Say what you want about Apple Maps — I know I have — but getting about using it is a right sight better than what I have just been through.
I have been out at an event that you’ll hear and see a lot about tomorrow morning on Giz. This event was in Western Sydney at a place called the Sydney Motor Sport Park. I live in Mascot, which means I had a 45-minute drive out to the event on my hands this morning. I nervously punched the address into my Apple Maps and got on my way. I arrived a few minutes late, but there were no major incidents to report. Sure, I was told to turn right illegally at one stage but it’s what I have come to expect.
In case you aren’t a Sydneysider, our roads are the most hateful places imaginable, so I left the track at 3pm hoping to beat rush hour. I went to punch the return trip into my iPhone when I realised my battery had died throughout the day. That’s what I get for not charging up, I guess. “No matter,” I thought to myself. I can make it home using my mad-brain skills.
How wrong I was.
I have just returned home, two and a half hours after I left the track for what was supposed to be a 45-minute trip. On the way, I got lost four times after taking the wrong exits, and at one stage I even managed to start heading in the opposite direction because of a stray turn into the wrong merging lane.
My car used significantly more petrol than it should have and the hairs on my head are considerably greyer than they used to be. All because I relied on my botched intuition rather than my botched mapping app.
So again, say what you like about Apple Maps — because I’m sure that despite this I will continue to — but at least it points you vaguely in the right direction.
Anyone want a lift?