Thursday, December 13, 2012

iPhone mapping app considered dangerous

This is not my opinion, this is the advice of the Australian Police:
Australian police have cautioned drivers not to rely on Apple's new map programme after several drivers had to be rescued from the trails of Australia's second-largest national park, which is in the state of Victoria.

They had been looking for the town of Mildura but were sent to a National Park 70km (45 miles) away.
The BBC interviewed the police spokesman and asked him if he'd seen the map.  The police spokesman laughed.  But wait, it gets better:
Just when Apple thought it couldn't get any worse for its beleaguered Maps app, which has been leading motorists deep into the desert when they try to find the town of Mildura, The Register can reveal another SNAFU that could send travellers to an even less hospitable destination.

...

But even the city's enormous size doesn't explain why iOS 6 maps places the town in the spot depicted below, which appears to be miles from anything of note. Google Maps, for what it is worth, places the nearest road to the spot Apple picks for the town as being 141 kms from downtown Mount Isa.

Mount Isa's location, according to Apple Maps

That's fail that is potentially deadly, at least to anyone stupid enough to trust Apple's GPS directions.  But wait, it gets better:
A man who became dissatisfied with AT&T throttling data speeds on his iPhone has won a case against the carrier in small claims court.

The Associated Press reports that iPhone owner Matt Spaccarelli, who filed a complaint against AT&T after it began slowing down his data speeds, was awarded $850 earlier today.
Spaccarelli made the claim that AT&T purposely slowed down data speeds, despite the fact that he was subscribed to an "unlimited data" plan. This slowdown came after he had used 1.5GB to 2GB of data inside of one billing cycle, he told the court.
Yeah, that one is kind of old but just goes to show what a sucking chest wound of FAIL the iPhone has become.  I'm at the point of ditching mine and going to something that as a bit less suck in it.

5 comments:

  1. wolfwalkerDecember 13, 2012 at 7:15 AM

    Uh, Borepatch?

    1) the second story shows FAIL on the part of AT&T, not the iPhone.

    2) what the hell is the guy doing using more than two gigs of data a month? I've had my iPhone over a year, with the minimum two-gig data plan from Verizon, and I don't think I've used 15% of that in any month.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ASM826December 13, 2012 at 7:30 AM

    Wolfwalker,

    I know someone that doesn't own a computer. They have an iPhone and if the need for a larger screen arises, they use a friend's computer or go to the library. I expect the amount of data they use each month is fairly high.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ProudHillbillyDecember 13, 2012 at 9:01 AM

    Here you have why I keep maps in the suv and only use GPS in the city if necessary. Personal navigation systems are only as good as their basemaps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ArcherDecember 13, 2012 at 5:16 PM

    Presented without further comment:

    http://imgur.com/YlUYZ

    ReplyDelete
  5. instinctDecember 15, 2012 at 2:35 AM

    I like my iPhone but have never used it's map system. I picked up TomTom for the iPhone and it gets me where I need to go with no problems at all.

    As far as Google goes, the more I can avoid having to use them for anything, the happier I am.

    ReplyDelete

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