Nevermind

Ok, so I program in my destination, select shortest route and disable dynamic routing (I also untick TMC, but it keeps coming back again on its own, another story):



This gives me a journey time of 1 Hour and 24 minutes. Journey distance 49miles and a fairly straight route, see below.



So I now, cleverly, select fastest route with no preference regarding motorways and dynamic routing still off:



This gives a journey time of 1 hour 59 minutes and 80 miles with a ridiculous detour around the M18:



Now it does this kind of thing every time I try to program it to go somewhere. To say I have no confidence in it taking the most appropriate route is an understatement. Whilst I appreciate that it may be down to the algorithms, and that it only uses major roads for fastest route, it seems to happen nearly every time which can't be right. If I place my destination just this side of the M1 motorway it actually sometimes produces a route that is reasonable, but not always, so there are some "major" roads running between me and my target. What am I doing wrong?

aybeesea

It MAY be the algorithm or it MAY be an error in mapping data.

Have you tried entering the desination in different ways or, more importantly, using a different version of the data disc. I know that my newer data disc now "makes" some different navigation choices with which I "agree"!!

ABC

drjochen

The routing of the system is a constant source of amusement for me.
Sometimes the faster route is slower than the short route, sometimes its shorter than the short route.
I have basically stopped trusting the system and always check the route manually on the map.

Last week (I was bored waiting for my daughter), I asked it to calculate a route from MD to southern CA.
The first attempt, the entire computer crashed. It calcualted a route for me to the freeway and then stopped doing anything!
I restarted the car and then it took several minutes to calculated a route going all the way north via Minneapolis and South Dakota!
That was the shortest route... the fastest it calculated was ~ 1000 miles shorter going the way I would have gone...........

Nevermind

I had a bit of a play last night, and if I simply specify "do not use motorways" I get something approaching a realistic route. Hurray. What annoys me is that MS Autoroute, that came free with a packet of cereals, does a damn good job without much tweaking. Is the BMW system over-complicated or too simple, i.e. over-simplified algorithms to reduce the computing power and hence time necessary to calculate a route?

Bit disappointed actually.

aybeesea

I only ever use "motorways" or "no motorways".

Never had a real problem.

ABC

Uk525i

Business SatNav also shows some strange behaviour. On a trip from Farnham to Maidenhead ( 29 miles across country ) it wants to send you via M3-M25-M4 ( 47 miles of the most horrendous motorway ! ). I have tried various options & it chooses that route. I only use it when essential now. I would like to use it on all journeys to get the benefit of TMC, but invarably it wants to send me via a worse route & I end up in an arguement with the SatNav lady ( which at least entertains the children, including me!! ).

OliverB

I think that the problem comes from your DVD (data disk)...
You should ask your dealer to loan you another version of the data disk to test it.
If that continues, then you can ask the new i-drive software to be installed (CIP upgrade).

I use my NAV system everywhere in Europe, and I never had such a problem.

Nevermind

I understand what you are saying ABC, however I cannot help but feel a little cheated. When my ?1800 Sat Nav proposes the fastest route to my destination, I expect that to be the fastest route. I don't want to take or avoid motorways, I am indifferent to them. Call me old fashioned, but just sticking to Motorways I can do without help from either a map or Sat Nav. The navigation works well over short distances to a precise spot, but is poor cross country. I recently wantedto go to the NEC in Birmingham from Grantham in Lincs. I was routed through Rotherham which is nearly as far to the north of me as the NEC is to the South-West!

OliverB, why do you think it is the data? Have they missed bits off, or incorrectly coded parts. My navigation shows all the roads, to the correct colour, and will use them on occasion if they are close. It seems to me that the algorithms and rules are to blame, but I will happily be proved wrong.

I will speak to my supplying dealer in the new year and try and combine it with the updated Cip for the patch for the ERG.

aybeesea

Nevermind, you seem to have missed my earlier suggestion. Data on newer or older disc may resolve.

Data is more than road colours. It has road types, average speed, junctions, and vector information stored.

If, for example a minor road is wrongly encoded as a major road (obviously not SHOWING as one) then routing may wrongly adopt this route having no other information to be guided by.

ABC

Nevermind

You're right, I'll shut up about it until I've tried another disc. It could be that they've mis-encoded the average speed on the A1 as 100mph and that is why it is nearly always used. Except that it would be reflected in wildly optimistic journey times. Damn, I'll shut up.