More post 4.90 update testing

Changing profiles and preferences can sometimes have a significant result on the route the device offers up.

Imagine a route A to B created on a computer in BaseCamp or Mapsource, using motorways in between. Send the same A to B route to a device that has its preferences set to avoid motorways. The device will do its best to join A to B, avoiding motorways.

Imagine the same A to B route but with a shaping of waypoint on a motorway. The device will do its best to avoid motorways but will route the rider along the motorway in order to satisfy the way or shaping point instruction.

So how can you guarantee that your nav always loads the route you’ve created on basecamp the same? You would need to have exactly the same map version I presume and the same preferences. It’s a shame you can’t just load a track and then convert it to a route on your nav, or can you? I could on my Montana.
 
So how can you guarantee that your nav always loads the route you’ve created on basecamp the same? You would need to have exactly the same map version I presume and the same preferences. It’s a shame you can’t just load a track and then convert it to a route on your nav, or can you? I could on my Montana.

As I said in an earlier post, I've not had the route deviate from the one I designed when I first select it in the Trip Planner. With enough shaping points, I've found that the device doesn't change the designed route irrespective of its settings. Issues may arise when the device needs to recalculate - this can occur if you deviate from the route, or exit navigation mid-route. In the three scenarios above I tried to replicate those situations so I could better understand how to prevent the device from doing any smart-routing of it own. It's a shame there's not a 'Never Calculate Route' option on the Nav6 where it would follow the Basecamp route only.
 
So how can you guarantee that your nav always loads the route you’ve created on basecamp the same? You would need to have exactly the same map version I presume and the same preferences.......


A. Make sure the maps are the same

B. Make sure the preference and mode (motorbike, probably) settings are the same

Two simple things to start with
 
A. Make sure the maps are the same

B. Make sure the preference and mode (motorbike, probably) settings are the same

Two simple things to start with

That’s what I think most of us do now, I don’t think many people use the the nav6 to find good roads to ride on.
 
It's a shame there's not a 'Never Calculate Route' option on the Nav6 where it would follow the Basecamp route only.

There is, surely?

You have worked out that a route created in Mapsource / BaseCamp can be exported to the Garmin device, which will display and run it faultlessly. If you never deviate from that route, it’ll never need recalculating.

It’s only when the rider leaves the route for whatever reason(s) that a recalculation might be necessary, but:

1. Automatic route recalculation can be turned off; no recalculation will occur

2. Recalculation can be set up to be prompted, yes or no. If the rider chooses ‘no’, then no recalculation will occur
 
That’s what I think most of us do now, I don’t think many people use the the nav6 to find good roads to ride on.

On the contrary, I think a lot of riders use the latest Garmin (and TomTom) devices to tell them ‘great twisty / windy / hilly roads, no motorways’ between A and B. It’s why Garmin / TomTom introduced the feature into their devices, along with ‘Tell me a circular route, starting and ending from where I am now, no more than (insert time / distance)’ options.

There are lots of reports on these pages where riders have ‘discovered’ great roads that they’d “Never have found” when they simply ask their device to take them from A to B, perfectly happy that - if they deviate from the device generated route - the device will always recalculate for them, meaning that they’ll always arrive at point B. It’s not new, it’s been going on for years. These people have no interest at all in plotting their own routes and probably never will. They want to be told, either by a device (which now also acts as an home entertainment centre, playing music, answering the phone, sending and receiving texts, telling them their tyre pressure, when the next service is due, the weather, their battery’s output voltage, average and maximum speeds and God knows what else besides) where to go, where to ride, which roads to take, how long it will take and when they’ll arrive. Or they want to be told on these pages, preferably with a .gpx route they can borrow.

That people moan that the device sometimes offers crappy ‘windy’ routes between A and B, is another matter entirely.
 
That’s what I thought, but in the rare occasion that basecamp gives you the route you want without shaping it ......................

With no shaping points to use, I would imagine the nav unit would simply route to the finish point using whatever settings were configured (fastest route, shortest distance, avoid toll roads etc.). But I have not tested this out so cannot say definitively.

That’s precisely what it will do.
 
On the contrary, I think a lot of riders use the latest Garmin (and TomTom) devices to tell them ‘great twisty / windy / hilly roads, no motorways’ between A and B. It’s why Garmin / TomTom introduced the feature into their devices, along with ‘Tell me a circular route, starting and ending from where I am now, no more than (insert time / distance)’ options.

There are lots of reports on these pages where riders have ‘discovered’ great roads that they’d “Never have found” when they simply ask their device to take them from A to B, perfectly happy that - if they deviate from the device generated route - the device will always recalculate for them, meaning that they’ll always arrive at point B. It’s not new, it’s been going on for years. These people have no interest at all in plotting their own routes and probably never will. They want to be told, either by a device (which now also acts as an home entertainment centre, playing music, answering the phone, sending and receiving texts, telling them their tyre pressure, when the next service is due, the weather, their battery’s output voltage, average and maximum speeds and God knows what else besides) where to go, where to ride, which roads to take, how long it will take and when they’ll arrive. Or they want to be told on these pages, preferably with a .gpx route they can borrow.

That people moan that the device sometimes offers crappy ‘windy’ routes between A and B, is another matter entirely.

I agree with most of what you say, the TomTom windy roads is a good app as is the adventurous routing on the later garmin units but the curvy roads on the nav6 is not that good.
Speaking to the garmin bmw developer last year at Garmische he said the nav 6 was to far into development to install the engine that uses the adventurous routing, the 7 will have it though, probably realised with the new GS later in the year
 
There is, surely?

You have worked out that a route created in Mapsource / BaseCamp can be exported to the Garmin device, which will display and run it faultlessly. If you never deviate from that route, it’ll never need recalculating.

It’s only when the rider leaves the route for whatever reason(s) that a recalculation might be necessary, but:

1. Automatic route recalculation can be turned off; no recalculation will occur

2. Recalculation can be set up to be prompted, yes or no. If the rider chooses ‘no’, then no recalculation will occur


Yes and no. Like you say, a route that is simply followed and never deviated from will not be recalculated by the device. Makes perfect sense. But in an entirely plausible situation where a route is deviated from, exited, paused etc., it has taken quite a bit of testing to see what the unit will do depending on what options one selects when reloading the route.

Even with automatic route calculation switched off, when you restart a partly ridden route, the device (depending on what options you choose) will perform a route calculation for you (eg. scenario 3 above). Personally, and I realise this might not apply to everyone, I would prefer that when I select a pre-designed route in the Trip Planner, that route should never change, no matter where or when I start it, or whether I deviate from it or not. This was the case with my Zumo 550, but is far from guaranteed behaviour with either the Nav5 or the Nav6.
 
I agree with post #30. There is a way to work around the problem, using the device to mimic earlier devices’ instruction to, “Please ride TO the highlighted route”.

Turn the device on

Summon up the pre-planned route you want to use. The bike’s position will be shown and the magenta line of the route will be there to see, too

Do not run the route

Navigate yourself onto the route, using the device as a conventional map. This is the equivalent of “Please ride to the highlighted route’” instruction from earlier models

When you hit the magenta line, start running the pre-planned route. There is no reason for the pre-planned route to have changed or for it to have been recalculated in any way

There are other ways too but that is maybe the simplest.
 
I agree with post #30. There is a way to work around the problem, using the device to mimic earlier devices’ instruction to, “Please ride TO the highlighted route”.


Navigate yourself onto the route, using the device as a conventional map. This is the equivalent of “Please ride to the highlighted route’” instruction from earlier models

When you hit the magenta line, start running the pre-planned route. There is no reason for the pre-planned route to have changed or for it to have been recalculated in any way

There are other ways too but that is maybe the simplest.

Please excuse these snippets of information if they do not apply to the Nav6 - I've done a lot of the tedious testing mentioned previously - but on my 590. I believe the Nav 6 has many similar features, but I am also aware that it has had updates that haven't been applied to the 590 or 595 (like an auto skip feature did I read about ?)

Anyway - here goes.

1)
If you drive to the magenta route and pick up from there, then the satnav will recognise that you are on the route. But on the 590 / 595 if there is a Via point on the route before the point where you join the magenta line - it will take you back to the via point. If you have avoid U turns turned off, you may never notice this. The same thing doesn't happen with shaping points - you can miss as many of those as you like and once on the magenta route, the satnav will start talking to you again.

2)
Regarding a previous comment about twisty roads - They are useless where I live with the Yorkshire Dales on my doorstep. The main roads are regarded as twisty, as are the roads that have grass growing down the middle ! The best way is to go exploring.

3)
On the 590/595 there are two sorts of traffic data. One is to connect via your smart device for a subscription based service. The other is to use TrafficTrends. This latter one is available at the tick of an option box. I believe that when a new map comes out, the historic traffic flow data is loaded with the map (I may be wrong, but I can't see how else it gets in there). If you have the option ticked, then the satnav will calculate a route according to the day of the week and the time of day to avoid the busy routes. This seems to be regardless of the settings of recalculation.

4)
Something similar seems to happen with you own historic data which is built up on past rides. This is very difficult to test out. All I can say is that I have a suspicion. Its difficult because its almost impossible to catch the device recalculating a route, but I have observed the results on the same route loaded from Basecamp ridden by two riders at the same time, with auto recalculate turned off - and at some point it changed the route to go down one of those grass down the centre of the road routes. Time late Sunday afternoon in the Dales. Usually very busy.

As I said - Pick out the stuff that may be relevant and ignore anything that doesn't apply to the BMW Nav versions. But worth mentioning in case it does - it can take a lot of time to suss these things out.
 
Yes the 590 has the same engine as the nav 6 but the 595 is different. Main difference is the choice of twisty and hill roads on the slider.
 
Yes the 590 has the same engine as the nav 6 but the 595 is different. Main difference is the choice of twisty and hill roads on the slider.

Yes, I accept that - it has a lot of additional features. It is still worth checking out the other stuff though - it may well still apply. I have 3 friends who have the 595 and they have copies of my detailed notes on my discoveries and indications are that the 595 behaves in much the same way as my 590.

I'd love to get my hands on the 595 to put it through its paces, but that is an expensive pastime to pursue.
 


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