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Apple Maps flaw results in drivers crossing airport runway

20 points by ximeng 13y ago

Terretta 13y ago
It's a problem for paper maps too. From Tufte forums, “Airport maps and runway incursions”: http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002NW http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...
- Someone 13y ago
  From what I see there, that is about runway incursions by _planes_ that shouldn't be there. For example, with parallel runways, a pilot might take a turn onto the wrong one.
  - Terretta 13y ago
    “Vehicle Driver Error - These are errors that involve a vehicle (repair truck for example) on the runway surface which are the fault of the vehicle driver.”
coin 13y ago
Why would the airport allow vehicles access to the runway? Why is this Apple's fault?
- wutbrodo 13y ago
  > Why is this Apple's fault? What? The airport deserves some of the blame for sure[1], but how is directing users onto an airport runway not put Apple at fault? If a maps app sends you driving up someone's driveway and through their property, would they not be at fault because it's physically accessible? In case you're a time traveler from the 90s, navigation apps generally are assumed to take you on legitimately navigable roadways, not physically accessible areas. [1]It's worth noting that the article mentions that the road to the runway was replete with warning signs: "They had to enter the airport property via a motion-activated gate, and afterwards there are many signs, lights and painted markings, first warning that aircraft may share the road and then that drivers should not be there at all. "They needed to drive over a mile with all this before reaching the runway. But the drivers disregarded all that because they were following the directions given on their iPhones." Presumably there was access to the runway for maintenance, etc. I agree that they should have had barricades et al up in the first place.
  - coin 13y ago
    If you drive off road and on to a runway, or drive up someone's driveway and through the property because a navigation app said so, then you shouldn't be driving at all. A driver is responsible for their driving actions regardless of what a map app tells them.
    - coherentpony 13y ago
      It is the driver's fault for driving across a runway and not using an ounce of common sense. That said, there's clearly a bug in Apple's Maps app here, too.
jrnichols 13y ago
For some reason, I'm thinking that this would have never made the news if it was just from a TomTom or Google Maps. The good news: Apple is fixing it. The other news: An airport in Fairbanks seems to have a physical security issue.

20 points by ximeng 13y ago

It's a problem for paper maps too. From Tufte forums, “Airport maps and runway incursions”: http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002NW http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...

Someone 13y ago
From what I see there, that is about runway incursions by _planes_ that shouldn't be there. For example, with parallel runways, a pilot might take a turn onto the wrong one.
- Terretta 13y ago
  “Vehicle Driver Error - These are errors that involve a vehicle (repair truck for example) on the runway surface which are the fault of the vehicle driver.”

coin 13y ago

Why would the airport allow vehicles access to the runway? Why is this Apple's fault?

wutbrodo 13y ago
> Why is this Apple's fault? What? The airport deserves some of the blame for sure[1], but how is directing users onto an airport runway not put Apple at fault? If a maps app sends you driving up someone's driveway and through their property, would they not be at fault because it's physically accessible? In case you're a time traveler from the 90s, navigation apps generally are assumed to take you on legitimately navigable roadways, not physically accessible areas. [1]It's worth noting that the article mentions that the road to the runway was replete with warning signs: "They had to enter the airport property via a motion-activated gate, and afterwards there are many signs, lights and painted markings, first warning that aircraft may share the road and then that drivers should not be there at all. "They needed to drive over a mile with all this before reaching the runway. But the drivers disregarded all that because they were following the directions given on their iPhones." Presumably there was access to the runway for maintenance, etc. I agree that they should have had barricades et al up in the first place.
- coin 13y ago
  If you drive off road and on to a runway, or drive up someone's driveway and through the property because a navigation app said so, then you shouldn't be driving at all. A driver is responsible for their driving actions regardless of what a map app tells them.
  - coherentpony 13y ago
    It is the driver's fault for driving across a runway and not using an ounce of common sense. That said, there's clearly a bug in Apple's Maps app here, too.

jrnichols 13y ago

For some reason, I'm thinking that this would have never made the news if it was just from a TomTom or Google Maps. The good news: Apple is fixing it. The other news: An airport in Fairbanks seems to have a physical security issue.