The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system landed at 6pm UK time last evening and unlike last year there were few reports of difficulty with the download and installation.
There were, however, lots of complaints about iO6′s most heralded new feature, Maps. Apple replaced Google Maps on the iPhone and iPad with its own version, put together with the help of a handful of acquired companies and a patchwork of mapping data services around the work. The result, sadly, is a mess.
While users in large American cities noticed barely any difference, other than the welcome addition of 3D flyovers and turn-by-turn navigation, the rest of us have to put up with poor quality, often unrecognisable, satellite imagery and significant location errors.
Brighton and Stafford are so blurred it’s difficult to separate fields from roads, the Statue of Liberty has disappeared, and the Washington Monument has gone walkabout.
Irish Justice minister, Alan Shatter issued a statement voicing concern that a 35-acre estate called Airfield in his constituency had been wrongly designated an airport by Apple. ‘Clearly the designation is not only wrong but is dangerously misleading,’ said Shatter. ‘I have arranged that Apple be informed of the error and requested that it be urgently corrected.’
Gathering data and creating maps is a hugely expensive and complex task. And while Apple has spent five years creating Maps, it clearly has a great deal more work to do. On the plus side, the 3D flyovers in major cities are very impressive, as you can see from the image of Canary Wharf below.
