Important Notice:
We regret to inform you that our free phpBB forum hosting service will be discontinued by the end of June 30, 2024.
If you wish to migrate to our paid hosting service, please contact billing@hostonnet.com.
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
shivendrashukla
Member
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 1354
Location: Mumbai, India
|
 Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:54 pm Post subject: Apple Maps flaw results in drivers crossing airport runway |
 |
|
| Quote: | An Alaskan airport has closed an aircraft access route because of a flaw with Apple's Maps app.
Fairbanks International Airport told a local newspaper that in the past three weeks two motorists had driven along the taxiway and across one of its runways.
Apple's app directs users along the taxiway but does not specifically tell them to drive on to the runway.
A spokesman for Apple was unable to provide comment.
The airport said it had complained to the phone-maker through the local attorney general's office.
"We asked them to disable the map for Fairbanks until they could correct it, thinking it would be better to have nothing show up than to take the chance that one more person would do this," Melissa Osborn, chief of operations at the airport, told the Alaska Dispatch newspaper.
She added that barricades had since been erected to block access to the final stretch of the taxiway and that they would not be removed until Apple had updated its directions.
Google Maps
The Google Maps app sends drivers on a different route
The airport said it had been told the problem would be fixed by Wednesday.
However the BBC still experienced the issue when it tested the app, asking for directions to the site from a property to the east of the airport.
By contrast the Google Maps app provided a different, longer route which takes drivers to the property's car park.
Warnings ignored
Apple faced criticism after it ditched Google's service as its default maps option last year.
Complaints of inaccuracies followed, including placing Dublin Airport about 17km (11 miles) away from its true location after apparently confusing the site with a farm named Airfield.
The Australian police went so far as to warn that Apple's software was "life threatening" after motorists became stranded in a national park after being given the wrong directions to the city of Mildura, Victoria.
Chief executive Tim Cook posted a letter to the firm's website apologising for the "frustration" caused and promised "we are doing everything we can to make Maps better".
The company has since taken over several other mapping software developers including Locationary, Hopstop and Embark.
Reviews of its latest operating system, iOS 7, noted that its Maps product had improved, with the Guardian newspaper reporting that Apple's "POI (points of interest) database is getting better".
Apple Maps app
Barricades now prevent drivers following Apple's directions
However, the latest mishap indicates problems remain.
Fairbanks Airport said the drivers involved in the 6 September and 20 September incidents had both been from out of town and had ignored signposts warning them that they should not be driving along the taxiway.
"They must have been persistent," the airport's assistant manager Angie Spear told the BBC.
"They had to enter the airport property via a motion-activated gate, and afterwards there are many signs, lights and painted markings, first warning that aircraft may share the road and then that drivers should not be there at all.
"They needed to drive over a mile with all this before reaching the runway. But the drivers disregarded all that because they were following the directions given on their iPhones."
The runway the motorists crossed was used by 737 jets among other aircraft. No one was injured.
"All these types of mapping software have flaws but the problem for Apple is that because it's such a high-profile brand, it gets a lot of attention," said Neil McCartney from the McCartney Media and Telecoms consultancy.
"It's very important for a company in that sort of situation to acknowledge a problem when it is reported and then put it right as fast as possible."
Nick Dillon, senior device analyst at research house Ovum, added that Fairbanks Airport's complaint illustrated how hard the mapping business was to get right.
"With Apple Maps the firm has made a rare misstep by releasing a product which has not lived up to its own high standards.
"Apple evidently did not fully grasp the complexity involved in deploying a mapping service and its continuing woes show that it is not an easy thing to fix."
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24246646 |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Nimish
Member
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 9757
Location: Bangalore, India
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This is the type of error that I would love on my maps! Imagine finding a route to drive across the BLR runway 
_________________
We miss you Nalini! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The_Goat
Member
Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 3260
Location: South of France
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
This can never happen in India or in other countries where strict fences and walls exist around airports.
So much for American airport security!
_________________
I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
sabya99
Member
Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 1399
Location: New Jersey/CCU
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 4:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, very few people live in Alaska. People land turbo aircrafts on highways, school play grounds, frozen and liquid lakes. But this is not possible in a regular state.
_________________
Sabya99 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The_Goat
Member
Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 3260
Location: South of France
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sabya99 wrote: | | Yes, very few people live in Alaska. People land turbo aircrafts on highways, school play grounds, frozen and liquid lakes. But this is not possible in a regular state. |
The incident happened at Fairbanks Intl, which is not exactly a gravel strip in the middle of nowhere.
It is a major airport, which gets regular flights with fairly large aircraft (Boeing 738s, DC-6 etc). It is also used by the USAF.
It is very worrying that public vehicular traffic could come onto the ramp unchecked in a major airport like this, particularly in a country like the USA which is a target for a number of people. Anything could have happened.
_________________
I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
HAWK21M
Member
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 8132
Location: Mumbai, INDIA
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Surprisingly no barricade and checkpost
_________________
Think of the Brighter side !!! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
