Apple fixes data bug stranding Aussies, but what about the rest of us?

Less than a day after Australian police issued a warning that drivers should avoid using iOS 6's new Maps app, Apple has fixed the error that stranded drivers in a national park. According to a report in The Register, the data error was reportedly due to a confusing entry in the Australian Gazetteer, which is considered an "authoritative" list of more than 300,000 place names and coordinates. That entry placed the town of Mildura in both its actual city location and the place where the motorists ended up. Apple had incorporated that data source into Maps, which is what led to further confusion.

iOS 6 Maps had put the town of Mildura about 70km away from its actual location into the middle of Murray Sunset National Park, with some drivers ending up stranded in the middle the nature preserve on a hot summer day with nary a cell signal to be found. Victoria police eventually issued a warning to the public to "be careful when relying on the mapping system" on iOS 6 after having rescued at least four of the lost motorists. Because of the police warning, the issue was quick to gain press coverage, further embarrassing Apple over its already shaky reputation with the new version of Maps.

To Apple's credit, the fix came quickly for those Australian drivers looking for Mildura. But what about the other motorists around the globe who have ended up stranded in odd places with much less press coverage? I wrote in my original iOS 6 review that the new Maps dumped me off in the middle of a country highway in Wisconsin while I was on my way to a destination that was at least 10 miles away. Apple has yet to fix that problem. Since that review went up in September, I've received numerous e-mails and tweets from Ars readers claiming similar experiences with Maps in various parts of the world.

The "fault" for these incorrect locations may be due to third-party data, but Apple has chosen to put that data in front of users in a high-profile manner. As Red Sweater Software's Daniel Jalkut pointed out on Twitter, for all the problems Apple might have run into while working with Google on Maps, Google's data was nothing to sneeze at. Apple has serious challenges ahead if it wants to recover its reputation with Maps, and we may end up hearing more stories like the one about lost motorists in Mildura as more users get on board with the iPhone.