Fake Maps Leave Chinese On Wrong Road

Driving through Shanghai can be a challenge, what with the constant traffic jams and roads that seem to be eternally under construction. To help navigate the busy streets of China's largest city, many drivers have embraced GPS navigation systems. The systems rely on satellites to determine a vehicle's location. Using electronic maps, they then can show a driver which route to take. Unfortunately instead of helping plot the shortest course between two points, some of the devices are getting people lost. The reason? Some of them are based on counterfeit electronic maps. The Shanghai Daily reports that the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping granted eight companies certificates allowing them to produce electronic navigation maps. In order to save money, some of the producers of the GPS devices used counterfeit maps instead of the official ones. It is believed that there are now more fake maps than legal ones.

Complete article from BBC News.