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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum
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BMW Says Navigation Error Caused by Parking in MALL Parking Lot
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08-20-2007, 11:01 AM | #1 |
Larry from Los Angeles
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BMW Says Navigation Error Caused by Parking in MALL Parking Lot
OK: This is totally crazy, but true:
I've had my 330i with iDrive for just over a year. Had the Version 25 update in June. I have had no problems with my iDrive at all. Nav is fine (as good as the BMW system can be -- not so good !) Perfect Bluetooth pairing with my Motorola, etc. All of a sudden at the end of June, my Nav started losing the current position. It had me driving around streets I had never been on -- about 5 miles away from my actual position. If I drove the car for 3 miles or, it was find the correct position. But, the next morning, it would be wrong again. I decided to make an appointment and have another upgrade to Version 26. Well, I was off work for a few days before the appointment, the Nav started working fine. Really odd. So, I called my service advisor. She said she was going to talk to the Tech. She came back on the phone and said, "He asked if you parked for long periods in a Mall Parking Structure." In fact, June 18th, I just started working for Apple and park in the Mall Metal Parking Structure all day. The trouble with my Nav began when I started parking there. Can you believe it? I guess the structure interfers with the Nav signal, even though the car is only on for a few minutes while I drive in and out of the parking structure each day. Sure enough, when I went to Palm Springs this weekend, the system worked perfectly. Not ONE glitch. So, now I'm back at work most of this week and I'll see if the same error comes back. So, the moral of the story is, if you don't want to get lost.... don't park in Mall Parking Structures. Larry in Los Angeles P.S. Question: The Svc Advisor said the Tech told me to look at the iDrive Nav Screen and find the GLOBE and select it and it would have lines (like a Cell Phone Signal Strength meter) and it would show how many satellites I was receiving. Does anyone know where this GLOBE is? I can't find it. Maybe it's in a version AFTER 25. H E L P ! ! ! |
08-20-2007, 02:21 PM | #2 |
Major General
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Drives: 2009 E90 335i MT
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Never heard of the globe. If you do find out about it, please let us all know.
A parking garage would interfere with the satellite signal; they're not the most powerful transmitters. But the car should have picked up its location within a few moments of exiting the structure unless you're driving around tall buildings which would lead to multipathing. That would also cut down on the number of satellites you could "see". Those on the horizon would be useless amongst buildings of much height. I think you need a minimum of three to get a location; four to get altitude.
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08-21-2007, 11:21 AM | #3 |
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Wow, interesting...
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08-23-2007, 03:29 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
"A GPS needs to receive signals from at least three satellites before it can calculate your position in two dimensions, and at least four satellites before it can calculate your position in three dimensions (ie including your height/altitude as well as your latitude and longitude)." |
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08-24-2007, 08:58 PM | #5 |
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I don't think the parking structure is entirely to blame and you should have your car serviced. My car is regularly parked in an indoor parking lot (10 story parking lot underneath 3 buildings ranging from 44-50 floors) and I have only had the navigation get confused once or twice. And even in those instances, it corrected itself within a matter of seconds once I was out in the open.
It seems that the satellites give the location, but while the signal is gone it uses some alternative method to estimate the location. For instance, my navigation doesn't get confused when I drive through any of the tunnels in NYC (and some of them have curves).
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08-24-2007, 11:31 PM | #6 | |
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FWIW, I park underground every day. The nav map moves and turns correctly when I am underground, so the dead reckoning works well and my nav has never been confused. Dead reckoning is pretty cool if you're used to "regular" portable nav units, which need to see the GPS sats to know where you are.
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08-26-2007, 01:35 AM | #8 | |
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Quote:
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08-27-2007, 05:32 AM | #9 |
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Yes, sounds weird, but could be correct. If you're parked in a structure with a metal frame, it can throw off the GPS signal in one or more directions due to interference between the metal frame and the signal. Occassionally, happens in aircraft equipped with GPS, even though most of the time most aircraft don't start inside of a structure (except for military aircraft, where I've seen this happen a number of times).
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