• Home
  • iOS
  • News
  • Apple Provokes Wave Of User Complaints With Serious Maps Inaccuracies And Errors

Apple Provokes Wave Of User Complaints With Serious Maps Inaccuracies And Errors

Apple Provokes Wave Of User Complaints With Serious Maps Inaccuracies And Errors

Apple’s new Maps app in iOS 6 was released yesterday, but already it is coming under fire after users complained of mistakes and inaccuracies, the BBC reports. Towns in the UK have been wrongly located, while some, like Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, even appear to be missing. Users in the US are also reporting errors.

As you can see from above, detail also seems to be an issue at times, while much of Scotland is apparently obscured by clouds. Manchester United, arguably the world’s most famous football (soccer) club, doesn’t show up either. Type that in and you should get Sale United Football Club, which is a football team for kids and teenagers which nobody knows about apart from those who play for it (no exaggeration).

Of course updates may be released, but this does seem to have backfired pretty badly. One blogger from Denver wrote:

 This is incredibly different from using Google Maps. It’s a tremendous step backwards and something that cripples iOS for Apple’s customers. I [searched] ‘iPhone Repair’ and ‘iPad Repair’ since that’s relevant to our business. The results broke my heart. All of the work I’ve put into our local recognition is completely gone.

I played with Maps a bit last night. It works fine for big cities like London, but everything involving countryside is beyond it. Flyover doesn’t work for smaller cities like Cambridge (UK), where I live, the images seem to lack information, as described above. Having said that, even some iconic parts of New York also seem to be beyond recognition. Yes, believe it or not, that second photo is the Brooklyn Bridge (as is the one below).

 

Apple needs to sort this out, and hope that their mapping blunders and inexperience doesn’t cost them too much. Errors seem so widespread though, it won’t just be a case of updating it. It’s a case of using different mapping images/data.

 *Editors note: As you can see from the above pics, the Brooklyn Bridge is clearly NOT microwave safe…