Apple Maps is such a poorly made app that it has really become life-threatening. A man in Australia was left stranded in scorching temperatures in the middle of nowhere after following Apple Maps direction while traveling in a national park.
Unfortunately for Tim Cook, Apple Maps is obviously the biggest fail the Silicon Valley company has ever made. Many have joked about it, but a man was close to death after entrusting his life in the hands of Apple’s app. The case has Australian police saying Apple Maps is “potentially a life-threatening issue”.
A man attempting to find the town of Mildura in Australia spent 24 hours stranded in scorching temperatures in the middle of nowhere after he got lost following Apple Maps’ directions. The app had Mildura located somewhere in the Murray-Sunset National Park, which is considerably farther than the town of 30,000 people.
But “the phone says Mildura is in the middle of the national park” where “there’s no water, and you can get bogged down in the sand. Temperatures go up to 46 degrees” said local reporter Toby Prime. Not to mention people stranded in these scorching temperatures (and obviously life-threatening) usually have to walk for miles before getting phone reception to call for help. Suddenly, Apple doesn’t seem such a reliable brand after all.
But this wasn’t the first case the Australian police was confronted with because of Apple Maps’ flaws. “We’ve had at least four documented cases” senior sergeant Stephen Phelan said. “The map puts it at least 70 kilometers (45 miles) from where it should be. We have had people bogged down in Sunset country” he added.
Although it’s been a while since the release of Apple Maps and then the official apology issued by Tim Cook over it, there’s still no explanation why the app has such a poor performance. Apple purchases its maps from reputable providers, such as TomTom, but there is no sign the problem is with the suppliers’ information. Apple might have the strongest iOS version to break (still no iOS 6 jailbreak for iPhone 5 and 4S), but it failed miserably with Apple Maps.