This was in the news a few days ago, but I thought it might interest folks here.

http://globalnews.ca/news/863548/apple-maps-lead-2-drivers-onto-tarmac-at-alaska-airport/

Apparently an Apple Maps glitch had been sending people to the edge of the main runway at Fairbanks International Airport. One or two actually continued onto the tarmac.

This despite many posted signs and warnings. The final quote in the news article is telling: “All of these things were disregarded because people simply trusted their device more than they trusted what they were seeing,”

One should be cautious - I noticed two distinct errors in Goggle Earth's rendering of our local roads - in about five minutes inspection. One was fairly harmless, but not the other one.

Have you got anything such as a Fox News Sat Nav yet out there in the US or an equivalent to the Daily Telegraph Sat Nav in the UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xoqalylElE

google maps shows almost 3/4 mile of a road that does not actually exist inside one of the forest preserves I hike in regularly.

I highly doubt that since the airport is fenced and gated.

I highly doubt you read the article lol.

+1

The road in front of our house stops at the last curve. They have to know about the error because one of their camera cars has been out the road and I've reported it through the software.

I read it. Did you read my profile? IF it's true, this is a major security breach. And that should have been the story.

I agree, it's surprising. I can't speak to the veracity of the story except to note that the link I posted was an exact clone of the AP story that was widely reported in the U.S.

A couple of Alaska news outlets seem to carry related stories:
http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news...19bb30f31a.html
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20...airport-taxiway

I would note that I have no political interest or agenda here; to me it's just another example of people blindly trusting a shiny box when they should be looking out the windows and thinking for themselves.

If this story was false/exaggerated and there is a more accurate description of what happened, I would be pleased to see it (and quite relieved as well).

Basically, people are stupid. All these new high tech gadgets are just enabling this studity to manifest itself at higher and more visible levels.

I hope you will kindly note that what I posted, in its entirety, had certain diplomatic overtones. This is the Canuckian way.

Yes indeed, people are stupid. It's an unfortunately imprecise term. Referring specifically to myself, I find that I am sleepy, hurried, distracted, stressed, grumpy, caffeine-shy, etcetera bloody etcetera, within any 24-hour period you care to name. I'm trying to fulfill my obligations. People rely on me; and I rely on them. This is called civilization; it's built on trust. And this is why digital maps that land you at the edge of the runway of an international airport are a problem. It's not virtual or hypothetical, it's a breach of trust with real consequences; and because I am all of the things above, I might in a moment of stress or inattention ... make the wrong call.

But I would like to think that I would listen to my BS detector and look out the window, despite the shiny box.

Excellent point! To paraphrase a prominent American, some of the people are stupid all of the time, all of the people are stupid some of the time, but not all of the people are stupid all of the time (fortunately).

I would be curious to know if these foks who blundered were actually looking at a map or were they following verbal directions? I think going in "turn by" mode gives one tunnel vision with occasional unfortunate results. One the other hand, there are folks who cannot interpret even the simplest road map.