THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, AAP, THE AUSTRALIAN (Australia)
Turn right, then after 200 meters, you have reached your destination. NOT.
A glitch in Apple’s new iPhone mapping system is putting lives at risk by sending motorists into isolated parkland, the Australian news agency AAP reports.
Over the past month, police officers in Mildura, a town in Australia’s southeastern state of Victoria have had to rescue six motorists who followed directions from their iPhones, some of whom ending up being stranded for more than 24 hours without food or water.
Is is summer in the southern hemisphere, and according to The Australian, Mildura is already Victoria’s hottest and driest regional center.
Drivers using the Apple Maps app operating on the new iOS 6 system were led more than 70km off-course, directly in middle of the Murray-Sunset National Park.
The situation was “potentially lethal,” according to the local police, as there was neither water supply nor mobile phone reception within the park and temperatures regularly topped 46 degrees Celsius (115°F).
Australian police issued a warning advising motorists not to rely on the Apple Maps app until the bug was fixed – adding to Apple’s embarassment at its failure to usurp Google Maps in its latest iPhone, writes the Australian Financial Review.
Oh Apple this is quite a #Fail RT @felixsalmon Do NOT, repeat NOT, use Apple Maps to try to get to Mildura, Australia bit.ly/Uway5K
— Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) December 10, 2012
