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      01-08-2012, 04:37 PM   #1
jbinbi
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first use of navigation, some help please

Pretty experienced user of navigation from 2 other cars, 2004 honda, 2007 honda, and 2 garmins. But trying to figure out this unit

I have my screen set to split: left side is map, right side is street name, lat/lon etc.

1. After I set a route for guidance, how do I see what it is in text (e.g., make left onto rt1, go 3 mi, enter rt 95s, go 15 mi, exit 8, etc.) I can't see how to get this info.

2. I have Guidance with sound on. However, every exit i passed on highway, it said, 'fork ahead, stay left. I don't need to be reminded not to take each exit, but rather just tell me to take the exit i am supposed to. anyway to modify this?

3. besides telling me to stay left at each exit, it was way too loud. I read that I can turn down volume while it is speaking to me. but it doesn't speak long enough for me to turn it down enough! Is there a way to set this ahead of time. Also, will it keep the volume at the level already set? And finally, shouldn't the volume be speed dependent?

4. The map scale shows me what when it says 800',1/4mi, 1/2mi, etc. On my other systems, this was the size of the circle showing the car. Is it the same on the BMW?

5. I want to have traffic info shown on the map, like google maps. In the manual it states this is possible when i have show traffic to 'on' which i do. I didn't see this. Also, does the map display have to be set to 'gray', not day or night or automatic?

6. Anyway to set brightness/contrast of map?

7. Who navi system does bmw oem?

Thanks for any answers.
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      01-08-2012, 06:01 PM   #2
April1
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Every Nav system is different and one needs to get used to it to like it. No doubt BMW Nav is not the best. Now to your questions:

1. When on the Nav screen with the guidance set to a destination, move your iDrive stick two times left, and pick up Route information. This is the text information you are looking for.

2. It doesn't warn you to be on left or right at every exit unless there are possibilities of your highway getting split into two separate destinations.

3. Best way to set the volume of the Nav is when you are about to leave. Set the destination on Nav and start the guidance, when you hear the voice, try to set the volume. You can do this also next time by setting guidance off and on, you will hear the voice again. Do this multiple times until you get the vol what you like. X3 has speed dependent volume setting for all voices and music, go to the common settings and do it.

4. Map shows you a number like 400' and also a scale bar below it. The size of the bar is equivalent to distance on the map, in this case its 400 feet for that one inch bar.

5. For seeing the traffic information you need to set two values, enable traffic information and set the type of the traffic information. Once this is set and you are on the Nav screen, move iDrive once to left and select triangle for traffic information. You will see the traffic information as well map on split screens. You can use the traffic information to guide you properly if you set the dynamic guidance on.

6. Set the screen brightness / contrast from general settings.

7. Nav maps are from Tele Atlas for US models.

Last edited by April1; 01-08-2012 at 06:15 PM..
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      01-08-2012, 07:14 PM   #3
jbinbi
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Many thanks for the quick reply. few more questions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alokbhargava View Post
Every Nav system is different and one needs to get used to it to like it. No doubt BMW Nav is not the best. Now to your questions:
agreed. i wouldn't purchase a car without nav these days, especially on a model like this, but i have found the pioneer nav systems on the honda to be really good!


Quote:
3. Best way to set the volume of the Nav is when you are about to leave. Set the destination on Nav and start the guidance, when you hear the voice, try to set the volume. You can do this also next time by setting guidance off and on, you will hear the voice again. Do this multiple times until you get the vol what you like. X3 has speed dependent volume setting for all voices and music, go to the common settings and do it.
Will it remember the voice volume, or do i need to do it every time?

Quote:
5. For seeing the traffic information you need to set two values, enable traffic information and set the type of the traffic information. Once this is set and you are on the Nav screen, move iDrive once to left and select triangle for traffic information. You will see the traffic information as well map on split screens. You can use the traffic information to guide you properly if you set the dynamic guidance on.
From the manual. pg 141...Is this not available?

Additional information in the map view
Depending on the map scale, a traffic obstruction's
length, direction, and impact are displayed
in the map using triangles or gray bars along the
calculated route.
▷ Red: congestion.
▷ Orange: stop-and-go traffic.
▷ Yellow: heavy traffic.
▷ Green: clear roads.
▷ Gray: general traffic bulletins, e.g., construction
site.
The displayed information depends on
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      01-08-2012, 07:32 PM   #4
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That last bit is the "gray" traffic map. On the "non-gray" map it will also show icons for "events" like accidents, congestion, atypical lane closures, road closures, and the like (assuming you haven't disable any of them). On the "non-gray" map, you get those icons and then grey triangles along the side of congested roadways.

When driving in a trafficy area that's new to me I have the regular map on the left zoomed in, and then the "gray" map on the right zoomed out further. That works well for me to get immediate info on the left side and global info on the right. The right still goes to exit info as needed if a nav route is set.
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      01-08-2012, 09:42 PM   #5
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Yes it retains the set volume level.

All the features given in the manual are available, optional features are marked with a bold * symbol.
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      01-09-2012, 06:45 PM   #6
jbinbi
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thanks. drove downtown this morning. Got to see traffic in action;-(

was good, showed me triangles along route, even without gray map enabled. i don't like the contrast of 'gray' map, so was happy with this.
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