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dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
Mon Dec 10, 2012, 07:32 AM Dec 2012

Apple Maps could be life-threatening, Australian police warn

Using Apple's new maps system could be potentially life-threatening, police in Mildura, Australia, have warned, after a number of people trying to find the town of 30,000 people have become hopelessly lost in scorching temperatures.

One man was stranded for 24 hours last week in temperatures of up to 46 degrees centigrade, and at least three more have had to be rescued after following the directions given on Apple's new maps, which locate Mildura far from its actual position.

"We've had at least four documented cases," senior sargeant Stephen Phelan told the Guardian. "The map puts it at least 70 kilometres from where it should be. We have had people bogged down in sunset country."

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One man following the map on his phone had driven into the park at 6pm, three hours before it got dark, and then realised that he was nowhere near Mildura – but that to continue driving could get him stuck because of the quantity of sand. "The phone says Mildura is in the middle of the national park," Prime explained. The man was only rescued after he had been in the park for 24 hours.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/10/apple-maps-life-threatening-australian-police

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