Inaccurate Apple Maps directions causes 'life threatening issue' for travelers, says Australian poli

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  • Reply 21 of 507
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    I don't think anyone can defend Apple over maps BUT I have a hard time believing bad directions could be a life or death situation. At some point wouldn't the driver figure out they're going the way and turn around? And if you were going out to the middle of nowhere wouldn't you make sure you were prepared just in case you got stranded or something?


     


    It depends. Australia is vast and empty, so driving for hours without seeing a town, person or signpost is fairly normal. 


     


    But you are right: you'd be an idiot not to check for the general location on a map, along with places to stop for help along the route in case of an emergency.


     


    Australia is not to be trifled with.

  • Reply 22 of 507
    rayz wrote: »
    Where is Apple getting all this crap data from?

    Or is it the data? I mean, surely TomTom can't be making these mistakes?

    That's what I want to know.

    Pure address data shouldn't be hard to get. Most roads have been around for a while and the GIS data should be accurate. I can type an address into Apple Maps and it finds it with no problem. It found a rental cabin up a dirt road deep in the mountains of North Carolina. Again... it was an address that's probably been in the system for 50 years... and Apple handled it fine.

    So now we must look at the other issue... points-of-interest. This data is most susceptible to errors. According to Apple... there are two Walmarts in my town... the correct one... and some mystery address. We used to have an old Walmart in another location... but that was 15 years ago. Surely Apple didn't grab that address from some outdated database.

    Or maybe they did... let's investigate.

    The old Walmart was at 219 E. Plaza Drive... 15 years ago.

    Apple now thinks there is a Walmart at 346 E. Plaza Drive.

    Oops... there was NEVER a Walmart at 346 E. Plaza Drive! That address was an old factory... and now it's an indoor go-kart track.

    At no point in history was there ever a business named Walmart associated with that particular street address. There should be no database with a Walmart at that address... and not even an old piece of paper in the basement of city hall with a Walmart at that address. So why does Apple think there is a Walmart at 346 E. Plaza Drive? How did that happen?

    Businesses move or get closed for good... and the data needs to be updated. That's something that all mapping services deal with. But I don't understand how Apple got an address for a Walmart that was never at that address... especially when they got the real Walmart correct.

    I just searched for Walmart using MotionX GPS and Google Maps... they found only the one correct Walmart in my town.

    So yeah... where is Apple getting their POI data?
  • Reply 23 of 507
    I too was irritated to see "travelling (sic)" twice in the above quotation. That's just plain stupid. The double-L spelling is technically the correct one; it's only thanks to Noah Webster's mangling of the language that Americans spell so many words incorrectly!

    OK, I'm being provocative here, but only to make a point. The point is: US spellings are only correct for the US. For heaven's sake, Australians have every right to spell their version of English in the traditional way if they want to. Australian English, British English, Canadian English %u2013 and many other regional versions of English %u2013 all have many non-Websterised spellings, and the populations of all those countries consider their spellings correct. To take correctly spelt Australian English and put a stupid "(sic)" after every word whose spelling disagrees with the US spelling is doubly insulting. It insults the Australians by implying that they don't know how to write their own language, and it insults the intelligence of US readers by implying that they're too stupid to understand that "travelling" means "traveling" in their version of the language. It's also extremely arrogant to behave as though non-American spellings are "wrong". Last time I checked, AppleInsider was available internationally, not just in the US.

    I don't write "color (sic)" every time I have to quote the US [mis]spelling of "colour"%u2026 and "color" is every bit as 'wrong' to me as "travelling" is to whoever inserted all those ridiculous "(sic)"s. It would be nice to edit the article to remove them, in fact; they just look completely fatuous.
  • Reply 24 of 507
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    Pay me as much as she/he is, and I would be more than happy to tell you.



     


    Get smart enough for them to consider you for the job and that just might happen.


     


    In the meantime, do you mind if we all go on without you and don't hold our breath waiting?


     


    image

  • Reply 25 of 507
    japmjapm Posts: 36member


    Poor Apple Maps, it really gets hammered from all sides.


    I start to feel sorry for that crappy thing.

  • Reply 26 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post



    The real issue here, is how long does it take Apple to fix the problem.


     


    Actually, I think the real issue her is: Has anyone gotten lost using Google Maps or other services? The answer is, yes they have. This is nonsense, and unprofessional.


     


    Don't the police in Australia have better things to do, like track down prank callers pretending to be the queen? 

  • Reply 27 of 507
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post





    So yeah... where is Apple getting their POI data?


     


    Apple seems to be using lots of third-party local services to provide the POI data.

  • Reply 28 of 507
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


    Don't the police in Australia have better things to do, like track down prank callers pretending to be the queen? 



     


    Yes, now that was tragic. image

  • Reply 29 of 507
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    The real issue here, is how long does it take Apple to fix the problem.
    I keep hearing about people submitting corrections but they're not getting fixed. I'd be curious to know how big the maps team is at Apple. The impression one gets is they cobbled this together with table scraps and released it before it was ready because they didn't want to wait until the last minute to dump Google. I do wonder if Cook really knew how bad this was. Even if Apple has no choice but to release it I can't imagine Cook allowing it to be presented as being fully baked and flawless when it clearly is a beta product,
  • Reply 30 of 507
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    I keep hearing about people submitting corrections but they're not getting fixed. I'd be curious to know how big the maps team is at Apple. The impression one gets is they cobbled this together with table scraps and released it before it was ready because they didn't want to wait until the last minute to dump Google. I do wonder if Cook really knew how bad this was. Even if Apple has no choice but to release it I can't imagine Cook allowing it to be presented as being fully baked and flawless when it clearly is a beta product,


     


    When it comes to Apple, what you hear isn't necessarily what is happening. The map around my neck of the woods was fixed about a week ago (I can even see my car parked outside), but the POI is still wrong. As Michael Scrip said, the problem seems to be really bad POI data.

  • Reply 31 of 507
    This is embarrassing for Apple! There is no reason for an average user to believe that Apple would have a town in the wrong location. People can accept wrong streets, or house number locations - but wrong location markers for a town, is ridiculous!

    Apple needs to make their products more localised. We have amazing Australian maps (whereis.com) - which are highly accurate, and probably arguably better than Google Maps.

    Even the Yahoo weather App is highly inaccurate in Australia.

    Apple can't run the world from America - they should localise their products a lot more, it's not like they can't afford to? Why would they use Tom Tom maps, when we have Government information for mapping, which is so much better!

    How about listening to the users, Apple?
  • Reply 32 of 507
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    cnocbui wrote: »
    As an Australian, I'd like to take the opportunity to say: Hey, Dumbasses!, make sure you thoroughly test your shit before releasing it.  You never know, someone might be stupid enough to use it.

    This is nonsense. EVERY mapping system has flaws. There is absolutely no evidence that Apple's Maps is any worse than any of the other mapping systems. Sure, you can find errors in Apple's Maps that don't appear on Google Maps and vice versa, but in the few cases where people have done large scale comparisons, Apple comes out looking just as good as Google.

    So where's your evidence that they didn't test it thoroughly enough? Anecdotes don't count.

    alexn wrote: »
    Police are worried that Maps is leading them astray when the idiots are going out totally unprepared, i.e., no water in summer (or almost summer)? Are these fools trying for a Darwin Award or something? Talk about lack of bushcraft. Mindless idiots.
    Unbelievable? Nah, there's one born every minute.

    I suspect they were put up to it by Google or another of Apple's competitors. It didn't happen for months after the release of Apple Maps and suddenly there are a string of the exact same error involving people who use Apple Maps to go to the same small remote city and are all too stupid to realize that there's a problem? Sounds like a set up.

    I've used quite a few mapping systems. Mapquest. Google Maps (computer). Google Maps (Android). TomTom. Garmin. Four different car navigation systems. And every single one of them has had some problems, so only an idiot would blindly follow the technology into a dangerous situation. Didn't anyone bother to read the street signs? Learn a little bit about the area before wandering in? And didn't it look suspicious when the road turned into a narrow walking trail (or no trail at all)? If it's not a set up, then these people truly are candidates for the Darwin Award.
  • Reply 33 of 507


    On a positive note...


     


    Apple Maps does an excellent job displaying a Flyover View of the La Brea Tar Pits!


     



     


     


    Though... The late Nat King Cole would have been discomfited to learn that his mansion in Hancock Park was located inside a museum within the tar pits...


     



     


    Nat "King" Cole's former home  401 S. Muirfield Rd. Hancock Park


     


     


    "When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don't repeat it."


    - Paul "Bear" Bryant -  

  • Reply 34 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rayz View Post


     


    Right, so in your capacity as Apple's software tester, how would you go have gone about testing for every location that folk are likely to search for?



    As another Australia, I'd say use reliable mapping data... It seems that the American version of Maps is very good (and also the Chinese version, which has been localised) - perhaps a collaboration with whereis.com (our local mapping service) would be smart? - We have so many towns without 'name markers'.


     


    Apple maps are atrocious in Australia.  

  • Reply 35 of 507
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    This is embarrassing for Apple! There is no reason for an average user to believe that Apple would have a town in the wrong location. People can accept wrong streets, or house number locations - but wrong location markers for a town, is ridiculous!

    No, it's embarrassing for the mindless trolls who attack Apple without determining whether the problem is unique to Apple. EVERY mapping system has problems. The few comparisons that were done show that Apple Maps is no worse than Google Maps (in some places, like China, it's demonstrably better).

    It's also embarrassing for mindless idiots who go marching into remote areas with no water or preparation and are not bright enough to figure out that they're in the wrong place.

    Finally, it's very embarrassing for Apple's competitors who probably set this up. Give me a break - for months after the release of Apple Maps, nothing happens and then all of the sudden "a number of" people get lost going to the same small town and using the same Apple Maps directions. And all of them get rescued by the police. And the police immediately blame Apple's Maps rather than the people who are too stupid to pay attention to where they're going? It really sounds like the kind of stunt Google would pay people to do.
  • Reply 36 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by radster360 View Post


    It is an stupidity of the individual. It has widely been published about issues with iOS6 map. If I I am going to be in wilderness, I better check out other map to validate the accuracy, especially when it has been a public knowledge about the iOS6 map. Secondly, the interesting thing the article mentions about lack of cell coverage in the area. Even with the correct map, the person would have not been able to follow the maps. 


     


    Apparently, Australia has found one thing or another to come after Apple. First, it was the LTE issue and now they are pulling this map non-sense. Apple, Screw Australia! 



    If Apple can't localise their products, with all their billions and billions of dollars, and can't make decent maps (or just freaking buy maps that already work) - then don't sell your products to our countries! 



    Apple plays nicely with America, you have nothing to complain about. Try using your maps and going to the wrong place, try checking the weather only to find out it's wrong... Apple's Australian localisation is shit... End of story.

  • Reply 37 of 507
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



     If it's not a set up, then these people truly are candidates for the Darwin Award.


     


    I'm not convinced it was a set-up, but yes - these people are too stupid to hold driving licences.

  • Reply 38 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rayz View Post


     


    Right, so in your capacity as Apple's software tester, how would you go have gone about testing for every location that folk are likely to search for?





    I mus say,it was nice of Apple to gift all these iphone 5 to testers. Oh, wait...

  • Reply 39 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


     


    Actually, I think the real issue her is: Has anyone gotten lost using Google Maps or other services? The answer is, yes they have. This is nonsense, and unprofessional.


     


    Don't the police in Australia have better things to do, like track down prank callers pretending to be the queen? 



    Unprofessional? You don't see the hypocrisy there? So Australian media reporting the truth about a guy who got lost using Apple Maps (because Apple can't put the location of a town correctly) are unprofessional?


     


    And the Australian police warning their citizens that Apple Maps is shit, is not professional?



    Lets put all the blame on Australian's for being idiots, not the billion dollar company that can't make maps work... :/



    haha! :) Why are they tracking down radio presenters? It's called a sense-of-humour... got one? :P

     

  • Reply 40 of 507

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post





    No, it's embarrassing for the mindless trolls who attack Apple without determining whether the problem is unique to Apple. EVERY mapping system has problems. The few comparisons that were done show that Apple Maps is no worse than Google Maps (in some places, like China, it's demonstrably better).

    It's also embarrassing for mindless idiots who go marching into remote areas with no water or preparation and are not bright enough to figure out that they're in the wrong place.

    Finally, it's very embarrassing for Apple's competitors who probably set this up. Give me a break - for months after the release of Apple Maps, nothing happens and then all of the sudden "a number of" people get lost going to the same small town and using the same Apple Maps directions. And all of them get rescued by the police. And the police immediately blame Apple's Maps rather than the people who are too stupid to pay attention to where they're going?


    It really sounds like the kind of stunt Google would pay people to do.


    First part: I agree, this sounds too focused to really be clean.


    Second part: why Google? Microsoft-Nokia, Samsung, HTC have all abandonned the smartphone (and/or) maps business?


     


     


    Also, Apple probably should quit using Beta stuff as sales point. If Facetime is not ready, don't say it's ready, make it ready. If Apple Maps is not ready, make it a "download if you want" feature. Enough people like me will get it anyway...

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