TFT, BMW Connected App and Navigation

[DavidMcK]

Prelude

I first starting Europe in 2005 on a Honda Blackbird with a map on my tank bag. I quite quickly decided that if I wanted to live, a Sat Nav was needed, reading a map at 80mph is not recommended. So at the Birmingham motorcycle show of 2006 I became the proud owner of a Garmin Zumo.

Over the years I have had the BMW Nav IV, V and VI and taught myself Mapsource and Basecamp.  I have also got used to the features of the Garmin Sat Nav's these include warnings for "Safety Cameras", Lane management controls and recently traffic re-routing.

Mostly, these have been invaluable, whilst the constant pinging of the "Safety Camera" warnings in the UK have been irritating, I am pretty sure they are a reason I kept a clean licence. Navigating around cities such as Paris became relatively simple with visual lane management and re-routing due to traffic has been a god send.

So now I have a 21 RT and the BMW App so what in fact do I have?

First, the bad news:

1. Safety camera warnings are gone, the Europeans did not like this and they have got their wish.
2. Traffic re-routing also looks to be lost, others can confirm this but the BMW map shows traffic, but I see no automatic re-routing. I do see a manual option to choose and alternative route, but we need feedback from others who have traffic density
3. I think lane management is still there but its not as simple as the Garmin devices and the next turn display is wanting for example:

The best way to setup the display for route guidance on the right screen there are three panels, the bottom one shows distance and time to complete route, the middle section shows the next turn and the top shows the following turn. If you are approaching a roundabout the middle panel will tell you which exit you need e.g. 3rd exit, but as we know the 3rd exit could be left, right or straight on depending on the number of exits on the roundabout, so you can be unsure as to what lane to be in, thankfully the map display zooms in to give you an idea of what direction the third exit is at so you can have a decent shot at getting into the right lane. (see photo attached).

Now a chat about the App, basically it is the old Sat Nav. You can plot a route on it, but, you will soon run out of patience. For example, the only POI you can plot is for Fuel.  If you want POI's you have to sit on the bike. I say that again, you can sit on the bike, go to Navigation and you will find POI's so you can find fuel, hotels, parking etc. and add them to your route.

Ok moving on, I can still use Basecamp but I know the maps will become out of date so I bought MyRouteApp and I would highly recommend it. I bought the Gold version and I have an online App and an App for my phone (which is also online).  It is a simple process to plot a route on my laptop and when I am finished I load up the App on my phone and the route is already there, I can download it and when I open it, the BMW App automatically loads it ready for import.

So no more fiddling with cables and I can email or text the route to my mates. When you import a route select the waypoints not the track. With waypoints the BMW App will re-calculate the route if you go past a turn off. With the track import it will turn you around and not re-calculate (to be confirmed and updated if anyone finds different).When you import a route, you can't change it, the App does not show waypoints.

On the left of the picture attached is a route plotted in MyRouteApp (as displayed on the phone App),it has 8 waypoints.

On the right is the route in the BMW App, no waypoints and you cannot add any, however when sitting on the bike you can add a POI e.g. a fuel stop (work it out).

My current setup.

My wife just got a new phone, she is not quite sure why she got it as its not her birthday and its not Christmas but I guess she has worked it out that my RT has inherited her old phone. So yes the bike has a phone or maybe its own dedicated Sat Nav (more or less like my old Sat Nav's) and I have to say I like the setup. I can leave the RT phone on the bike when I grab fuel or coffee and it is a backup for my main phone. I can also track the phone with Find my mobile in case the bike is stolen.

My main phone is a Samsung Galaxy 10 and the bike phone is also a Galaxy 10. When I setup the RT phone I downloaded the maps to the internal memory. If I load the maps on the BMW App I get the following results:

Main phone with maps loaded on SD card, maps took 1 minute 10 seconds to display on the phone.
RT phone with maps on internal memory, maps load instantly.

So load your maps on internal memory.

To be continued by hopefully me and others as we head down the road of discovery..................................................

[donmarco]

Interesting post. 
I'm completely baffled by the new system and think it's awful compared to the numerous Garmin Nav's that I've had since forever even though I've had the Garmin get lost (one couldn't find I-10 in NOLA when the I-10 was in front of me and another took me to a Navajo school parking lot). 


It seems when riding, the new system doesn't know where I am half the time, i.e., it's so unsophisticated that many roads do not even appear, only an arrow floating in space and thus not satisfactory as many times my rides take me across the US and Canada.


I have not tried the other systems available hoping there will be a new update for the 21 RT.


I also wonder, but have not tried it as yet, if Google maps will function through the blue tooth systems and provide direction in my helmet.


Suggestions?

[Levisp]

Now every new bike has to have the mandatory TFT screen, they all seem to be on the band wagon of trying to produce apps linked to the bike to provide navigation. Problem is they are all very poorly executed. My KTM 890 adventure has KTM MyRide app. To be fare the link to bike works fine and the simple turn by turn direction works OK but the navigation planning on the app is crap. You cannot import a GPX file !! Bloody that's basic requirement for us motorcyclists. I test rode a Ducati Multistrada in the summer and that uses Sygic for navigation. Unfortunately once again you cannot import a GPX file into Sygic. There was a way via MyRoute App but that link has been broken for some time. The only manufacturer that may have got it right is Honda. They use Apple / Android car / auto play. So you are free to use what app you like. However the powers that be have decided that it will only work provided a BT headset has been synced to the bike. So they obviously feel that navigating visually is more dangerous than listening to music or making a telephone call. I have tried most iPhone apps for navigation and most fail the first step of GPX import. The two that do it well are Scenic and Calimoto. The other option is Beeline Moto a completely different way of navigating with a keep it simple approach. It works extremely well but for most on this forum I'm guessing it would be too minimalistic. At the moment I think Garmin and TomTom will still be selling their overprice hardware. I see TomTom have a lovely 7 inch HD screen with world map updates for car navigation for £230 but the bike Rider 550 with its crappy 4.3 inch screen with world map updates is £400. Rant over. Sorry.

[Steve398]

Sportsbikeshop and others are selling the Tomtom 550 World for £298 currently.

I bought one to replace the Garmin Nav 5 that I couldn’t get on with, together with the adapter to allow me to run it fitted to the same place as the Garmin previously occupied on my 2018RT.

[Levisp]

Good price. I have a Rider 550. Its OK but my iPhone screen is so much better. I would like to see a better sized screen and the ability to transfer GPX files directly into it via BT. MyDrive is poor as well, compared to MyRoute App or Goggle MyMaps. You cannot import GPX files using the MyDrive iPhone app. Now TomTom Go iPhone app can sync routes with MyDrive and save routes, I find it better than the Rider 550. However the issue with the Go app is you can only import GPX files via MyDrive desktop. The MyRoute App method is broken for Go App. No direct import functionality. Maybe one day I will find the perfect device. For local riding the Beeline Moto is perfect but it's not for everyone. It's the electronic version of the route list taped to tank I used to do years ago. Simple and works but as yet have not tried it on a long tour but I see no reason why it shouldn't function well. As I get older I get more frustrated when tech fails to deliver and this is someone who used to love tech. It all seems now that the software is rushed to market before it's ready. However I wouldn't go back to trying to use a map on the bike.

[Casbar]

Now every new bike has to have the mandatory TFT screen, they all seem to be on the band wagon of trying to produce apps linked to the bike to provide navigation. Problem is they are all very poorly executed. My KTM 890 adventure has KTM MyRide app. To be fare the link to bike works fine and the simple turn by turn direction works OK but the navigation planning on the app is crap. You cannot import a GPX file !! Bloody that's basic requirement for us motorcyclists. I test rode a Ducati Multistrada in the summer and that uses Sygic for navigation. Unfortunately once again you cannot import a GPX file into Sygic. There was a way via MyRoute App but that link has been broken for some time. The only manufacturer that may have got it right is Honda. They use Apple / Android car / auto play. So you are free to use what app you like. However the powers that be have decided that it will only work provided a BT headset has been synced to the bike. So they obviously feel that navigating visually is more dangerous than listening to music or making a telephone call. I have tried most iPhone apps for navigation and most fail the first step of GPX import. The two that do it well are Scenic and Calimoto. The other option is Beeline Moto a completely different way of navigating with a keep it simple approach. It works extremely well but for most on this forum I'm guessing it would be too minimalistic. At the moment I think Garmin and TomTom will still be selling their overprice hardware. I see TomTom have a lovely 7 inch HD screen with world map updates for car navigation for £230 but the bike Rider 550 with its crappy 4.3 inch screen with world map updates is £400. Rant over. Sorry.

Sounds like a Ducati problem. The connected app that works with the TFT on the new RT does allow you to plan routes in Basecamp or my route app and does allow you to import gpx files. It does also work without being connected to your helmet. In fact I have been using the navigation on our new blood bike by using the connected app and just visually reading the directions, on the map and the side panel showing turn by turn directions. The TFT is not connected to my helmet so no voice prompts. If you pop over to UKGSER there is a thread at the moment where someone has imported routes from My Route via an iPad to the app on his iPhone. So any route planning app would work

[Levisp]

Yes Casbar it is a Ducati and KTM problem. Good to hear that BMW app works better. I have the analogue bike so cannot try it.