Comes after Australian police issue warn about Apple Maps.
After Australian police warned motorists not to rely on Apple Maps, authorities have issued a similar warning pertaining to Google Maps.
Police in Colac, which is a town west of Melbourne, stressed that Google Maps has created "a significant safety issue for tourists [and] locals" within the Great Ocean Road. The service apparently suggests users to drive down a one-way road that hasn't been built for heavy traffic, so says a police sergeant.
Tour buses in particular utilizing Wild Dog Road are in danger of being driven off the road, Sgt. Nick Buenen explained to ABC.
A Google spokesperson, however, stated that Google Maps directs drivers towards Wild Dog Road only if the driver searches for a destination located on said road. For directions to other nearby locations, meanwhile, Google Maps routes drivers onto Forrest-Apollo Bay Road/Skenes Creek Road.
The police warning comes after a warning regarding Apple Maps, which is said to have incorrectly told users that the town of Mildura was located in the middle of Murray Sunset National Park, 70 kilometers from its location. A number of motorists were left stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water.
Following widespread speculation regarding its return after it was removed from iOS 6, Google recently launched a standalone Maps app onto the App Store.
Plus.. Google routes around the road unless the destination is on the road so what gives?
Talk about a crazy recycled article.
Google, unlike Apple, allows users to correct its maps directly, which the police in this town could have also done.
http://www.google.com/mapmaker?iwloc=0_0&gw=39&fid=7697557127263001591:1370635407124378208&dtab=moderate&ll=-38.727271,143.678813&spn=0.015702,0.029612&z=15&lyt=large_map&hyaw=118.97920636857424
On the other hand, shouldn't these tourists have thought that this town's (errant) existence in the middle of nowhere was a little strange? Or, when they arrive at the "destination" and see there's nothing there, shouldn't they have thought to turn back?
So while the Maps servers should be automatically sanity-checking results (like flagging towns appearing in no-town areas), shouldn't the tourists themselves be doing that also?
For instance, my GPS unit tried to route me down a one-way/no-way street in some city, but I didn't drive that way because there were signs and the road was blocked off- I'm not trusting the GPS in the way that the Roadrunner trusts Wile E. Coyote's paintings on the side of the mountain.
But why are these people willingly driving down this road? Is it just Google's/Apple's fault?
Shouldn't there be, well, road signs? Granted, this is Australia, but if they can afford to put out press releases they can at least afford some distance (or in this case, one-way) signs.
a stupid is, a stupid does.
You could always use, well.... your BRAIN. /retards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIakZtDmMgo
Well, where have I been all this time. Road is singing now?
You can't trust what cops say, most aren't too bright.