Map detail

Schtum · Oct 17, 2009

I just tried out my new BMW Navigator IV in SWMBO's car, running alongside her nüvi 770 . The Nav IV is loaded with CN 2010 while the nüvi has CN 2008. The Nav IV easily found a postcode in Falkirk while the nüvi wouldn't but.....and this is the bit I'm less than happy about.....the nüvi shows far more map detail than the Nav IV. The nüvi is set to the highest of its 5 levels of Map Detail, ie "Most". The Nav IV only has 3 levels with the highest being "High".

I haven't got round to fitting the mount to the bike yet, so I'm left wondering what's going to happen if I'm riding down one of the B roads on unclassifieds that were shown on the nüvi but not on the Nav IV. Is it going to be a case of "Oi remember when this were all fields......".

Anyone want to buy a Nav IV........? :blast

Funrider · Oct 19, 2009

I think the issue is that Garmin in their 'wisdom' decided that bike riders don't want to be distracted by too much detail of the roads surronding the one they are riding on <wrong>

I doubt if you would find the situation where the Nuvi would show a road that you were driving on and a Zumo 660 in the same vehicle was showing that you were off-road.

This is the 'display details' "feature" of the 660 that lots of people have been complaining about. It is a bit better now under V3.30 compared to the earlier versions, such as V2.80, but it would not hurt for you to complain about it to Garmin. With enought complaints they might sort it out in a future update of the firmware ?

Wapping · Oct 19, 2009

I would be surprised if the 660 (or the latest mapping) had too many missing small roads.

For certain when doing the '80 virrees a moto' threads I had Mapsource often zoomed right in and found some very small roads, only just shown (and often not) on small scale Michelin maps.

Funrider · Oct 19, 2009

Funrider said:
... but it would not hurt for you to complain about it to Garmin. With enought complaints they might sort it out in a future update of the firmware ?

Actually thinking more about it ... if you complained to BMW it might have quicker results as BMW would get anoyed with lots of complaints about a fault they had 'bought-in' from Garmin

Schtum · Oct 19, 2009

Wapping said:
I would be surprised if the 660 (or the latest mapping) had too many missing small roads.

It has nothing to do with the mapping. CN 2010 NT has more detail in it than my previous 2008 NT does, even down to now including the runways at Edinburgh Airport which weren't in '08. However, they're not displayed on my Nav IV when it's set to a similar level of zoom as SWMBO's nüvi 770.

I suspect that, as Funrider says, it's a matter of what the firmware allows to be shown. That's corroborated by there being only 3 levels of detail setting in the Nav IV.

Bumpkin · Oct 19, 2009

What Zoom level is it at in normal use? might that have a bearing on what level of detail is displayed.

Not ideal if you have to ride with it zoomed in closer than you're used to admittedly.

Schtum · Oct 19, 2009

Bumpkin said:
What Zoom level is it at in normal use? might that have a bearing on what level of detail is displayed.

No it doesn't seem to make any difference. Both units were in routing mode. The nüvi seems to default to a slightly more zoomed-in setting than the Nav IV in that mode but even zooming the Nav IV in to more than the nüvi didn't show the unclassifieds which were shown on the nüvi. IIRC, I even zoomed the Nav IV into maximum and these small roads were still not displayed.

I haven't fitted my new GPS mount to the bike yet so haven't had an opportunity to try the Nav IV on the GS but since I do as much of my riding as possible on goat tracks, it doesn't bode well for how useful the Nav IV is going to be.

Wapping · Oct 19, 2009

Schtum said:
It has nothing to do with the mapping. CN 2010 NT has more detail in it than my previous 2008 NT does, even down to now including the runways at Edinburgh Airport which weren't in '08. However, they're not displayed on my Nav IV when it's set to a similar level of zoom as SWMBO's nüvi 770.

I suspect that, as Funrider says, it's a matter of what the firmware allows to be shown. That's corroborated by there being only 3 levels of detail setting in the Nav IV.

OK, I see what you mean.

I may well be wrong but I think the map detail made available differs when the device is in action (in the car / on a bike) compared to when it is simply in handheld battery use. Ie. It suddenly 'zooms in' when the tiny roads need to be navigated in anger, as it were.

Could well be twaddle, mind.

Schtum · Oct 19, 2009

Wapping said:
OK, I see what you mean.

I may well be wrong but I think the map detail made available differs when the device is in action (in the car / on a bike) compared to when it is simply in handheld battery use. Ie. It suddenly 'zooms in' when the tiny roads need to be navigated in anger, as it were.

Could well be twaddle, mind.

Good point - I hadn't thought of that. I'll need to get it mounted on the bike and try it for real.

Thanks..... :thumb2

Wapping · Oct 19, 2009

Probably the only way to find out is:

Find some very small roads on Mapsource on your PC. That has to go to the lowest detail, surely?

Then see if you can find them on the Nav 4 on battery power (it would seem not)

Then try again on the bike in its cradle.

Then try again on the road, navigating a route you have plotted and downloaded from your pc to the device, taking in the 'missing' very small roads.

Map detail

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