Categories: Meme

That’s not an airport, it’s a farm – Irish Minister for Justice considers Apple’s iOS 6 Maps dangerous

Ireland’s Minister for Justice has a few concerns with Apple’s new iOS6 map application.  The main one being that iOS6’s new mapping app identifies Airfield Garden, a working farm in a residential area, as an actual airport.

Minister Alan Shatter described his confusion of the designation, saying;

“I am surprised to discover that Airfield, which is in the centre of my constituency in Dundrum, has, in Apple’s new operating system iOS 6 maps application, been designated with the image of an aircraft.

Airfield, a 35 acre estate with working farm, formal gardens and café is of course a famous and immensely popular, important local amenity. “

In a statement released today he warns that describing the location as an airport could be dangerous to pilots and locals, “Clearly the designation is not only wrong but is dangerously misleading in that it could result in a pilot, unfamiliar with the area,  in an emergency situation and without other available information, attempting a landing.”

Dundrum’s newest airport… according to Apple’s new Maps app

The Minister did offer some alternative icons for Apple, which his department is arranging contact with; such as “a cow, a goat, a sheep, a flower or any indeed other type of plant as Airfield operates a nursery.”

“An aircraft is an entirely inappropriate flight of imagination,” he added, with the pun probably intended.

The Minister will be happy to see that Google Maps uses a nice tree to identify the location.


View Larger Map

The location, which has its own website (@airfieldfarm | Facebook), is currently undergoing renovations and describes itself as “city farm and formal gardens situated on a thirty-five acre estate in Dublin.” The site’s objectives don’t list an airport as among its goals.

This isn’t the first time that mapping applications have made mistakes in Ireland; Google Maps still reports that U2’s scrapped tower is located in Dublin.

HT to thejournal.ie

Ajit Jain

Ajit Jain is marketing and sales head at Octal Info Solution, a leading iPhone app development company and offering platform to hire Android app developers for your own app development project. He is available to connect on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

View Comments

  • @Lessien That would be my first thought as a pilot in an emergency. Not my eyes, but my iPhone. (which is supposed to be powered off)

  • It wasn't a mapping blunder that caused U2's tower to appear it was because the developers registered it's existence on the map and didn't cancel it after it fell through !

  • It wasn't a mapping blunder that caused U2's tower to appear it was because the developers registered it's existence on the map and didn't cancel it after it fell through !

  • @Techmeme @pdscott if you know it's a farm & not an airport why are you, (A) searching for it and (B) apple bashing because of it ???

Share
Published by
Ajit Jain

Recent Posts

Horasis addresses global turbulence with assembly of influential leaders in São Paulo, Brazil this October

After many years of relative stability, it seems clear we are now in a period…

6 hours ago

A cyberattack or software update could trigger a robot insurgency: RAND

A future cyberattack or software update could trigger a robot insurgency, according to a report…

8 hours ago

Off the grid: the rise of mobile charging amidst the electric vehicle revolution

In its century-long history, the automotive industry has not undergone a revolution quite as significant…

9 hours ago

As demand for energy booms, Think Power Solutions appoints Daniel Helman as Chief Executive Officer

Across the U.S., the power industry has seen a massive spike in capital investments. In…

9 hours ago

Will AI take your job or just rewrite it? (Brains Byte Back Podcast)

The future of work is already here, and it's moving fast, particularly in the U.S.,…

11 hours ago

This AI Copilot Doesn’t Wait for Prompts — It Thinks Like a Hacker

Hey HackerNoon, it’s Kuwguap again. A while back, I wrote about building RAWPA, my AI…

5 days ago