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The glorious glitches of Apple Maps

It seems as though every mapping service is bound to have its gremlins. One man is documenting the fascinating bugs in Apple Maps.

Michelle Starr
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
maps_1.jpg
1 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

Tricky roundabout, Stockholm

It seems as though every mapping service is bound to have its gremlins. One man is documenting the fascinating bugs in Apple Maps.

Apple Maps has improved in leaps and bounds since its shaky relaunch late last year, but that doesn't mean the app is completely bogey free.

In a series called "Map Glitches", Peder Norrby, founder of Trapcode, has been collecting some of the most interesting Apple Maps blunders he can find.

Glitches in maps such as these aren't uncommon. They occur when there's a misalignment between the 3D topography and the 2D satellite images, warping the landscape and making it appear as though it is either bubbling with eldritch cthonic energy or melting with apocalyptic heat.

Norrby's catalogue shows a world that looks like it's in the end of days. Roads warp and bend, cars melt into the pavement, foliage boils up the sides of buildings as though swallowing them whole. And yet, they're quite strangely beautiful.

And it's this that he is trying to document. Rather than making fun of Apple, he is collating a set of visuals he simply finds interesting, telling CoDesign, "I'm not trying to ridicule Apple Maps. I'm doing this because I like the images."

And, of course, Google Maps isn't without its own set of map whoopsies. Artist Clement Valla has been documenting its hilarious bugs since 2011 in Postcards from Google Earth.

Click through the gallery below for some of our favourites, or head to Norrby's Flickr page, Map Glitches, for the full set.

maps_2.jpg
2 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

Gröna Lund amusement park, Stockholm

maps_3.jpg
3 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

Trouble on the Strip

maps_4.jpg
4 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

The Drop, Stockholm

maps_5.jpg
5 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

Houses throwing up trees, Barcelona

maps_6.jpg
6 of 6 Image © 2012 Peder Norrby. Used with permission of Peder Norrby. All rights reserved.

Glitch in the docks

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