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Microsoft can't tell North from South on Bing Maps

City of Melbourne, population four million, placed in the wrong hemisphere

Microsoft has misplaced Melbourne, the four-million-inhabitant capital of the Australian State of Victoria.

A search on Bing Maps for “Melbourne, Victoria, Australia” says the city is at 37.813610, 144.963100 which we've screen-captured above (or here for those reading our mobile site).

The co-ordinates are right save for one important detail: Melbourne is at 37.8136° South. Bing's therefore put it in the wrong hemisphere.

The Register's Australian outpost has tried searching for a few other major cities in Victoria and beyond and believes this is an isolated and probably-fat-fingered error.

If you know better, hit the comments.

Bing's not alone in finding Australia hard to navigate: in 2012 police warned not to use Apple Maps as it directed those seeking the rural Victorian town of Mildura into the middle of a desert. Apple Maps also sent those looking for the remote city of Mount Isa to an even less hospitable and more remote part of Australia's great inland deserts. ®

Hat-tip to reader James M who spotted the SNAFU.

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