New Apple Maps A Bust

By Barbara E. Hernandez

| Thursday, Sep 20, 2012 | Updated 7:45 PM PDT

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Sociable via Apple Maps

The new iOS 6 map software shows a popular 35-acre working farm and cafe in Ireland as an airport, which one politician calls "dangerous."

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In the new Apple Maps, users are shown a museum in a river, an airport that's actually a farm and no public transit information. The maps are sometimes so wrong, the Irish Minister for Justice has called the new iOS 6 software "dangerous."

Apple announced in June that it would stop using the popular Google Maps, so it began creating its own system of maps based on data from TomTom, according to the BBC. But inaccurate mapping and excluded cities and towns aren't making users happy.

Those 10 million or so that pre-ordered the iPhone 5 will be forced to use the new mapping system and will have a rude awakening if they are used to Google Street View or even something as simple as public transit information.

Some of the complaints to the BBC:

Satellite images of various locations, particularly in Scotland, are obscured by cloud.
A search for Manchester United Football Club directs users to Sale United Football Club, a community team for ages five and above.
Users also reported missing local places, such as schools, or strange locations. One screenshot showed a furniture museum located in a river.

According to the Sociable, Ireland's Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has also called the maps dangerous:

“I am surprised to discover that Airfield [a 35-acre working farm] . . . has been designated with the image of an aircraft. . . . 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.”

Shatter has a point. While Apple creating its own maps systems might have seemed like a great idea in theory (edge out Google from its iOS) it also meant that Apple had to learn about mapping from the ground up.

That means starting at square one with only raw data and then cultivate that data into something people want and need. So far, Apple's application is nowhere near Google Maps and likely won't be for a while.