Apple Maps Fails To Impress iOS 6 Users

Apple has rolled out iOS 6 to compatible iDevices, but the new Apple Maps application is getting the thumbs down from iPhone and iPad users who have made the upgrade, thanks to errors including the creation of a fictitious airport in South Dublin.

The latest version of the operating system was made available last night in the UK and will come preinstalled with the iPhone 5 which is released on Friday.

Google Maps has been the default map provider since the first version of iOS was released, but in June, Apple announced that it was going to stop using its rivals’ mapping software in favour of its own system.

Apple Maps

Apple Maps has been created using data from satellite navigation manufacturer TomTom, but it is littered with inaccuracies and it is widely considered to be inferior to Google Maps.

Some towns, such as Stratford-upon-Avon are missing, others are in the wrong location while satellite images are of lesser quality than Google Maps. Many businesses are excluded or in the wrong place, sometimes located in bodies of water.

Frustrated and amused iDevice users have taken to social networks to express their displeasure or share occasionally amusing mistakes. A parody Twitter account that shared many of Apple’s mistakes appears to have been suspended by the social networking site.

However one person who is not amused is Alan Shutter, the Irish Minister for Justice. Apple has classified a farm called ‘Airfield’ in South Dublin as an airport, leading Shutter to express concerns that it could lead to calamitous confusion.

“I am surprised to discover that Airfield, which is in the centre of my constituency in Dundrum, has, in Apple’s new operating system iOS 6 maps application, been designated with the image of an aircraft,” he said in a statement. “Airfield, a 35 acre estate with working farm, formal gardens and café is of course a famous and immensely popular, important local amenity. Clearly the designation is not only wrong but is dangerously misleading in that it could result in a pilot, unfamiliar with the area,  in an emergency situation and without other available information, attempting a landing.”

“I have arranged that Apple be informed of the error and requested that it be urgently corrected.  In context of Airfield there are a variety of possible alternative images that could be utilised such a cow, a goat, a sheep, a flower or any indeed other type of plant as Airfield operates a nursery,” he continued. “An aircraft is an entirely inappropriate flight of imagination.”

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