[Mooselook]

Has anyone tried this? You can plan multi-destination nav routes, put it on a USB stick and upload it to the i-Drive. I tried it last night. Pretty cool. A bit easier than doing it in the car. www.bmw-routes.com

[rkan]

Yeah, I tried a test route. Works as advertised. From what I remember though, the instructions on the web site use slightly different terms that the US idrive, like using "route" vs "trip", or something like that. And I think 1 step was missing on the upload instructions.

[Technic]

About damn time... VW has this Nav service since last year.

[Mooselook]

Originally Posted by rkan

Yeah, I tried a test route. Works as advertised. From what I remember though, the instructions on the web site use slightly different terms that the US idrive, like using "route" vs "trip", or something like that. And I think 1 step was missing on the upload instructions.

Definitely set up for the European market with Journey instead of trip. Also, they mention a service called BMW ConnectedDrive for over the air transfer of routes directly to the car sans USB. Similar to the BMWAssist functionality through Google Maps. According to the site, ConnectedDrive is not available in the US.

[Koroush]

There should be some website that uploads great driving spots to your Idrive and then guides you to them so you can have a great ride.

[Mooselook]

Originally Posted by Koroush

There should be some website that uploads great driving spots to your Idrive and then guides you to them so you can have a great ride.

This is exactly what BMW-ROUTES does. But only for Europe. However, if you create your own route on the site you can share the file with your friends. It would be cool to have a site where we could post our preferred drives. Hmmm.

[rob72]

This seems like it might be a way to upload custom points of interest (POI) to the idrive.

Basically it creates a BMWDATA/nav directory on the USB stick with in it a .tar.gz file which has a xml file inside.

So if you can find out the right keywords, it might be possible to create a speedcamera/redlight poi xml file that you can upload with a USB stick. Problem is finding the right keywords without a definition file....

The fact that it uses .tar.gz file format, clearly indicates the new idrive OS is another unix-like based system.

If I had a 2009 model, I would probably be looking around the web for other nav systems that Becker made hoping to find some more XML example files.

[DigiSage]

Is it just me or do you have to understand German to use this site? I couldn't find a link anywhere to take me to an English version. ??

[Mooselook]

Originally Posted by DigiSage

Is it just me or do you have to understand German to use this site? I couldn't find a link anywhere to take me to an English version. ??

Check out the bottom left corner for the menu titled Sprache: Deutsch, then select english. Makes it much easier.

[munna]

The "import trips (USB)" option, its greyed out and I cannot select it. Any ideas on what I maybe doing wrong?

[traabil]

Originally Posted by rob72

This seems like it might be a way to upload custom points of interest (POI) to the idrive.

Basically it creates a BMWDATA/nav directory on the USB stick with in it a .tar.gz file which has a xml file inside.

So if you can find out the right keywords, it might be possible to create a speedcamera/redlight poi xml file that you can upload with a USB stick. Problem is finding the right keywords without a definition file....

The fact that it uses .tar.gz file format, clearly indicates the new idrive OS is another unix-like based system.

If I had a 2009 model, I would probably be looking around the web for other nav systems that Becker made hoping to find some more XML example files.

I had the exact same thought. I spent a few minutes tinkering with the XML file. But I'm a novice in these matters. It's better left to the experts (anyone?)

[rusky_335]

Originally Posted by munna

The "import trips (USB)" option, its greyed out and I cannot select it. Any ideas on what I maybe doing wrong?

I had this problem, too. It turned out I had completely filled the hard drive with music so it was not able to import any routes. I deleted the music and it worked fine.

[munna]

Originally Posted by rusky_335

I had this problem, too. It turned out I had completely filled the hard drive with music so it was not able to import any routes. I deleted the music and it worked fine.

Thanks for the info. My drive is actually empty. Haven't transferred any music into it yet.

However, i did get manage to get the route import working - although i'm not sure what was got it working. When i first tried it, the engine was off. Second time i tried it, engine was on, and i had gone into the "BMW Assist menu" and selected update services. For some reason, that seemed to enable the import route menu.

*shrugs*

[Nola]

My car has a bunch of "journeys" preloaded. They come complete with description, and I can search for the journeys closest to present location. They all seem to take backroads. I can't wait to try them out.

[viancu]

I know it looks stupid, but in order to be able to import the trip from the USB stick, you have to have the engine on. Not only "radio readyness", but start the engine. Looks like somebody thinks this is a procedure to be made driving ... :-)

[JohnGarziglia]

I tried this two days ago and was able to do several routes in the US without any problem. Today (11/5/2009) when I try it, it says I am in an "unsupported" country and refuses to let me save my route to the USB stick. Has BMW disabled this for the US in just the past two days?

[JohnGarziglia]

Here is the "Invalid Route" message I am now getting which I did not get doing United States routes and transferring them to my car two days ago:

[rkan]

Well that sucks! I was taking a trip soon.

[rusky_335]

Yes, BMW Routes is currently unavailable in the United States. I asked BMWNA about this and was told:
"BMW has no information on a future availability of the BMW ConnectedDrive Route Planning for the United States Market....blah, blah, blah."

I then asked "why?", and was told:
"I regret to inform that I cannot provide an explanation as to why this feature was removed. A decision such as this would be made by our executives and engineers with the reasoning not publicly available...."

I shared my strongly negative thoughts regarding their decision.

I don't think many people are aware of BMW Routes or even noticed its demise. This feature his hardly even mentioned on this forum. For me, it figured into my decision to buy a BMW.

[JohnGarziglia]

Originally Posted by rusky_335

Yes, BMW Routes is currently unavailable in the United States. I asked BMWNA about this and was told:
"BMW has no information on a future availability of the BMW ConnectedDrive Route Planning for the United States Market....blah, blah, blah."

I then asked "why?", and was told:
"I regret to inform that I cannot provide an explanation as to why this feature was removed. A decision such as this would be made by our executives and engineers with the reasoning not publicly available...."

I shared my strongly negative thoughts regarding their decision.

I don't think many people are aware of BMW Routes or even noticed its demise. This feature his hardly even mentioned on this forum. For me, it figured into my decision to buy a BMW.

I have been a BMW owner since 1987. But with the advances in electronics in the past few years, for my next car I am becoming more and more convinced that I will give up the performance advantage of the BMW for an "open" system of electronics.

There are so many applications that could now be designed for cars but cannot be because the nav/audio/teledphone systems in cars are closed systems. If almost 100,000 apps can be developed by third parties for a stupid phone, think of the number of incredible apps that could be developed for a car.

Since I got my new M3, BMW has tried several times to get me to sign up for their $199/year "Convenience Plan". I have resisted, not because I would not like the expanded data I could get from Google maps, but mostly on the principle of the thing in that they are offering me a concierge service I do not particularly want or need, but are failing to offer me even some of the possible advantages that they could offer me with the 3G connection, computer and USB ports in my car.

BMW should be falling all over themselves to offer US drivers the BMW-routes feature. It is as if BMW has no worries about continuing to stay competitive.

[4-series]

anyone knows of a way to plan routes in the US on your pc so you do not have to enter them manually?

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by 4-series

anyone knows of a way to plan routes in the US on your pc so you do not have to enter them manually?

I suppose you could use Google Maps and send a bunch of destinations to your car, then add them in the correct sequence to a saved trip in Nav.