BMW Nav 6 Unknown symbols

Mark H

Formerly known as Easyrider5258 (Mark)
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Hi,

New to me Nav 6 throws up some unknown symbols, one was a "P" in a grey square on the left of the Nav screen, there were others as well that I didn't know the meaning of, despite a good look through the manual and search on the internet I cant find a simple appendix of all the symbols that may be displayed, anyone know of such a thing??

Cheers
 
I am guessing that is P for parking.

When running a route, as you near your final destination you are offered the opportunity to ask the device to find you a known parking place. Whether it’s secure (or whatever it is bods demand) is up to you to decide.

As regards the other symbols? If you don’t give us a description, it’s tricky to help you. Can you take a picture?
 
The P came up on some Autoroute near Antwerp, an appendix of symbols would be really handy
 
Some pictures of the symbols you are mystified by, would be really handy too.

Was your Garmin device linked to your phone?

If so, were you running a bit of software on your phone?

Was your Garmin device performing some other function? For example, controlling a camera or linked to a headset?

Are you sure it was a P?

Were you running a route at the time?

If so, how did you create the route? In BaseCamp? If not in BaseCamp, how? Did the route have waypoints in it? If so, did the P on the motorway correspond with a waypoint?

Did you see the greyed out P more than once? If so, how often and when?
 
I don't have pictures of the symbols, they came randomly on a recent return trip from Italy mostly on autoroutes not possible to take pics, an appendix of symbols and meanings would be really handy:thumb2 somebody on another forum suggested pressing the symbol when it appears, I will try that next time, Thanks.
The Nav 6 is not connected to a smartphone or controlling anything apart from my BT Midland pro Bluetooth helmet speakers which it relays route instructions
I'm sure it was a p
Thinking on though, my smartphone does also hook up on Bluetooth to the Midland headset?
I am not running a route planned on Basecamp, I had overnight hotels stored as favourites and just press go in the mornings:D
 
The Nav VI can show what services are available at junctions. I wonder if it was something to do with that? Pushing it, is what I wouid have done, though greyed out might suggest that the symbol was not active.

What other mysterious symbols did you see?

I have a Nav VI. I can’t recall ever seeing a greyed out P symbol. I do not have it connected to my phone or to any other piece of hardware, like a headset.
 
It's not greyed out its in a grey box as are the other symbols, maybe it was telling me a phonecall was incoming, next time I'll press it��
 
If your phone was not connected to your GPS device (see post #5) it’s hard to see how it can be a phone symbol. Unless somehow your phone was connected to BT Midland pro Bluetooth helmet speakers (see post #5) and it somehow leaks across from there back to your GPS device. I don’t use a phone or Bluetooth device with my Nav VI, so I can’t help you there I’m afraid.

That being said, the most usual symbol for a phone is, I think, an outline of a telephone, not a P. My bet is still on P for parking but I’m happy to lose.
 
the Nav 6 shows POI (points of interest) you can disable this in the settings. If you have logged a town in as a waypoint, It normally flashes up on the screen with the info written in blue on a grey background, " Find parking" . If you touch that link it will direct you to the nearest car park. In fact if you touch any POI thats shows on the screen it will take you there.

I think what was flashing up on yours, especially as you were on an Autobahn, was P for Parking ,or as we know in the UK a Rest Area ,Parking Area, Not a service station. Most if not all the motorways/Autobahns out there have drive in Parking lay byes / Rest areas ,with benches to sit on etc . Again if you dont want these showing up on your POI's just disable them in the settings .
 
DC’s estimation as to what the grey P symbol means, all but matches my guess.

If, as you said, you saw other strange symbols pop up, that may well be the layers of optional Points of Interest popping up, too.
 
Sounds like parking,

I have a fuel pump symbol on the side of my nav6 screen, as soon as i press it it searches for the nearest petrol stations.

I know theres loads to configure, but like a true bloke i didnt read or download the manual ;)
 
I had at least one unknown (to me) symbol (not P) pop up on my Nav 6 during my recent trip to south west France. I'm afraid I can't remember what it was now, but I checked after riding that day and it did not appear in the manual nor in any list of "Garmin symbols" that I could find by Googling. I have the Nav connected to my helmet (BMW system) and iPhone, and was following a pre-planned route loaded from Basecamp. Frustrating that Garmin do not seem to provide a list of all possible symbols that may appear.
 
One bizarre symbol that pops-up can be safely ignored, as it’s of no interest to the route you are riding. I turn all the pop-up stuff off or rather, I make an effort to never turn it on, just like all the preference settings. It leaves me in control of the thing, not the other way around.
 
Hmm...where is the setting to turn off pop-up symbols? (especially if you don't know what they are)
 
Hi,

New to me Nav 6 throws up some unknown symbols, one was a "P" in a grey square on the left of the Nav screen, there were others as well that I didn't know the meaning of, despite a good look through the manual and search on the internet I cant find a simple appendix of all the symbols that may be displayed, anyone know of such a thing??

Cheers

I had a grey "P" appear on my Nav5 yesterday accompanied by the text "Find Parking". If you drop a waypoint in a pedestrian-only zone or similar (in my case, an alley), then you will have to find nearby parking in order to visit it.

I hope this helps ....

John
 
The greyed out square with a P in it in the top left quarter is definitely parking at your destination. Don’t forget that if you have waypoints (as opposed to shaping points) the device will read these as a destination. You will probably see that the blue banner also changes to grey, briefly and carries a message about parking.

The exclamation mark in a grey box in the same quarter, is a warning about a dangerous road segment.

Touch the P or the exclamation mark in complete confidence that your device will not explode.

Taken on my smart phone, hands off the wheel. I may well rot in hell....

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