It wouldn’t be a proper PR fail without the requisite Downfall parody.Īnother facet of imperfection is the currency of map data. This is even the case when the coordinate positions encoded in the underlying map data and generated by my GPS contain quite substantial errors (low positional accuracy). Using a process called map matching, today’s navigation systems can reliably identify which road my vehicle is driving on and which intersection comes next (high topological accuracy). Perhaps surprisingly, data that is topologically accurate need not be positionally accurate (nor vice versa). Map data may be topologically inaccurate (if the map says I can turn right at the next intersection, can I actually turn right?) or positionally inaccurate (do things appear at their correct geographic coordinates?). In addition to TomTom data, Apple Maps combines data from more than a dozen other suppliers – for instance, geographic data about points of interest is supplied by Yelp. Apple Maps has drawn criticism for incorrect positioning of local businesses.Īnd imperfections are only magnified when data is combined from multiple sources.

The road to nowhere map