|
People
queue up to buy Apple's iPhone 5 in Sydney in September 2012.
Australian police
have warned motorists about using the map system on new
Apple iPhones after
rescuing several people left stranded in the wilderness,
saying the errors
could prove deadly
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Australian
police Monday warned motorists about using the map system on new Apple iPhones
after rescuing several people left stranded in the wilderness, saying the
errors could prove deadly.
Victoria
state police said drivers were sent "off the beaten track" in recent
weeks while attempting to get to the inland town of Mildura, being directed
instead to the middle of a national park.
"Police
are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the park and
temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114 F), making this a
potentially life threatening issue," police said in a statement.
Authorities
said tests on the mapping system had confirmed that it lists Mildura, around
500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of Melbourne, as being in the heart of the
Murray Sunset National Park.
This is
about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from its actual location.
Six
motorists have been rescued in recent weeks from the park after following
directions on their Apple iPhones, some of them after being stranded for up to
24 hours without food or water.
Others had
walked long distances through dangerous terrain to get reception on their
phones.
"If it
was a 45-degree day, someone could actually die," Mildura's Local Area
Commander Inspector Simon Clemence told state broadcaster ABC.
"It's
quite a dangerous situation, so we would be calling for people not to use the
new Apple iPhone mapping system if they're travelling from South Australia to
Mildura."
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Photo
illustration of an Australian road sign. Six motorists have been rescued
in recent weeks in Australia after following directions on their new Apple
iPhones,
some of them after being stranded for up to 24 hours without food or
water
|
Apple was
not immediately reachable for comment on the issue.
In
September the company apologised for its glitch-ridden maps application in the
new operating system used by the iPhone 5 and urged customers to use rival
programmes while improvements were made.
The iconic
US firm developed its own mapping programme included in its new mobile iOS 6
operating system, and in doing so booted off Google Maps, which had been the
default programme for Apple devices.
But the new
system immediately drew scorn for omitting key landmarks and cities, failing to
identify correct locations and distorting views from its images.
Victoria
police said they had contacted Apple about the problem and they hoped it could
be rectified promptly. In the meantime, they asked motorists in the state to
rely on other forms of mapping.
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