SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - An entire city is in the
ocean, a farm has been labeled as an airport, highways end in
the middle of nowhere and a hospital now covers the center of
British city Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace.
Welcome to the new world of Apple Maps that greeted iPhone
and iPad users when they downloaded the highly anticipated
update to the consumer giant's mobile software platform, iOS 6.
Apple Inc's home-grown Maps feature was introduced
with much fanfare in June by Apple's software chief Scott
Forstall and is a direct challenge to the same service offered
by ally-turned-rival Google Inc.
But the app is already facing criticism from users globally
for a number of geographical errors, missing information and
because it lacks features that made Google Maps so popular,
including public transit directions, comprehensive traffic data
or street view pictures.
Apple Maps has replaced Google Maps, which is no longer
available on iOS 6.
Many users who downloaded Apple's iOS 6 software, released
on Wednesday, took to Twitter and online forums to express their
frustration at the glitches.
"The people who thought the world was flat were more
accurate cartographers than Apple Maps," @RayneBradley said on
Twitter.
"Apple Maps also have errors in business listings. I went to
call a local taxi driver and it was a taxidermist (seriously),"
said @TomDavenport on Twitter.
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company launched the
new service knowing it was a major initiative.
"We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a
cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will
get," she said. "We're also working with developers to integrate
some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS
Maps."
"We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working
hard to make the customer experience even better," she added.
The criticism comes as Apple's iPhone 5 hits stores around
the globe. The iPhone 5 comes pre-loaded with the new iOS 6
software and Maps.
Users have created a Tumblr blog sarcastically dubbed "The
Amazing iOS 6 Maps" where many have posted screen shots of the
errors (ht tp://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/) . Pictures showed
the Norwegian town of Leknes in the Norwegian sea, the entire
city center of Stratford-upon-Avon is labeled as a hospital.
Some of the errors have even irked politicians. Irish
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said he was surprised to
discover that Airfield - a 35-acre estate with working farm and
café in center of his constituency in Dundrum, on the outskirts
of Dublin - has been labeled with the image of an aircraft.
He said this could be dangerous for pilots and suggested in
a statement that Apple use the image of "a cow, a goat, a sheep,
a flower" instead, and that an "aircraft is an entirely
inappropriate flight of imagination".
Users in Asia were surprised to see two sets of the disputed
islands known by Japan as the Senkaku and by China as the
Diaoyu. Some joked that this was Apple's effort at providing a
diplomatic solution to Japan and China, both of which claim the
islands.
NOT AN EASY FIX
New York city residents were unhappy that Apple maps doesn't
offer public transit directions, one of the most-used features
on Google Maps in cities.
"My phone should be able to tell me which bus and train to
take," said Kenan Ali, a Brooklyn, New York, resident who
exclusively uses public transport in the city and has been an
iPhone user since 2008. "I am hoping in the next update they
will somehow add transit directions."
Apple's map service comes with three-dimensional images of
cities called "Flyover" along with real-time traffic updates and
also turn-by-turn navigation, the last a feature that Google has
in Android devices but had not made available in Apple devices.
Apple licenses mapping data from vehicle navigation systems
maker TomTom. TomTom said it stands behind the quality
of its maps but didn't develop the app.
"During the process of turning mapping data into an app,
every manufacturer does it their own way," said TomTom
spokesperson Cem Cohen. "We are not part of that process. Apple
uses exactly the same maps as our other customers."
Cohen said TomTom hasn't talked to Apple about the issues.
While in theory it will be possible for Apple to update Maps
with a software fix, the problems appear to be "pretty profound
and pretty fundamental," said Marcus Thielking, co-founder of
Skobbler, maker of the popular GPS Navigation 2 app, built using
the crowdsourced OpenStreetMap platform.
"The question is really how much expertise do they have
in-house and what they sourced from third parties," Thielking
said, adding that Apple needed people with very specific skills
to fix it. "It's not their core competence," he added.
Google, for its part, did not say whether it would do a
Google Maps app for iOS 6. Users now have to access Google Maps
through the browser.
"Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who
wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating
system," the company said in a statement.
Apple shares closed down about 0.5 percent at $698.70 on
Thursday, a day after reaching an all-time high of $703.99. The
shares have gained over 20 percent in the past 3-1/2 months in
the build-up to the launch of the iPhone 5.