Apple lambasted over faulty Maps app

By Sarah Shearman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:30AM

Apple has been hit by torrent of criticism over its new Maps app, after users discovered numerous errors in its cartography, including a city in the sea and the disappearance of Shakespeare's home town.

Apple Maps: swaps Man U for Sale United Football Club

As the tech giant launched its new operating system, which comes preloaded with the new Maps app, yesterday, users quickly took to social media to lambast Apple over hundreds of errors.

Twitter has been awash with criticism, and a number of blogs have sprung up to report the errors, including 'The Amazing iOS 6 Maps'.

According to the blog, Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city has vanished, as has Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Shakespeare.

Meanwhile Germany's capital city Berlin appears in Antarctica, and Manchester United Football Club pops up at Sale Football Club, according to user's pictures.

As well as labelling errors, a lot of the 3D imagery appears skewed. The Severn Bridge, which connects England and Wales, looks on the verge of collapse and the area above Oxford Street has appear to have been flattened, surrounded by 3D buildings.

The app also incorrectly labels a Dublin farm as an airport, leading Alan Shatter, the Republic's minister for justice, to speak out about the danger of this incorrect labelling.

He said in a statement: "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."

At the time of publishing, a number of the reported errors had been corrected. The episode will cast a shadow over the launch of the iPhone 5, which comes preloaded with the app and goes on sale today.

This is not the first time the Maps project has attracted controversy. When it first emerged in June that Apple would be ditching Google Maps in favour of its own version, there was outcry from privacy groups over reports that Apple has been flying spy planes over cities to capture 3D images.

Apple did not respond for to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

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This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk