So you have downloaded the new iOS6 and like a kid in the candy store, you are discovering the 200+ new features that Apple has promised us with this upgrade. Let us warn you in advance about the iPhone Maps though, at some point you are going to sorely miss Google Maps and throw up your hands in frustration with the new Apple one!
Yes, its that bad! Imagine JRT stations getting lost in the translations! Even basic searches for some locations run into problems due to translation errors. So either you get directed a totally different place or get ‘No Results Found.’ Try Rainbow Bridge and you will know what we mean!
Here are some funny ones though; Akishima, Tokyo’s suburb is labeled as Pachinko Gundam, a mishmash of the popular slot game and anime robot! Some geographic points in the coastal city of Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture can be read only in Korean. The biggest blooper of course is labeling Haneda Airport as Daio Paper Corp, Japan’s leading tissue maker. Try searching for Tokyo Tower or Hachiko; the former doesn’t figure in the search and the latter (a popular meeting spot in Tokyo’s Shibuya) shows up as a place in Aichi prefecture about 200 miles offsite!
Apple claims that the new Maps “changes the way you see the world.” It is surely taking the fluff out of the maps. Agreed they want to edge out Google, but Google Maps had support details like cafés convenience stores, hotels, parks, schools, restaurants and notable buildings around the palace. All this is missing in the Apple version. Steve Jobs would not have allowed this half-baked attempt at the cost of disappointing fanboys. I am assuming Apple will be out with an updated map soon; I hope they remember the maxim ‘First impression is the last impression’, the only thing Apple maps care about is giving us the nearest location to an Apple Store with in-depth product details; be careful boys!
[Via WSJ]