Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter is set to compound Apple’s iOS 6 Maps woes after it was revealed the government minister has contacted the company, asking it to urgently reclassify Airfield Park in Dublin because it is labelled as an dedicated airport inside the app.
Irish iOS device owners spotted the error yesterday, highlighting that the 35-acre area in Dundrum sported an airport icon, when in fact it is home to a city farm, gardens and cafe.
Being part of his Dublin constituency, Justice Minister Alan Shatter contacted Apple and asked for the company assign a different label to Airfield Park just in case a pilot of a light aircraft would be fooled into thinking that they could make an emergency landing there.
Whether a pilot would be able to actually use their phone remains to be seen, but it has Ireland’s Justice Minister worried.
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The same area on Google Maps:
Shatter believes that the icon could be changed to state the location is farmland or a plant nursery:
“In context of Airfield there are a variety of possible alternative images that could be utilised such as a cow, a goat, a sheep, a flower or any indeed other type of plant, as Airfield operates a nursery,” Mr Shatter said. “An aircraft is an entirely inappropriate flight of imagination.”
The slip-up has already made its way to the social media team at Dublin Airport and was quick to share on Twitter that it isn’t “moving to the southside.”
Just in case anybody is confused @dublinairport is not moving to the southside. #mapfail ow.ly/dQWq1
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) September 20, 2012
Many iOS device owners have voiced their displeasure at the state of Apple’s new Maps app, which dropped support for Google’s service in favour of its own. Apple’s maps are powered in part by satellite navigation specialists TomTom, but the full extent of its partnership is unknown.
Apple has a lot of work to do with its new service, but the company appears to be relying on usage of iOS device owners to build a better understanding of locations and landmarks near them. Many countries remain without a through maps coverage and turn-by-turn directions are said to be inaccurate at this early stage.
Users are encouraged to submit issues via the app directly but many are waiting for Google to release its own native iOS app.
Image Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
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