Prank places 'Bad Monkey,' other fake road names in Apple Maps
Irreverent and fallacious names for some of Kabul's main streets appear to have made their way into Apple's Maps app, leading some iOS users to find roads such as "Bad Monkey" and "Hillbilly Hameed" when navigating the Afghan capital.
"Mojo Way" and other bogus road names were discovered by Yaroslav Trofimov, Kabul bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, who tweeted his findings under the hashtag #TooGoodToBeTrue.
The strangely named roads appear to stem from OpenStreetMap data, added by Afghan university students several years ago as a prank or as a means to give temporary names to roads under dispute. Since dropping Google's mapping solution with the release of iOS 6, Apple has relied upon data from OpenStreetMap ? a user-editable mapping service ? as well as other map services to build its maps app.
Speaking with UN Dispatch, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team director Kate Chapman explained that the error likely stems from Apple taking "an old snapshot of the OpenStreetMap data and [not updating] it since, so things like 'personal' street names are in there, even if they have been fixed since."
Apple's Maps app was a blemish on what was otherwise a well-received new build of iOS. Many users around the world were vocal in complaining about the new Maps app's shortcomings, especially in comparison to the Google Maps app it replaced.
Apple quickly apologized over the mapping mishap, promising to improve the service and even letting go of personnel over the imbroglio. The company has since built a Maps-specific team to address the problem.
"Mojo Way" and other bogus road names were discovered by Yaroslav Trofimov, Kabul bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, who tweeted his findings under the hashtag #TooGoodToBeTrue.
The strangely named roads appear to stem from OpenStreetMap data, added by Afghan university students several years ago as a prank or as a means to give temporary names to roads under dispute. Since dropping Google's mapping solution with the release of iOS 6, Apple has relied upon data from OpenStreetMap ? a user-editable mapping service ? as well as other map services to build its maps app.
Speaking with UN Dispatch, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team director Kate Chapman explained that the error likely stems from Apple taking "an old snapshot of the OpenStreetMap data and [not updating] it since, so things like 'personal' street names are in there, even if they have been fixed since."
Apple's Maps app was a blemish on what was otherwise a well-received new build of iOS. Many users around the world were vocal in complaining about the new Maps app's shortcomings, especially in comparison to the Google Maps app it replaced.
Apple quickly apologized over the mapping mishap, promising to improve the service and even letting go of personnel over the imbroglio. The company has since built a Maps-specific team to address the problem.
Comments
'Fallacious'?
Or just 'false'?
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
'Fallacious'?
Or just 'false'?
"Fallacious" carries with it the meaning of not just "false" but the intent to deceive someone. The information on the maps was not just incorrect (false) but was intentionally put there. So yes, "fallacious" is a fitting word.
fallacious "based on a mistaken belief"
false " not according with truth or fact; incorrect"
" appearing to be the thing denoted; deliberately made or meant to deceive"
fraudulent might apply to whoever applied the names.
I've never heard it used that way. My understanding of the term is a mistaken belief usually presented as poor logic as with a fallacious argument. Perhaps you are conflating the word fictitious with fallacious.
edit: Pipped by JeffDM but I wonder if fraudulent is the most apt as I think it could be argued that without a crime being committed it might come across as too harsh.
You can't depend on on publicly editable data. There will always be some mischievous pranksters, hackers, etc.
Wikipedia says you're wrong.
Gosh, I thought it might be used to describe a former girlfriends talent. I thought of her as fallacious. She certainly seemed to enjoy what she did too.
I've had issues with Maps, Google Maps and my Tom Tom with incorrect information. The way I handle it is to send feedback to all them so they can fix it down the road.I'm not going to cry about it or drive hours out of my way because a map tells me to. Don't be a Belgian woman and drive 900 miles out of you way because gps tells you. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/sabine-moreau-gps-belgium-croatia-900-miles_n_2475220.html?ir=Technology
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
You can't depend on on publicly editable data. There will always be some mischievous pranksters, hackers, etc.
Wikipedia says you're wrong.
There are really only a handful of actual editors on Wikipedia and also their pages regularly get defaced. The difference is that Wikipedia fixes their pages quickly so hardly anyone know they were hacked. Apple apparently is not as vigilant.
What a huge disaster. After all, Apple's presence in Afghanistan is huge. Afghanistan is Apple's third largest market, right after the USA and China. I heard that there were at least 750 Taliban waiting outside the main Apple store for the newest iPhone launch. No females were present of course, as they are forbidden from owning iPhones. iTunes match is also not available, as anybody listening to music will obviously be flogged to death.
The article states that the street names were under dispute, so they should straighten out their own street names first, that is their problem, not Apple's.
And seriously speaking, fixing any street names in Afghanistan for Apple's maps should be extremely low on Apple's priority list, as there are many more relevant and more important countries for Apple, which have plenty of more Apple users than what can be found in Afghanistan. Apple should fix minor issues with Apple maps in civilized countries first, before worrying about Afghanistan and other places like it, where Apple's presence is virtually non-existent.
I also heard that 4 people and two penguins using Apple's maps in Antarctica have been having issues with Apple maps, and Apple needs to get on top of this right away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dookie Howsre
I've had issues with Maps, Google Maps and my Tom Tom with incorrect information. The way I handle it is to send feedback to all them so they can fix it down the road.I'm not going to cry about it or drive hours out of my way because a map tells me to. Don't be a Belgian woman and drive 900 miles out of you way because gps tells you. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/sabine-moreau-gps-belgium-croatia-900-miles_n_2475220.html?ir=Technology
Last Friday I took a moment to tap the "show incorrect location" tab on Google Maps to report our companies inaccurate location according to their data. It wasn't off by much but still put customers at a neighbors business rather than ours. This morning around 8:30 a Google rep called to confirm our business information and to correct the location error shown on Google Maps, referencing the satellite layer over the map display. Looking at it just now it's already been corrected.
I had reported the incorrect street addressing to Nokia/Navteq at least twice in the past 4 years, and reported the map error to Tomtom (TeleAtlas) at least once in the last two years. Neither of them have corrected the map yet, tho both are slooowly getting closer to accurately numbering the area over the last half-dozen map updates. Google put the fix in place within days of the initial error reporting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple ][
Apple should fix minor issues with Apple maps in civilized countries first
Only fix minor issues
Much of the civilized world does not have street names or numerical addresses. Apple maps is still a disaster in many parts of the civilized world. I prefer Google maps. Funny thing, I just bought some property in Central America which only has a description of 720 meters east from a particular landmark as its legal description although Google for some reason has a full ten word name for the street, most of which doesn't even exist yet, only proposed and no one living there has ever heard of that street name. Not surprisingly Apple maps can't even find the city let alone the street. In my opinion any street more than a year old with asphalt surface and public utility provided street lights should at least show up on the map even if it doesn't have a name. Apple is a total fail at maps in many of the places I visit often.
That would be fellatious presumably, unless you mean she was really a man in which case fallacious is more appropriate but then it depends on what he did to you because we might be back to fellatious again. I'm not sure why grammar and spelling becomes the focus of article threads. Maybe the subject matter isn't very interesting at times.
I'm surprised 'fallacious' was the focus and not the use of 'imbroglio' - don't hear that too often in conversation.
How hard can it possibly be to cross-reference the data? Surely they can automate running grids of data against Google Maps or some other mapping solution and flag up mismatches between names. There's maybe 150 million square km grids. Just do it once to check the data and then every time new information gets appended, flag it for verification. If they see a name like Furry Crevasse, they can have someone look into it.
I find this to be true as well and I still have a hard time getting accurate directions from Apple Maps.
I haven't downloaded the Google app though. I usually just have to find my way around after Apple Maps leads me astray. I guess it's helped my sense of direction and navigation skills.
The maps issue won't die until Apple allows users the option to choose their default maps app versus Apple's being the automatic default.
But Apple will never do that so the Maps issue will likely always be a thorn.
Later this year when reviewers get their hands on the all new iPhone they'll probably say something like "This iPhone is a great step forward for Apple but it comes standard with their faulty Maps app. Buyers beware."
What do you mean by that? Most Wikipages aren't locked in any way so anyone that corrects spelling or punctuation even once is editing. There is a stat that says 60% of those that edit once never so so again. I have thousands upon thousands of edits and contributions on Wikipedia. Some are new pages but most are just minor corrections or additions when I come across some erroneous data. What WIkipedia has few of is employees. Actual paid employees that receive a paycheck for their services. They appear to have hundreds of what appear to be unpaid site Admins and their own stats list 10 million edits happening about every 1.5 to 2 months.
The issue won't die if there is even one address another mapping software can find better than Apple Maps.
Wow. That's amazing. And they let her keep her driver's license?
Of course, it would only make front page news if she were using Apple Maps. Since she was using something else, it's not important.