Postcode entry on professional sat nav
10-12-2007, 08:01 AM
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My brother has been arguing with local dealer re 2007-1 sat nav is useless as you can't enter full postcodes. Finally got a result by giving them 5 business cards and telling them to show him how it works. They could not find any of the adresses via the post code entry!! . Result they are going to give him latest disc and software upgrade on monday. My 535d will be visiting them very shortly for them same upgrade. As a comment on the dealer attitude, he was of the opinion that once they had the money they were not bothered any more, which is amazing as we just bought 2 535d M Sports only a few months ago.... if it was'nt such a great car we may think of trying the competition (trouble is I can't find any!)
10-12-2007, 10:23 AM
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I assume you are in the UK? You can't enter full postcodes on 2007-2 with latest software upgrade either ... so although you'll have a few more features and newer maps, you still won't have full 7 digit postcode for all of the UK. It is because the nav discs are European, not UK, so there is not enough physical space on the disc to fit all of the postcode data on. I believe that some areas (parts of London) have the full postcode, but for the majority of the UK, you can only enter the first part, then you have to still select the road.
10-12-2007, 01:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Russ1974' post='480743' date='Oct 12 2007, 07:23 PM
I assume you are in the UK? You can't enter full postcodes on 2007-2 with latest software upgrade either ... so although you'll have a few more features and newer maps, you still won't have full 7 digit postcode for all of the UK. It is because the nav discs are European, not UK, so there is not enough physical space on the disc to fit all of the postcode data on. I believe that some areas (parts of London) have the full postcode, but for the majority of the UK, you can only enter the first part, then you have to still select the road.
. The main reason why the 7 char postcode search is not included is due to a design flaw. BMW have used the City field for the postcodes and if they add all the postcodes then that's one very long list to scroll through for the system. Especially when you consider that its the same city file used for all cities across Europe!!
10-12-2007, 01:38 PM
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Originally Posted by bruce_miranda' post='480826' date='Oct 12 2007, 03:15 PM
Thats not true. There is ample space on the disc for full 7 char postcode search, I should know .
.Sorry but I don't agree with what you say. When you scroll, you scroll based on what you have inputted so far. If I get as far as typing "WA7 1" as a postcode, then it doesn't continue to show me anything but the items which start with those characters. But it doesn't allow me to type any more in because the data isn't on the disc. I don't see what scrolling has got to do with it at all, there are thousands of postcodes in there already. Adding the last 2 or 3 digits/characters would really make no difference.
The way the system works is that it searches based on what you have entered so far. So if you have typed in "A", it knows to ignore everything from "B" onwards. If you then type in "AB", It knows to ignore all of "B", and all of "AB->AZ". It does not search the entire list each time you enter another character. Well, technically it does, but the way the algorithm and database works, for all intents and purposes it ignores them.
No point arguing about the technology really anyway ... fact is, it doesn't do it for whatever reason, and I doubt it ever will !
10-13-2007, 09:08 AM
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When I meant scroll for the system I actually meant the internal system searches. It basically has to read the City file for entries matching your selections. Because of the current design of the system if BMW choose to add 7 char postcode then that City File will become so long that the system will become un-usable. That's one of the reasons why in my own implementation of the 7 char postcode which I use in my car I decided to split the postcodes by their first letter.
10-13-2007, 10:40 AM
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Originally Posted by bruce_miranda' post='481122' date='Oct 13 2007, 11:08 AM
That's one of the reasons why in my own implementation of the 7 char postcode which I use in my car I decided to split the postcodes by their first letter.
How much to buy a copy, or any instructions on how to create such a disc?
11-06-2007, 09:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Russ1974' post='481147' date='Oct 13 2007, 06:40 PM
Oooh - tell me more Bruce How much to buy a copy, or any instructions on how to create such a disc?
How much to buy a copy, or any instructions on how to create such a disc?
11-06-2007, 11:25 AM
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Its best to pm him,he can give you all the details.
11-06-2007, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Blunt' post='480683' date='Oct 12 2007, 04:01 PM
My brother has been arguing with local dealer re 2007-1 sat nav is useless as you can't enter full postcodes. Finally got a result by giving them 5 business cards and telling them to show him how it works. They could not find any of the adresses via the post code entry!! . Result they are going to give him latest disc and software upgrade on monday. My 535d will be visiting them very shortly for them same upgrade. As a comment on the dealer attitude, he was of the opinion that once they had the money they were not bothered any more, which is amazing as we just bought 2 535d M Sports only a few months ago.... if it was'nt such a great car we may think of trying the competition (trouble is I can't find any!)
The lack of 7 digit postcode entry infuriates me too. Having given BMW ?2500 on my last 2 cars for Sat Nav that has limited use / goes slow when it's cold, voice control that has around a 30% success rate (and I don't have a particularly strong accent!) and bluetooth that's temperamental, it will give me great pleasure with my new 5 series to save the money and buy a portable system for one-tenth of the cost, that will do all of these things properly AND tell me when I'm approaching speed cameras etc