'Don't use Apple Maps!' Says Victoria, Australia Police

[Bateluer]

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/09/au...ng-potentially-life-threatening-misdirection/

Police in Victoria have urged motorists to avoid the use of Apple Maps, warning that faulty directions on the much-criticized app have left motorists stranded in the Australian outback for up to 24 hours without food or water.

The press release stated that tests on the mapping system confirmed that it shows the city of Mildura as being in the middle of Murray Sunset National Park, when in fact it is located about 70 kilometers away. The statement from Victoria Police said this is a “potentially life threatening situation” because there is no water supply within the park and temperatures can reach 46 degrees Celsius.

I've lived in the desert for nearly 10 years myself, and routinely run desert trails. You definitely do not want to be out there in that kind of heat unprepared.

46C is ~115F for us state siders.

 

[TuxDave]

Heh, so weird. Searching for Mildura points to the right place unless you're zoomed in to the park with Mildura off the screen. Then it points to another Mildura location.

 

[Chiropteran]

Apple Promises To Fix Glitches In Map Software By Rearranging Earth's Geography

Easy solution.

 

[jpeyton]

In this context, Apple Maps is a ticking litigious time bomb.

Imagine if one of those stranded had died. It would appear in every news cycle from here to Australia.

 

[Phokus]

"It just works"

 

[PC Perv]

the other day apple map took me to a board walk while giving me a driving direction (dead end)


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[pm]

We had a company picnic thing at a corn maze back in late Oct. and I punched in "Harvest Family Farm" in the Apple maps app and it took me to an empty section of road in the middle of nowhere (although admittedly it was on the perimeter of the farm that we needed to go to). So while I was there Googling the address and the map to get where we were supposed to be 3 more of my co-workers drove up next to me... because their iPhones told them to go there too.

So, in my experience, addresses work fine, but points-of-interest or business names don't always. So if you punch in "coffee", it may or may not take you to a coffee shop, and if you punch in starbucks, you might not end up at a starbucks, but if you punch in the actual address, then you will get to where you need to go. But it's pretty annoying - particularly since the previous Google Maps on the iPhone were always pretty accurate.

 

[Anteaus]

Whatever happened to actually planning a trip? I'm not saying that it isn't ok to use GPS/Map systems, but if you are traveling through completely alien regions without even the smallest amount of preplanning then I don't see this as any different as the mountain climber who doesn't check the weather and gets stranded on a peak.

If your just traveling down the interstate I can see not worrying much about it, but if your travelling through areas like the australian outback without a backup plan you're just asking for trouble. I hope these people bothered to have an emergency water supply.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

We had a company picnic thing at a corn maze back in late Oct. and I punched in "Harvest Family Farm" in the Apple maps app and it took me to an empty section of road in the middle of nowhere (although admittedly it was on the perimeter of the farm that we needed to go to). So while I was there Googling the address and the map to get where we were supposed to be 3 more of my co-workers drove up next to me... because their iPhones told them to go there too.

So, in my experience, addresses work fine, but points-of-interest or business names don't always. So if you punch in "coffee", it may or may not take you to a coffee shop, and if you punch in starbucks, you might not end up at a starbucks, but if you punch in the actual address, then you will get to where you need to go. But it's pretty annoying - particularly since the previous Google Maps on the iPhone were always pretty accurate.

This is an issue with Google Maps too. In general, don't trust any of these mapping apps. It might be a bigger issue on iOS maps, but at least they're partnering with Yelp. I find the best solution to be using Yelp on my phone and then clicking the Address and navigating to that. That way you can confirm that it's an actual venue, etc.

 

[pm]

This is an issue with Google Maps too. In general, don't trust any of these mapping apps. It might be a bigger issue on iOS maps, but at least they're partnering with Yelp. I find the best solution to be using Yelp on my phone and then clicking the Address and navigating to that. That way you can confirm that it's an actual venue, etc.

As someone who has used iOS 6 (iPhone 5) and Google Maps (Nexus 4) extensively in the last couple of months, I can say with some level of objectivity that while they may both have this same sort of issue, it's much much worse on the iPhone. It's been years since Google Maps took me to the totally wrong spot - the last time that I remember was literally 18 months ago (punched in "ice cream" and it took me to the company headquarters for an ice cream company... which didn't sell ice cream).

I agree with your method, but I will say that in the last year or so, you don't really need to cross-check Google maps for points-of-interest abd business name locations.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

As someone who has used iOS 6 (iPhone 5) and Google Maps (Nexus 4) extensively in the last couple of months, I can say with some level of objectivity that while they may both have this issues, it's much much worse on the iPhone. It's been years since Google Maps took me to the totally wrong spot - the last time that I remember was literally 18 months ago (punched in "ice cream" and it took me to the company headquarters for an ice cream company... which didn't sell ice cream).

I agree with your method, but I will say that in the last year or so, you don't really need to cross-check Google maps for points-of-interest.

Yeah I haven't used iOS maps enough to say it's more of an issue. My main issue I've found with Google Maps is that if I want to go to a specific Pizza Hut, sometimes Google Maps will list phantom locations or something. Places with 1 review are suspect, and sometimes it's the crowd sourced data that's bad or whatever. It's not that it's leading me to the forest, it's just that no Pizza Hut is there.

That's been my main issue. Typically things like where's the nearest Chevron, etc. or McDonalds have gotten me in trouble on road trips when I'm not familiar with the area. I think that if iOS partners with Yelp, it has a potential to be better with POIs. But that may be because I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. SF seems to LOVE Yelp. The # of yelp density seems to be greater than that of NYC.

 

[khha4113]

Heh, so weird. Searching for Mildura points to the right place unless you're zoomed in to the park with Mildura off the screen. Then it points to another Mildura location.

Because Apple just quickly fixed it after this embarrassment!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/10/apple-maps-life-threatening-australian-police

 

[lopri]

I simply use google maps on iPhone by the following procedure:

1. Open Safari.
2. Type "maps.google.com" (without quotes) and go.
3. Click the "Share/Add to" button on the bottom of the screen (the icon with an arrow).
4. Select "Add to Homescreen"

 

[TuxDave]

Because Apple just quickly fixed it after this embarrassment!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/10/apple-maps-life-threatening-australian-police

That was fast.

 

[Bateluer]

In this context, Apple Maps is a ticking litigious time bomb.

Imagine if one of those stranded had died. It would appear in every news cycle from here to Australia.

Australian has enough things that can kill you.

 

[kevinsbane]

That was fast.

Sort of. The article's from September...

Or not. Just different dating convention.

 

[preslove]

Given how many resources google has thrown at maps for years, for apple to just casually get rid of it and replace it with such a piece of crap app is pretty disturbing. I'm holding off upgrading to iOS 6 until google maps is released for it. Google maps really only shows erroneous places when a business closes and isn't updated. I've never seen it just show the wrong address for a business/place.

 

[TuxDave]

Sort of. The article's from September...

Or not. Just different dating convention.

It's basically yesterday. I got in trouble when I went overseas and on one of admission tickets you had to write the day it was valid. They almost didn't let me in since it looked like June 9 instead of Sept 6. Once I said oh, sorry I'm American they were all like "ah American!" and knew what was going on. lol

 

[zsdersw]

Maybe they're "just holding it wrong".

 

[Imp]

I love GPS toys, GIS, and mapping, but I still never trust any of them for route planning. Think I developed this mindset years ago when routing tech still sucked. Good to know I haven't been missing much.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

the other day apple map took me to a board walk while giving me a driving direction (dead end)


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

You were supposed to switch to Google ocean for the rest of your directions ^.^

Outside of Military bases I've never had google maps steer me wrong although a few times I've had it give me round about ways to make turns because it wouldn't realize I could make a left somewhere.

 

[Bateluer]

Given how many resources google has thrown at maps for years, for apple to just casually get rid of it and replace it with such a piece of crap app is pretty disturbing. I'm holding off upgrading to iOS 6 until google maps is released for it. Google maps really only shows erroneous places when a business closes and isn't updated. I've never seen it just show the wrong address for a business/place.

You might be waiting a while for that. Official word for Google right now is that they aren't making an iOS Maps app.

 

[lothar]

You might be waiting a while for that. Official word for Google right now is that they aren't making an iOS Maps app.

That's not what I read a few months ago.
Has something changed? Who is this "official" word from?

 

[lothar]

Whatever happened to actually planning a trip? I'm not saying that it isn't ok to use GPS/Map systems, but if you are traveling through completely alien regions without even the smallest amount of preplanning then I don't see this as any different as the mountain climber who doesn't check the weather and gets stranded on a peak.

If your just traveling down the interstate I can see not worrying much about it, but if your travelling through areas like the australian outback without a backup plan you're just asking for trouble. I hope these people bothered to have an emergency water supply.

Whatever happened to "It just works"?

I don't pre-plan trips any longer. There is always a McDonalds, Starbucks, or some other fastfood chain or retail outlet within 5 miles. If I'm going somewhere, I want to eat local food...not pack my own.
The only time I pre-plan trips is when I'm going to the movie theatre, Six Flags, zoo or wherever and don't feel like paying their anal rape concession stand prices.
$10 for a cup of popcorn and soda, $20 for a box of cardboard pizza...

I also have a road atlas that is in my trunk as backup which I have never used since I bought it over 5 years ago. It seems like it was a complete waste of money.

 

[Bateluer]

Whatever happened to "It just works"?

I don't pre-plan trips any longer. There is always a McDonalds, Starbucks, or some other fastfood chain or retail outlet within 5 miles. If I'm going somewhere, I want to eat local food...not pack my own.
The only time I pre-plan trips is when I'm going to the movie theatre, Six Flags, zoo or wherever and don't feel like paying their anal rape concession stand prices.
$10 for a cup of popcorn and soda, $20 for a box of cardboard pizza...

I also have a road atlas that is in my trunk as backup which I have never used since I bought it over 5 years ago. It seems like it was a complete waste of money.

Eh? I don't think you understand what a trip is. Going to the local movie theater is not a trip. Going to your local amusement part is not a trip. Traveling from Virginia to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, by plane or car, is a trip. Visiting a foreign country is a trip. You need to plan a trip. You don't need to plan much of anything to go to the local theater, except to wear pants and bring money for the ticket.