name, you still get the problem..

I just tested Whittlesea which is the Shire I live in, but also contains the town of Whittlesea, and its completely wrong...
 
maxwelltech

maxwelltech

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2011
423
104
Irvine, CA, USA
Just fixing this error is not enough, Apple. You guys need to fix your whole Map database as quickly as possible, and bring Google Maps back as an interim solution while you people figure out the problems. Lots of angry customers are switching to other platforms because of this, but I am still sticking around because I expect you guys to fix it very soon.
 
C

coolspot18

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2010
1,051
90
Canada
Why in the world did Apple ditch Google Maps? Was it a case of "Not Invented Here Syndrome?"

Seriously strange - I mean does Apple have a YouTube site, a Facebook clone, or what else? It's strange that they decided to ditch Google Maps.

Or why not just purchase a company like Garmin?
 
Dragonlance1561

Dragonlance1561

macrumors member
Aug 16, 2007
68
6
coolspot18 said:
Why in the world did Apple ditch Google Maps? Was it a case of "Not Invented Here Syndrome?"

Seriously strange - I mean does Apple have a YouTube site, a Facebook clone, or what else? It's strange that they decided to ditch Google Maps.

Or why not just purchase a company like Garmin?
Click to expand...

Garmin isn't just a small start-up, buying them would be a pretty big chunk of change, though with the situation they are in, I would be considering at least completely licensing a more established company's map database. Clearly Apple's deal with TomTom isn't good enough.
 
S

shurcooL

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
939
118
coolspot18 said:
Why in the world did Apple ditch Google Maps? Was it a case of "Not Invented Here Syndrome?"

Seriously strange - I mean does Apple have a YouTube site, a Facebook clone, or what else? It's strange that they decided to ditch Google Maps.

Or why not just purchase a company like Garmin?
Click to expand...
Have you noticed how much better the map interaction inside Find Friends app became? Or how Siri can now give you turn by turn directions.

That was not possible before cuz Apple had their arms tied by the limiting Google maps contract.

Also, Apple Maps basically has Google Earth built-in. Sometimes it's pretty neat to see some place in 3D.

There are problems with the new maps, but there are improvements too. Most people seem not to notice them.
 
B

BuckusToothnail

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2012
72
0
For all of Apple's talk about "innovation" and "invent your own stuff", why is it then that Apple is blatantly RIPPING OFF Google Maps, and quite badly at that?
 
S

seydurin

macrumors member
Aug 3, 2010
40
0
So that's how you get Apple to fix map errors. They need to be featured on world wide media as life threatening.
 
W

WestonHarvey1

macrumors 68030
Jan 9, 2007
2,773
2,191
Headline isn't fair. "Traced to Official Gazetteer"... if you mean, traced to Apple's misinterpretation of the Gazetteer's totally accurate data, then OK.
 
J

jashic

macrumors member
Oct 9, 2006
63
0
This is not a small problem for apple. Friends who are not savvy are moving away from iPhones and into Samsung devices saying they use maps every day. When you're in the city, you ask where you're gonna meet up for drinks or for dinner. Poof, open google maps...errrr...apple maps. It's really an every day app. But Apple simply broke it. It really renders the iPhone an inferior product. It doesn't matter the millions of apps on the phone...the one we use the 3rd most...(outside of SMS and the phone itself)..doesn't work.
 
W

WestonHarvey1

macrumors 68030
Jan 9, 2007
2,773
2,191
BuckusToothnail said:
For all of Apple's talk about "innovation" and "invent your own stuff", why is it then that Apple is blatantly RIPPING OFF Google Maps, and quite badly at that?
Click to expand...

Ripping off Google Maps, or just maps? Google did not invent maps. They didn't even invent digital maps, or digital maps on the internet.
 
Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,638
4,036
New Zealand
annirowe said:
Don't get too excited.. The rest of Australia is still incorrect.
Click to expand...

Not just Australia. Dunedin, NZ (east coast) was correct. Dunedin Airport, on the other hand, was way out on the west coast (and partially in the sea). Reported to Apple, so Apple moved it.

It's now somehow jammed into the city centre :rolleyes:
 
M

Michael CM1

macrumors 603
Feb 4, 2008
5,681
276
WestonHarvey1 said:
Ripping off Google Maps, or just maps? Google did not invent maps. They didn't even invent digital maps, or digital maps on the internet.
Click to expand...

For reals. I think MapQuest was around first. Google Maps is successful because it piggybacked onto Google search, which is why pretty much everything Google puts out has some level of success. If you visit Google to search for something, which most people do, you're exposed to a Google product if it relates to what you're looking for.

If Coke was only sold at McDonald's and Pepsi was only sold at some small hot dog stand chain, who do you think would sell more no matter how good either product was?
 
B

bungiefan89

macrumors 6502a
Apr 5, 2011
565
76
I think it's safe to say Apple Maps will go down as one of the biggest blunders in the company's history.

Sure, the 20th Anniversary Mac was a pricy piece of equipment that underperformed, but this is just something else entirely.
 
gmanist1000

gmanist1000

macrumors 68030
Sep 22, 2009
2,832
824
coolspot18 said:
Why in the world did Apple ditch Google Maps? Was it a case of "Not Invented Here Syndrome?"

Seriously strange - I mean does Apple have a YouTube site, a Facebook clone, or what else? It's strange that they decided to ditch Google Maps.

Or why not just purchase a company like Garmin?
Click to expand...

Have you not followed Apple's relationship with Google over the past couple years?
 
B

BuckusToothnail

macrumors member
Nov 11, 2012
72
0
WestonHarvey1 said:
Ripping off Google Maps, or just maps? Google did not invent maps. They didn't even invent digital maps, or digital maps on the internet.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY what I wrote. Ripping off Google Maps, the PLATFORM, the features, the functions, the look-and-feel, basically EVERYTHING.

Unlike Apple however, Google isn't suing them, just making a FAR SUPERIOR product and letting the consumer decide.
 
L

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Apple fixing Maps app

... responding to one official police warning at a time. This may take a while. :D
 
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