On the 2nd issue, as I said before, I'm not sure that a "search all" will help given the fact that it will only draw out the first 100 hits. Unless you type in most (if not all) of the letters in the name of the "winery" (Birdman's example), you'll fill that 100 count list real quick, with other stuff. Suppose you're looking for McDonald's Winery (just made that up, but...)?

 

I don't know that Navteq actually requires companies to pay to be listed- the earlier post that implied it was referring to a Navteq service called Direct Access. Granted, by the description it doesn't look free, but I doubt that every mom and pop teriyaki restaurant that's listed was convinced to subscribe.

There's also the map reporter that lets you make suggestions for POI improvements for free. If you register, you can even watch to see what changes they make based on your suggestion.

 

Thanks! I just submitted a report for my closest Pep Boys.

BTW, the form asks if the system came with the car, if so, asks fo the year & make.

 

DUDE!!! That just sounds scary!!! Funny you say it though, I was in Germany last week, stopped in a Burger King, they serve BEER!! And they have a drive thru, we were wondering if you can order a beer at the drive thru!!

But I do understand your concern. However, keep in mind it would list them in proximity order. So there are two cases, 1st you know the name of what your looking for like "J Signs" which I doubt there will be too many duplicates for, especally ones that are close to your location... and 2nd, your looking for a winery close by, you could simply type "Winery" or "Vineyard" and the software will find all names with the word "Winery" and/or "Vineyard" in it (it already does this now, except you need to select a category!), and display them in proximity order. In my case, all the LI vineyards would come up because they are the closest. Or you type "OfficeMax", and all the officemax's are displayed, again in proximity order, so the 1st 100 would be all the ones around LI and NY area. That would be perfect, and is VERY easily done by MINI.


@Edge,
But BOTH problems need fixed, not just #2. #1 is not a "business model" type problem. It is the way the data are arranged in the categories. The categories are wrong. They don't need to change their model (the way they format the data on the dvd), they just need to FIX the categories so they are correct. A vineyard does not belong under Banking and Shopping! On the other hand, they should also change their business model, cause the way their data is stored on the dvd is really stupid. But that is not a battle for this thread. That will fix itself when companies stop using the NAVTECH data, and use Garmin's instead because it works so much better (it is stored with catagories in the data).

@daflake,
I have sent several emails to NAVTECH explaining and detailing the problems. I have never recieved any type of response from them, whatsoever (no wonder their data is so bad!). We would have to fill out that form about 2 million times to fix the problems we are seeing. But yes, everyone should send them "love mail" regaring this problem, that will definitely help.

 

I'll have a White McZinfandel please...or a Big McMerlot . Right, I agree it would be the (big) exception, but I was addressing your concern about inputting the entire name. Those issues would all be survivable for me...just as the current issues are. JMHO

 

maps.google.com shows that they use NAVTECH data. It shows seven PepBoys in the Denver area. Is the problem just that MINI is using outdated NAVTECH data, or are there different categories for which NAVTECH data is doled out (Google Maps vs. BMW's NAV system vs. Garmin's system, etc.)? I have no clue, but seems surprising that the data would exist for Google but not also be located on the MINI's system.

~Neal

 

A very good point, but keep in mind that Google Maps has a lot more space than 4.7GB to work with...

 

Hey Meal, is the FlatIron mall in the data? I have an office in Arvada, out there a few times a year. Love that mall, nice place.

 

It's certainly in the Google Maps data. EDGE makes a good point about certain things getting pared out based on the available space for the media.

~Neal

 

That, and why would you ever need to go to a Pep Boys? All items are carried by your friendly (sometimes not so local) dealer.
And if you have a second, non-MINI vehicle, sell it and buy a clubman.

 

On thing to keep in mind is that while NavTeq supplies both the map and the POI data, the kinship between the two is not mandatory by any means.

NavTeq hands-down has THE BEST map data (bar none!) for North American coverage. However, they (quite obviously) have one of the worst POI databases. Many other companies (such as Garmin) understand this and ONLY purchase the map data from NavTeq. Their much more robust POI information comes from other sources (which is why the Garmin GPS units have much better POI capabilities than our nav system does). BMW/MINI is free to do the same but they choose not to (most likely out of convenience and/or price/profit).

 

You also have to keep in mind that all your data is on one FULL DVD. Google has a backend server with many terabytes of space to store POIs and such. So, Navteq has to be selective in what you get. If they included all the POIs for the USA you would have tons of DVDs and your system might say...

Please insert DVD 23392.

Lastly, why would you not sell space on your disk to vendors? If Pepboys wanted all their stores on the map disk and paid me for it, they would get it. That is a huge advertising spot to be honest and any company that didn't "sell" that space would simply be crazy as that is revenue for them. It just sucks that Navteq sold space to all the places that we don't care about.

 

And they likely gave it away to one incredibly mediocre Hunan restaurant in San Jose. Ask me how I know.

 

LOL, I just thought about this as well. Isn't the Falkner guide on these things? This shows you how much I use it but if that is the case, then the POI selection may be driven by them.

 

I'm not buying the "space limitation" things. I do understand the problem OfficeMaven is having with space on the DVD. But what I don't like is, the Garmin Nuvi 650, has no dvd. It has over 6 million POI's in it, with allot of additional data like CATEGORIES (which our MINI does NOT have). It also hase the entire US maps in it. THEN, it has additional space, to add custom maps and custom POI's to it. Again, it does NOT have a DVD, CD or anything else connected to it. In fact, the unit is 4" by 3", and 1" think.

We have an entire CAR's worth of space (yes, a mini car, but still a car!! ), a DVD player, space for all the memory that man could ask for, and yet we can't fit a few extra categories in it????!@#@!#!@#!

Which of course gets ya thinking in the first place, WHO in the world selected this Nav system in the MINI?? Why would they have not put a Garmin NUVI touchscreen into the thing in the first place?

But I digress!! Let get back to fixing the horible system we have to deal with.

 

Oh, and forgot to mention. My 5 year old Alpine Nav unit in my truck, not only has 10 million POI's built in (no data disc). It has the complete 1999 ZAGAT's restuarant guide in it. So when you select a restuarant, it brings up the Zaggat's write up and rating for you to check out first.

So you would have been forwarned before going to the Cat, I mean, Chineese restuarant.

 

That is something I thought about. I am skeptical of the "pay to be listed" claim as I have found small local places I am certain would not pay to be listed on a nav data base.

 

Perhaps NavTeq only goes after "chains" to have all of their locations listed. Places that are widely known and would be found in every city.

I don't know the reality, I'm just speculating.

 

While Google may already have the rights to use Navteq POIs along with the map data, they also have multiple sources of their own to merge with it. You can add POIs through Google Local/Maps, and it seems like their web spiders are smart enough to automatically pull things like addresses and hours of operation from company websites. I'd be surprised if the Navteq bits were used for anything but a cross reference, even if they did use it.

If you've got a cell phone, there's always directory lookup by SMS or Google 411. It's what I was using before I had a Nav. You can even get driving directions via text message

 

I can pull up Google's full POI listing on my iPhone (via the Edge network), so I'm not too concerned. Would be nice to have it all integrated with the MINI's NAV, however.

~Neal

 

I'm sure if someone offered to pay, they'd take it If it were me, I'd only list businesses that I was able to verify were still there, either internally through some sort of group or contractually with a company that kept track of data like that, like a national phone company. Then, purge listings I couldn't verify as current to prevent old bad/useless data. Churning through all that data for each update can't be an easy or cheap thing.

Offering an update service where business would agree to keep things up to date for me seems like it'd be easier. Have them register to verify they are who they claim to be, then give them some sort of remote client to update a database as they need to. Maybe charge a fee for guaranteed placement on releases that are space constricted.

 

That's exactly what Navteq's Direct Access is. The larger chains like Pep Boys, Walmarts etc. have the option to pay to privately maintain their listings to ensure accuracy. I appologize, as I was the one who speculated that all companies had to pay to play. That may not be the case. The situation with Pep Boys et al could be as simple as the company's just did not have their data base ready at last release. One thing for sure is, the larger chains are definitely $ targets.

 

Yea exactly. Yes, I could use my PDA/phone, yes I could use SMS, Yes I could use google 411, hey, I could get out my laptop, boot it up, plug in my GPS receiver, then attach (tether) my Blackjack phone to get internet accesss, then surf the web to googlemaps, or Microsoft LIVE and get diriections.

BUT, I paid $2,100 in my MINI, so I didn't have to do all that to simply find the nearest place I could buy an air-freshner from (aka Pepboys!).

How about I just install onther $300 Garemin Nuvi, right in front of my Nav screen. That would solve the problem too, wouldn't it. Then I'll drive to MINI HQ, and pick up some MINI/BMW executives and see how embarrassed they are when they see a $300 Garmin nav unit mounted in front of there $2,100 non-working OEM nav unit.

 

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I agree the POI system is bogus, but the nav itself works just fine. It's voice guidance is on par with any Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom system. As far as the price of the Mini system, every single option on a Mini is over priced. That's not surprising Nav is also. The Mini's Nav has at least one feature not found in many GPS systems, including Garmins. Try programming a destination with just your voice on a Garmin portable unit. There aren't any I'm aware of. Mini's system is well done. It's just the POI problem that is lacking.

No offense intended Birdman. You're obviously very uphappy with the $2100 you spent on the Nav. Some of us aren't. Like the Nav, hate the POI system.

 

Funny, I bought my nav system to get from Point A to Point B. I know where I'm going before I leave home. If I need to find a business, I look up the address before I go and plot that into the system.

Guess I didn't realize what the nav was really supposed to do.