With finals week right around the corner, some students may turn to thoughts of their holiday vacation to help make it through their exams.

While some of you may be planning your trip away for the holidays, you and your family should be careful which map service to use to plan your winter break trip, especially if you have an iPhone.

After a string of incidents involving motorists stranded for more than 24 hours in a remote region, the state police of Victoria, Australia, have issued an official warning to people who rely on the map application included in Apple’s iOS6.

Following the calls of several travelers, police in Mildura, Australia have found that iOS6’s map system may lead people nearly 43 miles astray. The wayward navigation guidance software has stranded at least six motorists in the middle of Australia’s Murray Sunset Park, 3,000 square miles of desert; some were stranded for more than 24 hours.

To complicate matters, cell phone reception in the area is sparse, forcing the trapped victims to walk several hours without shade, food or water in temperatures up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit to call for help.

This is not the first time Apple Maps has been under fire for its accuracy and reliability. Problems have plagued the system since its launch. Earlier this year, the navigation guide accidentally revealed the location of a Taiwanese top-secret military defense base.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was forced recently to issue a public apology on its website for the instabilities of the application and fired several executives involved in its creation.

As a result, iPhone users have been keen to switch map programs, with many following the development and release of alternatives provided by Nokia and Google.

However, if you do make the eventual switch to either of these choices, you should still exercise caution when traveling to a location you have never visited. A large reason for Apple Maps’ problems is the fact that Apple switched from Google’s mapping data to its own, essentially throwing away Google Maps’ seven years of complication and refinement.

While people were quick to criticize iOS6’s mapping application for its inaccuracies, they forget that, in its initial stages, Google Maps also had problems, especially in more sparsely populated areas. However, through user feedback and constant updates, Google Maps has become the reliable navigation guide it is today.

So, whether you choose the map program on your smart phone or a standalone GPS to navigate this winter, there are many options to choose from. Some include Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo! Maps and MapQuest, so you will be able to make sure you know exactly where you are going.

This knowledge will also help you keep your eyes on the road instead of on your GPS or phone, which will also help you realize earlier when instead of seeing the city you were expecting, you see only miles of desert.

Brian is a junior in Engineering. He can be reached at brianyu1@readtechno.