[roadkillrob]

Anyone else dislike them? Prior to 2014, if you turned on traffic, it would put a bunch of triangles in areas that had traffic showing where the traffic started and ended. On my 2014, it now no longer does that and when you turn on traffic on the map it colors all roads either green, yellow or red, but it makes all the roads 3 times wider to display the colors and is just a big mess in my book and not usable, so I leave it off. I have traffic icons turned on, but that just puts one icon on the section of road that has traffic, no indication of where on the road the traffic is.

Am I missing something or is this a so called upgrade?

Thanks

Rob

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

Anyone else dislike them? Prior to 2014, if you turned on traffic, it would put a bunch of triangles in areas that had traffic showing where the traffic started and ended. On my 2014, it now no longer does that and when you turn on traffic on the map it colors all roads either green, yellow or red, but it makes all the roads 3 times wider to display the colors and is just a big mess in my book and not usable, so I leave it off. I have traffic icons turned on, but that just puts one icon on the section of road that has traffic, no indication of where on the road the traffic is.

Am I missing something or is this a so called upgrade?

Thanks

Rob

I've fiddled with this alot over memorial day weekend roadtripping. I really got to know the '14 NAV display. What you see may be different based on the level of detail sent from your local traffic source.

So the red/yellow/green indicates traffic congestion. If you zoom the display in to some level (I want to say closer than 2.5 mi, but dont quote me on that), you will see little "warning signs" about either a wreck, or construction, or something like that.

Here's where it gets real neat though: when the nav is functioning (say, directing you to a location), traffic tightly integrates with the nav and displays. I had nav on and was driving up I-95 in Ft Lauderdale. Suddenly, I get a ding and a red exclamation on my HUD right in front of me with caption "TRAFFIC ACCIDENT". It went away after a short time, but remained on the kombi display. On nav display, the same icon was on the map, as well as a selectable icon on the side of the nav where you could get details on what is ahead. Sure enough, a couple miles up there was a crash on side of the road.

Also, if you select "dynamic routing" in nav, it will reroute you around heavy traffic. It has worked for me very nicely!

On my way home I had nav on again and there was a warning about road debris ahead. I real quick snapped a pic of what the indicator on the kombi looks like because, ya know, nothing is safer than grabbing a cell phone at 70 MPH when there is a traffic hazard ahead! (lol) It really gets your attention when this pops up on the HUD though!

If I'm not using nav and I just want to see how a road is, the red/yellow/green is good enough though as that is what I want to see, even if it makes the road "wider" on screen

I give it two thumbs up!

[climbbike]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

Anyone else dislike them? Prior to 2014, if you turned on traffic, it would put a bunch of triangles in areas that had traffic showing where the traffic started and ended. On my 2014, it now no longer does that and when you turn on traffic on the map it colors all roads either green, yellow or red, but it makes all the roads 3 times wider to display the colors and is just a big mess in my book and not usable, so I leave it off. I have traffic icons turned on, but that just puts one icon on the section of road that has traffic, no indication of where on the road the traffic is.

Am I missing something or is this a so called upgrade?

Thanks

Rob

I WISH my 2011 nav did that. I can't stand how it works with the triangles. I'd have to see exactly how they implemented it but it sounds like an improvement to me. Any chance you can post a photo?

[UKMS]

Was the "Dangerous Traffic Situation !" caused by the driver taking a photo of his dash while driving @ 70 MPH ?

[RichardBR]

Originally Posted by ukstevens

Was the "Dangerous Traffic Situation !" caused by the driver taking a photo of his dash while driving @ 70 MPH ?

Haha, that made my day

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by ukstevens

Was the "Dangerous Traffic Situation !" caused by the driver taking a photo of his dash while driving @ 70 MPH ?

Precisely!

[JSY]

Funny you mention this - I find the traffic info in my 2012 X3 to be of marginal use. The triangles only seem to go on if you have a destination, not when just driving free. Then, it only shows you the triangles for the road that you are on. Does this happen for all, or is it just me? I live near a number of highways and two of them can get me to the same destination and sometimes I want to see which one has less traffic. My Nav will only show me the traffic on the screen for the route it has decided for me (dynamic routing), even though both highways are visible on the screen. So, sometimes I exit to the other highway thinking that the other highway has no traffic since there are no triangles - and once I'm on THAT highway, after the Nav reroutes me - the triangles THEN show up to show that there is traffic on this highway as well.

Not sure if I explained it well, but I don't know if it's because I have dynamic Navigation on - but this is useless to me if I want to try another road.

Maybe since I have dynamic navigation on, it's only showing the road I'm on because it's deciding the best route for me??

[BMWrules7]

Originally Posted by roadkillrob

Anyone else dislike them? Prior to 2014, if you turned on traffic, it would put a bunch of triangles in areas that had traffic showing where the traffic started and ended. On my 2014, it now no longer does that and when you turn on traffic on the map it colors all roads either green, yellow or red, but it makes all the roads 3 times wider to display the colors and is just a big mess in my book and not usable, so I leave it off. I have traffic icons turned on, but that just puts one icon on the section of road that has traffic, no indication of where on the road the traffic is.

Am I missing something or is this a so called upgrade?

Thanks

Rob

Well, I love the newer navi.

Here is some advice:

1. Don't use dynamic routing. Why? With dynamic routing off, a message will pop up advising you of a traffic situation. Then you can decide if you want to take the detour. Plus, many times there is more than one option and you lose those options when you enable dynamic routing.

With dynamic routing on and voice instructions on, you will be told you are taking a different route, but you will have no control.

With dynamic routing on and voice instructions off you won't know what is going on or why.

Also, if your commute is over an hour, always turn the navigation on and set your destination immediately when you get in your car. This way the system has more time to advise you of a different route due to traffic.

Next, get into the habit of setting your destination and activating route guidance even if you know the way---every journey. Even though you know your way to work, the traffic management is brilliant. I have saved so much time by the system advising me of traffic situations.

Next, try to use trips in place of single destinations. Like on the morning, set a trip that contains both destinations to and from work. This way when you hop in your car coming home, you just click "go to next destination in my trip" and the system calculates your route and presents traffic.

The 2013-2014 NAV systems have transitioned from a device that navigates to a device that navigates based on traffic.

Finally, set your traffic map to a scale of 1 mile and you end up with a radar image of your region and this gives you a general overview of the traffic picture in your area.

[Teemo Panda]

Originally Posted by UKMS

Was the "Dangerous Traffic Situation !" caused by the driver taking a photo of his dash while driving @ 70 MPH ?

I was wondering about that too

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by Teemo Panda

I was wondering about that too

I guess you guys didn't catch my sarcasm of it probably not being the brightest thing in the world:

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

I real quick snapped a pic of what the indicator on the kombi looks like because, ya know, nothing is safer than grabbing a cell phone at 70 MPH when there is a traffic hazard ahead!

[liverman]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

I guess you guys didn't catch my sarcasm of it probably not being the brightest thing in the world:

And you maybe expected people on THIS board to cut you some slack?

I, too, find the nav system in my 2014 X3 to be very informative and useful.

All mapping devices have tradeoffs - content vs. clutter. From my perspective, the NBT systems manage this well with user settings and the zoom.

I am still learning the finer points and appreciate redaings others' tips and tricks. Thanks!

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by liverman

And you maybe expected people on THIS board to cut you some slack?

True I did wear nomex in anticipation of being flamed a little hehe

[JSY]

Originally Posted by BMWrules7

Well, I love the newer navi.

Here is some advice:

1. Don't use dynamic routing. Why? With dynamic routing off, a message will pop up advising you of a traffic situation. Then you can decide if you want to take the detour. Plus, many times there is more than one option and you lose those options when you enable dynamic routing.

This is only for the newer navi and not pre 2013, right? My late 2012 wouldn't have this would it... This would make it more useful to me. I always have the dynamic routing on but what you said above makes sense. I just assumed in my old version that it just meant that it would route and you'll never really know about traffic.