An airport in Alaska gas to close an aircraft access route and erect barricades because Apple's Maps app directed drivers across an actively used runway.
Fairbanks International Airport witnessed two incidents where drivers had driven along a taxiway and across a runway. It turns out the Apple Maps app on their devices had indicated that was a correct route to take.
Through the attorney general's office, the airport contacted Apple about the problem a couple of weeks ago, asking that they disable the service in the area.
"We asked them to disable the map for Fairbanks until they could correct it, thinking it would be better to have nothing show up than to take the chance that one more person would do this," Melissa Osborn, chief of operations at the airport, told Alaska Dispatch.
Apple has since changed their system to provide a message of "not available" rather than display the earlier route.
This is not the first time that the Maps app has been criticized on safety grounds. Australian police branded it "life threatening" after motorists were stranded in a national park after getting the wrong directions to Mildura, Victoria.
Through the attorney general's office, the airport contacted Apple about the problem a couple of weeks ago, asking that they disable the service in the area.
"We asked them to disable the map for Fairbanks until they could correct it, thinking it would be better to have nothing show up than to take the chance that one more person would do this," Melissa Osborn, chief of operations at the airport, told Alaska Dispatch.
Apple has since changed their system to provide a message of "not available" rather than display the earlier route.
This is not the first time that the Maps app has been criticized on safety grounds. Australian police branded it "life threatening" after motorists were stranded in a national park after getting the wrong directions to Mildura, Victoria.
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