Apple Maps sending drivers to remote scorching desert without food or water

[Liberal_in_LA]

Police: Apple Maps Stranding Drivers in Australia


Australian police are warning that Apple's much-maligned mapping application is stranding drivers headed to the southern city of Mildura in the middle of a remote state park.

Victoria state police said Tuesday that an error in Apple's Maps service places the city of Mildura about 70 kilomters (44 miles) away in the Murray Sunset National Park. The park is a desert-like 5,000-square-kilometer (1,900-square-mile) region with scorching temperatures and virtually no mobile phone reception.

Police have been forced to rescue distressed drivers. Some were stranded for 24 hours with no food or water and have walked long distances through tough terrain to access phone reception.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/police-apple-maps-stranding-drivers-australia-17929777#.UMaQg6zT1iM

[Atman]

1. So now Apple is expected to provide FOOD AND WATER, too?

Just kidding. I just like the subject line. Maybe food and water will be part of iPhone Six. And Siri will blow you.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Headline is misleading. It should read....

"Morons do a stupid thing just because their telephone told them to."

[liberal_at_heart]

3. My husband refuses to use Apple Maps

He is legally blind and uses Google maps to get around the city.

[LeftyMom]

4. GPS maps in the US were sending drivers through Death Valley on closed/non-existent roads.

Mapping services are handy, but responsible drivers should look up once in a while and double check things that seem iffy.

I can't tell you the number of times I've checked google maps, my garmin, etc and got completely off the wall directions within US cities. They're no substitute for the ability to read a map and use common sense.

[Atman]

5. Same thing here in CT...leads people into a swamp...

We have a place in Northeast CT. There is an old one-lane dirt road that has a legal town street name, but it leads into the back of the property into a swamp. The named road continues on the other side of the swamp. We always tell people DO NOT GOOGLE IT! USE OUR DIRECTIONS! But invariably someone relies on Google. It is particularly unfortunate when someone brings a big camper down the road...there is no room to turn around (it's much worse if they've already driven too far into the swamp).

[XemaSab]

6. Up in Trinity it'll direct you down dirt roads

that are fine in high summer, but unmaintained snow holes in winter.

[mn9driver]

7. I use Google maps. It plays similar tricks from time to time

It told me I would only add 20 minutes to my drive from Vegas to Tahoe if I detoured through Death Valley this past August. Luckily, I knew better and planned for the extra 4 1/2 hours it actually took.

[Chiyo-chichi]

8. Uh oh. I've seen this movie. Doesn't end well.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. Forget the iPhone...