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      08-23-2019, 05:56 PM   #1
pshyong
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CarPlay and Google Maps vs iDrive Maps

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Hi all,

Does anyone use Google Maps via CarPlay on a daily basis? Do you have any comments on how well it works? I've heard that the iDrive traffic and reroute are just not as good ad Google Maps.

Also, can you pinch and zoom in/out on the car's screen with Google Map?

Does it also show Spotify songs information alongside Google Maps?

Thanks
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      08-24-2019, 09:29 AM   #2
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Wait for iOS 13 for the functions you mentioned. Still, you cannot sync Google Map to the cockpit or HUD. Right now, better stick with iDrive.
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      08-25-2019, 01:18 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pshyong View Post
Hi all,

Does anyone use Google Maps via CarPlay on a daily basis? Do you have any comments on how well it works? I've heard that the iDrive traffic and reroute are just not as good ad Google Maps.

Also, can you pinch and zoom in/out on the car's screen with Google Map?

Does it also show Spotify songs information alongside Google Maps?

Thanks
Google maps traffic is a million times better than the BMW maps. I've had the BMW maps take me through a road with construction on it and it showed it as clear, while google maps wanted to me to take another route to avoid the construction traffic.

You can't pinch and zoom on the iDrive screen, I don't think it's multitouch capable. There are buttons to zoom the map in and out though.

No, it doesn't show any song information. But there are other places you can see that, including your instrument panel, so there's really no need for that.
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      08-25-2019, 03:47 AM   #4
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I would prefer to use Google Maps with CarPlay, but it seems to be only North orientated, which is really hard to interpret. Is this a setting, or a Google vs Apple integration issue?
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      08-25-2019, 03:59 AM   #5
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I use Waze.
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      08-25-2019, 06:32 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by 902 View Post
Google maps traffic is a million times better than the BMW maps. I've had the BMW maps take me through a road with construction on it and it showed it as clear, while google maps wanted to me to take another route to avoid the construction traffic.
As I understand it, in the UK RTTI traffic is provided by TomTom, as is the mapping data. In my experience TomTom traffic is superior to google traffic.

However, it doesn't matter how good the traffic data is if the navigation sw doesn't know what to do with it efficiently. Like you say, idrive nav makes some poor routing decisions.

I've had TT and idrive nav running alongside each other. Both show the same traffic delays, updating within a couple of mins of each other (same source). The difference is that TT makes logical rerouting decisions, and idrive more often than not, just drives you into the known traffic, or reroutes inefficiently.

I don't rate google maps for in-car navigation. It's free and has amazing points of interest/mapping, but the visual display is confusing, no speed limit info and no speed camera info. It also has very limited configuration. I used it in Crete on hols and it was awful. The road names are long so it would often be 30 seconds behind with audible instructions, directly conflicting with the visual instructions. Other navs allow road name pronunciation to be turned off. It also only used about 10% of the display for the actual direction mapping and the rest of the screen was wasted. I think this is a regional issue as it doesn't do that in the UK, but it made navigating with it almost impossible. TomTom on the other hand was a breeze.

Last edited by archivedaccount; 08-25-2019 at 06:39 AM..
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      08-25-2019, 07:19 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by edtreo View Post
I use Waze.
Waze is always delay when showing turn...I always miss turning while using this....not sure if it happens to everyone
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      08-25-2019, 08:15 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by Simon.iv View Post
Waze is always delay when showing turn...I always miss turning while using this....not sure if it happens to everyone
Are you driving too fast?

It’s also my PCM.
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      08-26-2019, 11:04 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglesrest View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
Google maps traffic is a million times better than the BMW maps. I've had the BMW maps take me through a road with construction on it and it showed it as clear, while google maps wanted to me to take another route to avoid the construction traffic.
As I understand it, in the UK RTTI traffic is provided by TomTom, as is the mapping data. In my experience TomTom traffic is superior to google traffic.

However, it doesn't matter how good the traffic data is if the navigation sw doesn't know what to do with it efficiently. Like you say, idrive nav makes some poor routing decisions.

I've had TT and idrive nav running alongside each other. Both show the same traffic delays, updating within a couple of mins of each other (same source). The difference is that TT makes logical rerouting decisions, and idrive more often than not, just drives you into the known traffic, or reroutes inefficiently.

I don't rate google maps for in-car navigation. It's free and has amazing points of interest/mapping, but the visual display is confusing, no speed limit info and no speed camera info. It also has very limited configuration. I used it in Crete on hols and it was awful. The road names are long so it would often be 30 seconds behind with audible instructions, directly conflicting with the visual instructions. Other navs allow road name pronunciation to be turned off. It also only used about 10% of the display for the actual direction mapping and the rest of the screen was wasted. I think this is a regional issue as it doesn't do that in the UK, but it made navigating with it almost impossible. TomTom on the other hand was a breeze.
Maybe that's true in some places, like you say in the UK. But in Canada, I don't remember seeing any traffic data on the iDrive map at all. And yes, I do have the option turned on.

Google maps will always have much more data than anyone else just because of the huge number of devices they are able to pull the data from. So it will always be the most accurate and the fastest to update.

I know that google maps just recently got an update that shows the speed limit info in some places. I just don't think that feature has made its way to the CarPlay app yet though. But the point is that it keeps getting update with new features all the time.
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      08-26-2019, 03:36 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
Maybe that's true in some places, like you say in the UK. But in Canada, I don't remember seeing any traffic data on the iDrive map at all. And yes, I do have the option turned on.

Google maps will always have much more data than anyone else just because of the huge number of devices they are able to pull the data from. So it will always be the most accurate and the fastest to update.

I know that google maps just recently got an update that shows the speed limit info in some places. I just don't think that feature has made its way to the CarPlay app yet though. But the point is that it keeps getting update with new features all the time.
TomTom hd traffic doesn't just use the app to collect data, it uses aggregated anonymous cell phone data, police reports, built-in car systems etc, which is why the app install base isn't the deciding factor in the quality of traffic data.

I honestly don't know which has the most accurate traffic data -TT, Apple maps, Waze, RTTI or google maps. I suspect it will vary by region, but I do know TT was written from the ground up as in-car navigation system, whereas google maps tries to be a jack of all trades. I much prefer TT in-car, no comparison, but I'd use google maps for walking, cycling etc. Horses for courses.

I thought BMW RTTI was available in Canada? It's a connected drive service so maybe that service needs to be active in car?

The google maps CarPlay app isn't really a thing. It's the same app installed on iOS whether you use CP or not. If SLI is available in iOS then it should be available in CP. I don't have SLI in google maps yet.
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      08-27-2019, 12:38 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglesrest View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
Maybe that's true in some places, like you say in the UK. But in Canada, I don't remember seeing any traffic data on the iDrive map at all. And yes, I do have the option turned on.

Google maps will always have much more data than anyone else just because of the huge number of devices they are able to pull the data from. So it will always be the most accurate and the fastest to update.

I know that google maps just recently got an update that shows the speed limit info in some places. I just don't think that feature has made its way to the CarPlay app yet though. But the point is that it keeps getting update with new features all the time.
TomTom hd traffic doesn't just use the app to collect data, it uses aggregated anonymous cell phone data, police reports, built-in car systems etc, which is why the app install base isn't the deciding factor in the quality of traffic data.

I honestly don't know which has the most accurate traffic data -TT, Apple maps, Waze, RTTI or google maps. I suspect it will vary by region, but I do know TT was written from the ground up as in-car navigation system, whereas google maps tries to be a jack of all trades. I much prefer TT in-car, no comparison, but I'd use google maps for walking, cycling etc. Horses for courses.

I thought BMW RTTI was available in Canada? It's a connected drive service so maybe that service needs to be active in car?

The google maps CarPlay app isn't really a thing. It's the same app installed on iOS whether you use CP or not. If SLI is available in iOS then it should be available in CP. I don't have SLI in google maps yet.
I'm not disputing what you're saying, I haven't used TT outside of the iDrive map, so I can't really compare them. I just know that Google maps is crowd sourced and will always have up to date road changes including closures for constructions or even accidents. I'm not sure how fast TT gets updated, and as far as I know the map data gets updated at most once every 3-4 months (maybe even more) when a new update is released, while google maps can show any changes in less than 24 hours.

RTTI is available in Canada, it just doesn't have any data on it (at least in my region of Atlantic Canada) so it always shows the roads as clear even during rush hour traffic.

CarPlay apps are not the same as regular apps, they get installed together, so you can't install a CarPlay app on its own, but they're two separate apps, or at least two separate UI's. Not all features that are available in a regular app would be available in it's respective CarPlay app unless the developer explicitly includes it in both. So yes, it is very possible that the google maps app on your phone would show you the speed limit while the CarPlay app would not. It doesn't mean that it can't, it just means that google hasn't implemented that particular feature in their CarPlay UI yet.
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      08-27-2019, 01:44 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by 902 View Post
CarPlay apps are not the same as regular apps, they get installed together, so you can't install a CarPlay app on its own, but they're two separate apps, or at least two separate UI's. Not all features that are available in a regular app would be available in it's respective CarPlay app unless the developer explicitly includes it in both. So yes, it is very possible that the google maps app on your phone would show you the speed limit while the CarPlay app would not. It doesn't mean that it can't, it just means that google hasn't implemented that particular feature in their CarPlay UI yet.
Ah got you. Yes agree, there are variations between the UX of an app running on iOS and CarPlay. Are they separate apps though? I thought the CP app developer added CP support to the existing iOS code, signed it and then submitted it to apple. I'm not 100% but I suspect it's one app with added code support for CP and in this case support for the the apple CP navigation framework.

The point I was making is you would need the iOS version to at least support a feature before it had any chance of being available in CP, therefore I think I misunderstood you - are you saying the SLI is available for you in iOS but not CP?

I think I've taken this thread slightly off topic, but one other advantage of TT in CP is that it can be running at the same time as iDrive nav, meaning you get a second opinion on the route planning and also allows some of the iDrive nav dependent assisted driving features to remain active. It also displays iDrive nav in the HUD, while TT mapping is shown in the main display. Google maps, apple maps and waze do not allow iDrive nav to run simultaneously.

Take your point on the RTTI - what's the point if there is no data? Sounds like a service provider fault.

Last edited by archivedaccount; 08-27-2019 at 02:04 AM..
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      08-27-2019, 08:10 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
RTTI is available in Canada, it just doesn't have any data on it (at least in my region of Atlantic Canada) so it always shows the roads as clear even during rush hour traffic.
RTTI is working in Toronto/Ontario.
But it is no where near as accurate as Google Map. So you are not missing anything.

First, the graphics is hard to see. It is displayed as a red line border of the normal highway color. This together with different traffic border color of the opposite traffic makes it hard to see with a glance.

The traffic data also seems a few minutes or more out of date. And traffic can change a lot in a few minutes.

The traffic data is only available in the highway and not on most of the local streets (at least the ones I use). Google Map has traffic on most of the major roads.

Last edited by nosnoop; 08-27-2019 at 08:19 AM..
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      08-27-2019, 08:19 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
Google maps traffic is a million times better than the BMW maps.
Absolutely true.

Google Maps' ETA is amazingly accurate, even when there is traffic. iDrive's ETA is a constant moving target, and it can be off for as much as 30 min for a 1 1/2 hour drive.

And I love the real time pop up of ETA difference of alternate routes on Google Map so that I can make real time decision on which route to take.
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      08-27-2019, 10:16 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 902 View Post
RTTI is working in Toronto/Ontario.
But it is no where near as accurate as Google Map. So you are not missing anything.
Even when it is accurate, and in the UK it is pretty accurate, the iDrive nav doesn't use it efficiently.

Case in point. I was sat in 10 mins of traffic today. Both iDrive and TT reported the same 10 minutes (same source) and it was probably about 10 mins - its a route I use daily.

iDrive said .... nothing, nada, zilch. Sit in the traffic and relax.
TT said take the next right and get home 8 minutes quicker.

I'm sure Waze, google maps, etc would have made similar recommendations.

I wonder if BMW ever actual test their own navigation.
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      08-27-2019, 04:12 PM   #16
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Thanks for the input everyone. I guess I would need an iPhone if I pull the trigger on an X5.

Or pray that BMW gets AA soon?

On the other hand, Q8 has (almost) everything I need, minus the price tag...
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      08-29-2019, 01:26 PM   #17
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      09-09-2019, 05:06 AM   #18
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I prefer the HUD and dashboard directions using ID7 than carplay google maps which is a bit flaky.
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      09-09-2019, 10:23 AM   #19
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Google maps I use 90% of the time around time because of the traffic information accuracy.

The only time I use iDrive maps is on trips out of town on the highway. I also keep Waze running in the background when using iDrive so that I get those alerts "police reported ahead"
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