Apple’s new mapping software has Senkakus for everyone!

Apple has promised that the much-derided mapping software on its new iOS6 mobile operating system will improve soon, the BBC reports: The BBC received a lot of complaints about Apple’s maps, with users saying that some towns, such as Stratford Upon Avon, were missing and others were in the wrong place. In addition some places, ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
623949_120921_islands.png
623949_120921_islands.png

Apple has promised that the much-derided mapping software on its new iOS6 mobile operating system will improve soon, the BBC reports:

Apple has promised that the much-derided mapping software on its new iOS6 mobile operating system will improve soon, the BBC reports:

The BBC received a lot of complaints about Apple’s maps, with users saying that some towns, such as Stratford Upon Avon, were missing and others were in the wrong place.

In addition some places, including a train station, were shown to be in the ocean and many others were wrongly labelled.

Before the release of the iOS6, Apple’s updated mobile operating system, many developers had warned about the poor quality of the mapping app. It was particularly poor, they said, at finding local businesses via search.

The most geopolitically significant of the map’s glitches may be its depiction of the Senkaku/Diaoyu/Diaoyutai islands, which have been in the news a bit over the past two weeks. As the China Digital Times‘  Samuel Wade noticed, the maps very diplomatically created twice as many of the disputed rocks:

Problem solved. As Oprah would say, “You get an island! You get an island!”

See here for a collection of more particularly noteworthy mapping fails

Via TPM and TechinAsia

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: War

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.

The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy

Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.

The End of America’s Middle East

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.