Useless Sat Nav on new X5

[MJim]

I am finding the sat nav in my brand new X5 utterly useless in terms of the maps in the system. I have input a number of established UK addresses that it either can't find at all, or where it can find the street but states that no house numbers are available. I'm wondering if I have a glitch with my particular system which needs fixing, presumably through a software reload, or whether the system is fundamentally flawed. I contacted BMW customer services a week ago who are on the case with Navtech, and who have yet to respond. Has anyone else experienced similar problems?

[X5Sport]

Have you tried sending the addresses from Google Maps via the web? It works well for me.

One of the problems with the navigation systems, regardless of who's you have, is that they depend totally on the mapping data. A lot of that data is drawn from the Ordnance Survey and if they have not updated their data recently (which they often haven't) then companies like Navteq may not have picked up a cue to check it out. The road I live in did not show up on either OS or many Satnav systems until more than three years after we moved here. It was a new road when we moved here. Delivery drivers were always ringing us to say where are you.

There is a road in Telford 'Ironmasters Way' which was not showing last time I was in Telford and it has been there for years. It even has as ex HMRC building on it.

Of course the other issue is how up to date your map data is too. BMW want some serios money for there upgrades which I don't think are justifiable as it ought to be possible to add an incremental update rather than the whole lot every time. Apparently that is in the 'too hard' bucket! More likely it's in the let's make more money out of our captive audience. Of course we hae the option not to buy satnav, but then it's likely the sme issues exist on the cheapy systems too as they all get their maps from the limited map sources out there.

If you have the Speed Limit Display option as I do, that has a huge number of wrong limits on it and not really be trusted at present. We have a 20mph limit in this area and it's been there a couple of years but the BMW system still says it's a 30. If it was easy to report errors then a lot would be solved, but it's too hard. Tele-Atlas ignored them and I have no idea what Navteq are like.

[MJim]

Many thanks for your response. I don't think the problem I have is down to the OS maps being out of date - all the properties I've looked up are very established (eg my parents house is c300 years old), and all addresses show on my old £100 Tom Tom. Either Navteq are just useless and source cheap useless maps, or I'm hoping more likely, there's a simple glitch with my system. I just hope it's easily fixed ... Other than that, I'm loving the car big time!

[X5Sport]

Have you tried sending the addresses from Google Maps from a PC to see what that does? It is always spot on in mine, and easier to put the address into than the iDrive?

[MJim]

Many thanks for the suggestion - I successfully managed to do that shortly after getting the car. V clever being able to email a destination to the car straight from google maps! My satnav still doesn't function correctly in terms of inputting an address directly - I'd say 9 out of 10 addresses I tried it couldn't find or told me no house numbers available. Navtech eventually got back to BMW following my reporting the issue, after 2 weeks, and provided a website I can use to report missing addresses. How useless is that?! Solution wil hopefully be to get it looked at by my dealer ...

[X5Sport]

Hmmm, not exactly falling over themselves to help are they!

As a matter of interest, what's the web address? I've got a few errors around here that they could do with fixing.

House numbers didn't work very well on the Mark IV nav in the E46 and E53 either, and those maps were originally from another supplier. I think part of the problem is the way that UK addresses seem to suffer from a lack of consistency in the way numbering is done, or done at all!

When I worked for the Government we had 14 different and all 'technically' correct addressing databases as there was no common standard. Eventually to make our lives easier we switched to the Post Office Postcode & Address database but that stopped when the cost of the access licence went through the roof. I don't know what Navteq use now. Whatever the cause, it's very frustrating!

I tried a check with Google Maps on my address tonight and it picked the wrong house on the other side of the road and 50yds away! Even their system is wrong.

[MJim]

I'll see if I can find the scrap of paper at the office next week, but I'm afraid I may have lost it - didn't take that proposal very seriously !

[acideraser]

Hi MJim, sorry to hear you have issues with your satnav. Assume you have nav professional as I do. I haven't noticed any issues with address input on mine, but have you tried to input addresses via Google Local search option? This way it is supposed to connect to Google database and get address from there. Most of the time however we send address to the car from Google maps, or send the route via BMW route planner.
Hope this helps
cheers

[MJim]

Acideraser, many thanks for that. I have already used the emailing of address details from Google, and very impressive it is too, but obviously you want your shiny new car to do what it's supposed to as well. Will book it in at a dealer when I get round to it ...

[acideraser]

Have you tried to input addresses via Google Local search option? You go to Points of Interest -> Google Local Search and input your address.
This way I managed to get precise location of places not even listed in the navigation like paintball sites for example...

[MJim]

Thanks for that acideraser - sounds useful for those places that don't feature in the satnav. Sadly most places don't currently feature, so my cars now booked in to be looked at next week ! Just hope they can nail and sort it rather than it turning into one of those annoying 'not sure what it is' problems ...

[X5Sport]

Hopefully they'll refresh the system software and that will cure the issue.

[MJim]

Well, I dropped the car off this morning at the service arm of BMW Park Lane down in Battersea (they're actually owned by BMW and figured they'd be at the top of their game). I showed the service guy the problem i.e. put in a list of postcodes where it didn't offer any house numbers or even allow you to put in the full postcode, plus a further street where some friends live and it only offers numbers 1-40 (they live in 114). He acknwoledged that it needed looking in to.

I've just heard back to be told that it's doing what it's supposed to, that they've compared it to another X5 they have and that's the same i.e. there's nothing to fix, even though he acknowledged that he couldn't get the system to find the addresses, or his own for that matter. I told him I don't get the problem on my £100 TomTom Go, and he admitted they're better. Apparently he's reporting back to HQ to get advice as to way forward. Shocked !!

Does nobody else find the system maps to be useless ??

[stevee]

Have you seen this page?

http://www.mapcoverageviewer.com/launch ... cation=BMW

[MJim]

Thanks stevee, looks interesting - but tried it and couldn't get it to work. It seemed to be stuck showing a Polish town called Radom, and I couldn't input anything. Nice try though !