Apple takes Yorkshire off the map - but adds non-existent Irish airport

The iPhone 5, which is thinner and lighter than previous models and can use the newly-announced 4G network, is on sale from Friday morning priced between £529 and £699.

But its new operating software, released to other Apple devices on Wednesday night, has already drawn criticism for a new mapping system which mistook a city farm in Ireland for an airport and which excludes the whole of Yorkshire from a heavily-promoted bird’s-eye “flyover” view.

London, Birmingham and Manchester feature the new 3D views, which replace the previous Google Street View maps, but Leeds, Sheffield and Hull are excluded. York fares worse still, with only half the city centre covered by detailed aerial photographs.

Meanwhile, a 35-acre Irish farm called Airfield was inappropriately marked with the international airport symbol, and testers reported London’s Paddington Station and Helsinki Railway Station missing.

Users took to Twitter yesterday to mock the new maps, which have been introduced following the ending of an agreement between Apple and Google. But orders for the new phone remain high, with Apple saying demand was so great many customers would not get them until October.

The new phone, which has a screen half an inch bigger than previous versions, is capable of transmitting on 4G networks at speeds up to five times faster than 3G, but at increased cost. Leeds, Hull and Sheffield are due to get the service before the end of the year on the Everything Everywhere network, with more coverage promised next year.