TFT, BMW Connected App and Navigation
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:48 pm
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..................................................
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..................................................