After Saving 6 Motorists, Australian Police Warns People Not to Use Apple’s Maps App

By: Ali Raza  |   December 15th, 2012   |   Apple, Mobile Apps, News, Smartphones

Although, reports are coming in that Apple has fixed the location of Mildura, a regional city of Victoria, Australia, in its maps app, possibly irreparable damage has already been done. In the last two months, approximately six motorists have lost their way in the Australian national park by using the new Apple native maps application, as told by Australian authorities.

 

“Local Police have been called to assist distressed motorists who have become stranded within the Murray-Sunset National Park after following directions on their Apple i-phone [sic].

 

Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping systems lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 70km away from the actual location of Mildura. Police are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the Park and temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees (115 F), making this a potentially life threatening issue.

 

Some of the motorists located by police have been stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water and have walked long distances through dangerous terrain to get phone reception.”

 

This has not happened for the first time, as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook had made a public apology back in September when they launched their maps app for the first time in iPhone 5 because many customers from different parts of the world complained that their maps are not correct.

 

In addition to this, Cook also advised their customers to use other maps until they fix their own maps app. Besides this, Cook also fired a few key people who played a role in this failure. This list of fired people also includes the chief of iOS, Scott Forstall, who had also warned Apple’s customers after this fiasco that, “It’s quite a dangerous situation, so we would be calling for people not to use the new Apple iPhone mapping system if they’re travelling from South Australia to Mildura.”

 

According to Inspector Simon Clemence the results of Apple’s maps app are so poor that, “One guy got far enough in to lose phone coverage and he was stuck there and he got bogged and he had to walk out and it took him 24-hours to get to a point where he had phone coverage and then we came and rescued him. This is a direct result of this map application.”

 

Apart from this, Australian police confirmed that they had found five vehicles stranded in the national park, with numerous people who lost their way using Apple’s maps app, only to eventually find their way back to the towns. These are just a few terrifying stories that emerged on the scene, as they came into the knowledge of Australian police, but only the time will tell whether there would be some victims of Apple’s maps app, who might have not found their way back.

 

Source: 9to5Mac