The City of Cape Town has requested a meeting with Apple to discuss changing map routes on their Maps app to prevent users from driving through crime hotspots.
Apple has not yet responded.
This comes after Google Maps removed a route from its system that has led tourists into Nyanga – a spot notorious for shootings and muggings.
Also read: Google Maps and Waze to stop directing commuters through Nyanga
According to News24, Google South Africa director Alistair Mokoena confirmed that they carried out the solution to avoid routes through crime hotspots for trips to Simon’s Town or Muizenberg from the airport.
‘We have reached out to Apple, but we haven’t even got an answer. It took us a heck of a long time to get a confirmed sit-down with Google. These multi-nationals are hard to get a hold of,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis in an interview with News24.
‘We haven’t got a confirmed sit-down with Apple, but we will keep trying.’
The move to avoid certain routes on mapping platforms comes after two international visitors have been shot in Nyanga en-route from the airport in recent months.
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American tourist Walter Fischel was shot in the face and mugged after driving into Nyanga. He has now been discharged from hospital.
The City also met with a team from Waze as well as car rental companies to talk about rerouting vehicles on their mapping platforms.
Hill-Lewis said that the City has been using data to pinpoint areas in Cape Town that are crime hot-spots, taking this information to maps service providers.
‘Our tourism team has collated a list from the crime stats. It will essentially be data-led. It will be the areas with the highest number of incidents.’
Hill-Lewis specified that it was not necessary to figure out rerouting with e-hailing companies such as Bolt or Uber, as local drivers generally know to avoid crime hotspots.
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‘The drivers are actually pretty clued up and they make their own decisions, so that’s pretty much sorted.’
Hill-Lewis also spoke on the recent spike in crime, saying ‘There is a pretty clear reason for this uptick in muggings and incidents. A large proportion of it is repeat offenders who were released on the early parole system in September. It’s really damaging. We have just seen a spike since then.’
The City will be deploying extra law enforcement resources this festive season.
Also read:
DA insists on oversight visit to assault scene despite CPUT’s resistance
Picture: Laurenz Heymann / Unsplash