Backlash against Apple's 'disastrous' new Maps app

Apple fans have reacted angrily to the new Maps application in the version of iPhone's operating system released today.

Users have complained that the app offers far fewer landmarks than Google Maps, which was available on iPhone until today.

Others claim that the new maps, made by Apple in collaboration with TomTom, have moved recognisable landmarks, and offer far less detail.

Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter contacted the Californian technology giant to demand that it remove a marking for an airfield from Dublin's Airfield Park in case confused pilots crashed their aircraft.

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British technology news site The Register posted a detailed complaint from users including one user who claimed, 'Rural A roads and smaller aren't numbered. They're not even named correctly. Only dual carriageways get proper numbers.

'There are also really bad, really obvious mistakes. One village near me is in completely the wrong place. If you try to route to it you - quite literally - end up half way up a hill in the middle of nowhere.'

Technology sites such as Pocket-Lint have published guides for frustrated users on how to get round Apple's new maps and use Google's instead.

The new Maps app will come as standard on iPhone 5.

Technology site Mashable described the new maps as 'awful', while Techcrunch described them as a 'disaster'.

The Guardian posted a list of errors from the App, showing how its 3D view mislabelled buildings and even moved landmarks.

Phone users flocked to social networks to complain about the new app, which rolled out this morning.

One Twitter user said, 'Dear Apple can we please have our Google Maps back? Your maps are completely useless!'

Another Twitter user said, 'People shouldn't slag off Apple's Maps. I left my house in NZ to find a deli, and now I have a lovely new life in London!'

Viz Magazine's Top Tips chimed in with its own helpful advice: 'Relive the pioneering spirit of Columbus and Raleigh by using Apple's new maps app to get around.'