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Apple's Maps App Directs Alaska Drivers onto Airport Taxiway
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Does this mean Apple is giving Safe Taxi for Free? 
Garmin charges another $50 but that also includes Terrain and Obstacle Alerts...
Garmin charges another $50 but that also includes Terrain and Obstacle Alerts...
I read up on webmapping awhile back and basically what happened is Apple assumed a good navigation algorithm alone would provide accurate results. Truth is the real-world is so varied, you need to situationally qualify the algorithm with real-world usage. They never did that and now they're hiring "ground truth" specialists or whatever to fill that role. No clue why it's taking so long though.
Ironicaly Google actually learned this 5 years prior because they made the same mistake on desktop. Apple should have learned from them but they didn't.
OK, while at first glance this is funny, it really isn't.
1. Driving onto an active taxi/runway by unauthorized personnel should be impossible. The airport here screwed up big time, regardless of signs, posters, street labels, etc. I have not seen this airport so I have no idea as to what's physically involved.
2. It's easy to assume that drivers are stupid. But I think the whole time people we're driving in they could have been thinking:"OK, I saw that sign, but if it was current/accurate I shouldn't be able to drive here at all. Is this right?". They could have been having a lively conversation and missed the signs (I've missed exits many times due to this). You could be on the runway already before you realize something is seriously wrong.
3. Apple needs to fix this, ASAP. Regardless of the driver's purported stupidity, if it's dark, visibility is low, or signs are not well-lit, the app told you "go this way". We assume the app is right until we discover it is not. This opens Apple up for serious criticism, perhaps more.
1. Driving onto an active taxi/runway by unauthorized personnel should be impossible. The airport here screwed up big time, regardless of signs, posters, street labels, etc. I have not seen this airport so I have no idea as to what's physically involved.
2. It's easy to assume that drivers are stupid. But I think the whole time people we're driving in they could have been thinking:"OK, I saw that sign, but if it was current/accurate I shouldn't be able to drive here at all. Is this right?". They could have been having a lively conversation and missed the signs (I've missed exits many times due to this). You could be on the runway already before you realize something is seriously wrong.
3. Apple needs to fix this, ASAP. Regardless of the driver's purported stupidity, if it's dark, visibility is low, or signs are not well-lit, the app told you "go this way". We assume the app is right until we discover it is not. This opens Apple up for serious criticism, perhaps more.
Posters here expected Apple to remap the world in between betas for iOS 6 last year.
This is just MacRumors chasing web hits from Android fans. It's a non-story. If someone drives on to a runway because their phone told them to, then they should have their driver's license taken away from them.
And why do folk talk about Steve Jobs like they actually knew him? Points to a rather unhealthy fixation. JHMO.
Look on YouTube and search the net for really bad Google Maps blunders - there's plenty of them. Unfortunately all eyes are on Apple because, as usual for some reason, the media want them to fail. It seems to me that, other than the odd expected blunder that goes with the territory (pardon the pun) when you undertake the task of mapping the major parts of the world, Apple have done a great job with their Map app and it's always going to be work in progress. Any driver who follows electronic guidance verbatim and ends up on a runway area shouldn't be driving in the first place. This is completely overblown - stop it now!!
Gotta laugh how any misstep for Apple is news. I wonder how many times Garmin has sent me off course.
Half the time I am fishing in the marsh, my Lowrance shows me on dry land!
Who uses turn by turn anyway. I don't need someone else telling me where to go!
Half the time I am fishing in the marsh, my Lowrance shows me on dry land!
Who uses turn by turn anyway. I don't need someone else telling me where to go!
THIS.
Apple do not need stupid but serious errors that are not fixed months after being reported.
I know I will never buy a TomTom GPS unit now.
Garmin all the way!
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With taxi instructions, does it man I can use Maps direction for aircraft?
Apple has an increasingly poor track record of improving and updating their software. Aperture, iWork, Mail, etc... they all languish.
The mighty ship is adrift.
100% agreed. Apple Map app has been pretty good for me. I'm happy with it. It gives me the correct direction every time.
We only get complains when things go wrong. Why don't we have praise when Apple Map gives correct data????????????????????????????????????????????
I use anything that's not google. It doesn't have to be from Apple.
Honestly, it is wrong more often then right. Usually from defaulting to major roads when lesser roads are faster and get around traffic spots.
I am sure location counts, YMMV
HUGE ones!!! Like the last time it made the news/blogs/Al Gore's inter webs in the Australian Outback! Crazy man....
It's not Homeland Security's responsibility---access to the airport is up to the airport police department and/or hired security (smaller airports).
No---there are thousands of airports without gates, fences or otherwise secured in some fashion all over the country---in fact, there are 'strips' in folks' back yards in some cases. I live in Alaska---we've got the most GA (general aviation) licenses and per capita airplane ownership in the country---the busiest general aviation airport and air-lake in the country (Merrill Field and Lake Hood, next to Ted Stevens/Anchorage Int'l airport). Even @ Ted Stevens International in Anchorage there's a shared airplane/vehicle intersection---albeit with warning lights when an airplane is fixing to cross---for all intents and purposes, this, too is a taxi way. They're very common---and this isn't inherently Apple's fault. Check Google Maps, it's not much better as far as options in that area. In Alaska, we share a LOT of areas with other vehicles---including rivers and boats/plane landings on the river. I've had Beavers land over the top of our raft on the Little Susitna river, Lake Creek and different lakes around the state. In the snow---with snow machines and planes on skis. It's all too common, whether your vehicle, your boat, your recreational vehicle----doesn't matter, tons of general aviation traffic (I'm a pilot myself)...and this story is one HELL of an embellishment to a 'non-issue' IMO. See response to next quote
You're absolutely right---however they DO have a fence! They DO have a gate, and they DO have multiple warning signs before entry!!!! It's only happened twice that some dumb ass has attempted successfully to intersect the taxiway (not an active runway)--one was a maintenance worker taking a 'short cut', the other...just as you said, someone 'doing dumb things'.
Honestly everyone----with the Australian outback problem and an isolated incident in Fairbanks Alaska (since the original massive correction to broken bridges, etc)----Apple has done a FANTASTIC job bringing it's Maps App up to snuff. They realized almost immediately that good mapping can't be bought. IE--Tom Tom, Garmin, etc. Funny thing is---before smart phones, specifically with Google Maps, NO ONE complained this loudly when Tom Tom took them to an airway thoroughfare, a back road in to the inner city or simply bad directions to their destination.....Now Apple decides to license Tom Tom and another half dozen mapping company's technology and information to build their own infrastructure, again falsely assuming they're as 'on it' as Google....however, Google has been at this for almost a decade....and truth be told, Google has figured it out. Boots on the ground (IE-Street View/Trail View and all the cool photography that comes with what they're continuously updating via having folks hiking the grand canyon, climbing McKinley/Denali, Rainier---on and on and on). I think Apple has figured this out and faster than most companies would have done and admitted to.
The money and resources Apple has...as well, the intrigue to map the 'world' and their motivation to 'compete' with the leader I think should be applauded. Competition----as cliché as it is, is good for everyone!. They'll get there, and again---being and living in Alaska, their mapping system is pretty damn good---all over Anchorage, the valley (suburbs of Anchorage north of us), south and the peninsula (Kenai, Homer, Soldotna----all the world class fishing areas accessible via road from Anchorage going south...as well, north past the valley all the way to Fairbanks either via the Parks or Glenn Hwys. It truly is very VERY good and accurate.
To me---again, it's funny this thread has almost 20,000 views and over 300 responses. It's a small, tiny misstep in a HUGE world that resulted in no injuries, no one getting lost....and no airline accident because of this error, which again isn't a whole lot better than Google's directions in the SAME area.
Talk about blowing things COMPLETELY out of proportion...Wow! I flew all summer long using Apple and Google Maps as well as Flight Kit, EFP, Theodolite (sp?), Flight Plan Pilot's toolbox and ForeFlight mobile. I also have PDFs of our ops manuals for both our 185 and 206---the Cub is a bit simpler
One last mention...again, I'm sure it's not just unique to Alaska, but folks with money and land and a plane will surely build their own 'strip'. There are thousands of them in Alaska and off airport landing/taking off is a way of life and really where 'Bush Pilots' made their name. If you're not smart enough with your iPhone (as a vehicle driver) to look up from your NavAid while driving and see where you're going, it's YOUR fault! Not Apple's! No mapping system will be perfect but I believe Apple is in to this for the long haul---and I think they need to be smart, ala Google and utilize the Grass Roots efforts so many people are recreationally doing anyway. Hire hikers that are blazing new trails, climbing new mountains, sailing unchartered waterways---and generally speaking, going where no man has gone before---To Me, that's exactly how they win. Those folks are doing the trip anyway---why not Apple step in, pay for the expense of the trip---outfit said hikers, bikers, sailers or airmen with cameras and the necessary GPS recording systems...through another couple grand at them and BOOM! You've got a new area mapped perfectly and they can then move on to the next project/area that needs work.
Don't give up on the app. Especially those of us that are true fans of Apple. Forget the shills. I think an app that Apple releases itself would be beneficial with camera, GPS and altitude/compass abilities---one that could record within the phone itself (even if out of range of a signal) and you could then upload to Apple when done with your venture. Might be a good idea for an app---and one you could 'sell' to Apple as an idea rather than relying on Waze and the folks spending time in areas that are already correct and constantly frequented
I've not read through this entire thread---only the first couple pages (so some of these factors may have already been addressed)...but I did feel the need to respond as I've done...mainly because I live here and am a pilot as well...the constant, over the top bashing of Apple and their minor glitches in new apps or systems they release. To me, it's sad when we have to dig THIS deep to find something 'wrong'.
A Taxi-Way in Fairbanks Alaska----and 2 people that have actually followed that route to their Not Death, Injury or Issue (other than being scolded by airport security---not Homeland Security)???? Seriously?
Wow.
Again---hate the cliché "First. World. Problems."
J
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Does not use Google Maps for me. Always defaults to Apples.
Cannot find an option to change default.
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/09/google-maps-app-now-displays-ads-in-your-search-results/
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/08/09/google-now-showing-relevant-ads-in-google-maps-app-for-ios/
Are you sure? The rest of the world is seeing them across all devices all the time. Maybe you have a special version that was made just for you.
If this were a Garmin GPS error, it'd never make the news and it would take years for all the phones to be updated.
For a while during/after A LOT of construction by the Detroit bridge to Canada they had a sign up that said to ignore your GPS for directions because those roads aren't accurate any more (SUPER helpful!). I'd have liked it if they'd put up a new address for me to put in my GPS.
Gary
Instead of blaming Apple, putting a fence up should have been their first course of action. But yeah, Apple fails as a service company pretty bad.
This is even worse: http://www.adn.com/2012/08/23/2597925/man-guided-by-gps-drives-off-ferry.html
Lots of stupid drivers in Alaska.
Lots of stupid drivers in Alaska.
Apple has an increasingly poor track record of improving and updating their software. Aperture, iWork, Mail, etc... they all languish.
The mighty ship is adrift.
IMO, they've taken on too much and have spread themselves too think in many areas. But it is actually quite amusing to read all of the excuses that people come up with to defend Apple maps. Maps was not ready for prime time when it was released and it will take them quite a while to get even close to what Google has to offer today.
I get the feeling a lot of the younger crowd doesn't understand that Google Maps has not always been as good as it is now. Which is not to say it is now without error. I recently found a glitch that made a major state road impassable at some random point, even though there was no blockage in real life. To go from Point A to Point A + 50 feet required taking a 20 mile detour, according to Google Maps. It took them a few months to fix it.
No---actually, if you'd have read the article you linked to it specifically says (in the first couple sentences)...
"The man, who was not named, was apparently relocating to Alaska from the Lower 48 and arrived on a ferry about 6:30 a.m., said Dave Schofield, director of the city's Department of Public Safety. The man drove off the ferry in his Subaru car loaded with belongings, two dogs and a cat, Schofield said."
Alaskans are pretty damned good drivers, we deal with winter, snow, ice and the cold...as well as limited roads and road access nearly 8 months of the year. I'll take driving in Alaska (I'm 42---and I've been here 30 years, got my license @ 16) compared to LA, Seattle, NYC or any other large city any day of the week or time of the day.
Again---the BOZO you linked to was re-locating from 'the lower 48'. That's not an Alaskan
J