Post removed as it just ain't worth it.

 

Practically, is ANYONE going to buy a car whose nearest dealership is 250 miles away?

 

Even if it takes 30 seconds for a long-range search (250 - 500 miles) who cares? I'm fine with that. I really don't care how long it takes. I just want to be able to find something, anything for gods sake!!

But yea, 99% of the time, you looking for something with a few miles, or 25 or 50 miles worst case. That's why I also don't understand why they don't default the current state and city for a new search. If you want a different city or state, you could easily change it. But why do we have to enter the state for every new search, unless you say on location?

Anywho, I'm not concerned about those details, I just want to be able to find something in a search.

I figure MINI is almost done with the update. You guys herd right? MINI is releasing a data update (new dvd) to all owners, and a OS update at your next service!! You have to email mini and your dealer to be put on the waiting list for the updates.

 

Where did you learn this? Is there something specific we need to email Mini and our dealer to ask for to get this update? ie, a specific software update? What version is the update?

 

or maybe it's a dumb question that anyone would be willing to point out...I can't see where you can compile any more than 100 hits to a search of any category, regardless of the distance of coverage selected. Does your Search All category do the same thing? Is there a "next 100" option that I'm not seeing?

 

The solution I'm working on would exhibit the exact same behavior in that area as the default setup does (i.e. that's not something I've changed in any way). I don't see that as being a problem though since I see no reason why you would ever need any more hits than that. If you're having to look through 100 search results, then you need to narrow down your search a bit more using a better "part of name" text entry. No???

 

Mini, I don't know what the rev is or anything, just ask your dealer and miniusa for it.

Office,
Hows it going my brother?? Getting anywhere? Great work so far man!! You finish this, and you deserve a British medal of honor!!

 

I still haven't taken my MCS in for the software update that fixes voice recognition. I was about to schedule that. Should I wait a little while for a new OS? Can you provide more info on this?

Regarding the POI search mods, I assume Macintosh users are SOL unless we get something like Parallels and run Windows, right?

 

Huh? In the past MINI hasn't even provided new owners with current data disks on new cars.
Where did you hear this?

 

I suspect Birdman is attempting to play us to put pressure on MiniUSA via dealers. Birdman, if that is so, not cool. If not so, I apologize, and please provide details of how you came about this information.

 

@Robin,
1. What is a "Macintosh"?
2. You should ask your dealer, and miniusa when it will be available to you.

@Eric,
What difference does it matter where it came from? Get your update from your dealer.

 

If you're jonesing for Korean food for example, and you set the categories to restaurants (the finest resolution) and you don't see anything acceptable in the first 100 hits, you can't see anything beyond those first 100 within the 25 mile radius. Who knows, list item 101 within the first 25 miles may have been the ideal candidate, but you'll never see it, let alone anything between 25-50 miles.

Just wondering. No biggie, but thanks.

 

It is the computer that PCs try to emulate.

More detail would be helpful. If I tell them that Birdman said it was almost ready, are they going to say, "Oh, in that case..."?

Knowing the source allows us to learn more about it, and to have more confidence in what would otherwise be internet forum hearsay.

 

Would not an update to the DVD have to come from Navteq (just aquired by Nokia by the way)? Pardon my skepticism on this one...'because-I-said-so' just don't get it.

 

@Birdman (and All),

It's basically a done deal... I've pretty much finished the "Search All" fix and it works great (both 1st and 2nd gen). The only problem is the free disc space issue. It doesn't look like the nav system is going to deal with dual-layer DVDs (not to mention that burning a dual-layer DVD would probably be a problem for most folks).

Thus, the only thing I can do is to simply remove all of the pre-existing POI categories and replace them with my "Search All" versions instead. This is perfectly acceptable to me seeing as once I've got the Search All POI categories, I doubt that I'll ever go back and use any of the other default POI sub-categories anyway.

I see no other way around the problem at this point. Removing the standard (i.e. the 105 different sub-categories) is the only way we'll be able to fit the search all data onto a single-layer 4.7 GB DVD.

@Robin,

I'm afraid that Mac users would indeed be SOL on this one. For one, I'm not a Mac user (and have no interest in becoming one) and so I wouldn't be able to help in that area. Two, the Pimp-My-Nav software isn't available in a Mac OS format (this has always been my biggest complaint about Macs - i.e. you can't get any software for them).

However, I might be willing to stamp discs for those folks who don't have access to a PC, don't have a DVD burner, etc. At this point my criteria for that would be:

1) You'd have to provide proof that you actually own an original 2007-2 map data DVD.

Obviously this won't be a problem for 2nd gen MINI owners since their cars came with one from the factory. I won't be modifying any of the older map data DVDs and so 1st gen MINI owners would have to of purchased one of the newest 2007-2 map discs in order to qualify.

Note that the 2008-1 maps should be coming out in February of 2008 and so folks may want to hold off for that version before purchasing a 2007-2 version (which is almost at the end of its life cycle).

2) You'd have to purchase a copy of the Pimp-My-Nav software (as that's only fair to the author since without all of his hard work this really wouldn't be possible).

3) I'd need a few dollars to cover my shipping costs (probably less than $5 for regular first class snail mail).

Also, while I see this as a non-issue, everyone needs to be aware that (as Birdman has pointed out) modifying the map DVD's data most likely violates NavTeq/BMW/MINI's copyright laws (although we're not really modifying the data at all - we're simply rearranging it is all). Personally, I could care less as I don't feel that fixing the search limitation of the map data is a big issue. However, you'll have to judge that for yourself. If you don't feel comfortable using a modified DVD (for legal reasons), then there's no need for you to do so (i.e. just stick to using your original map DVD).

 

T.O.M., will you also be doing a detailed write-up of your modifications for those of us who don't want to burden you with sending us a disk but also feel capable of handling the task themselves? Based on the time it's taken you to go from "Hey, guess what I'm doing!" to "Done!" I'm thinking it's a non-trivial operation. ( )

~Neal

 

TheOfficeMaven, my previous question pertained to the exact configuration you are talking about. That's really why I asked it. Your "search all" is great if you know the name of what you are searching for. If you are in unfamiliar territory, and you don't know any names, then the categories are necessary, are they not?

 

My guess is that if MINI were to release a Search All solution, it would more likely be in firmware rather than an ALL POI category on the map disc itself. It would be a Search All command that simply walks through each category as it searches. I think this because:

• Requires no additional disc space
• Would work with existing map discs past and present
• SHOULD be relatively easy to implement
• last but not least: can be accomplished without NavTeq involvement at all (ALWAYS a problem to coordinate/negotiate with an additional organization)

 

Hmm, that ends up being a bit of a conundrum. I know I used 'chinese restaurant' sub category the other night.

 

Does it require removing all the categories, or just the sub-categories? If the latter, that might be ok, unless you're in a high-density area.

 

Sure, I'll do the write-up as soon as I can.

BTW, the hard part was figuring out how to make it all work (getting through the bugs, etc.). The work itself is indeed trivial, but very task and time intensive.

It's a LOT of work exporting all the 105 POI categories, combining them, and then importing them again. The Business and Services category alone (for example) takes nearly three hours to import on my powerhouse dual-core Intel machine.

 

Bingo!! And THIS should hopefully be the update I have herd about. It would take a programmer at MINI all of about 15 minutes to make this work, compile it, and test it.

 

T.O.M,
I wonder if there is a way you could deleted some of the MAP data?? For example, I lvie in North East, don't care about West Coast map's, as I doubt I'll ever take a "quick" drive 4000 miles to Cali!

The POI db is really actually small, not much data in there. Most of the disk is made up of map data, isn't it?

 

They could indeed be.

The six top-level categories would still be there and so you can indeed still do searches within those. For example, if you know you're looking for a gas station, that would obviously be in the "Car and Travel" category. However, if you don't know the name of what you're looking for, then that could indeed present a problem (i.e. you could end up with lots of POIs to search through that aren't in the general sub-category you're looking for).

Personally, I don't know how to resolve that problem since there just isn't enough free disc space to do what we want (more so with the 2nd gen MINIs than the 1st gen ones).

If everyone feels that it's not a solution that will work for them, then please speak up now as I've already put WAAAAY too much work into this and would hate to continue further when it won't be something that people will use.

I think that there's still the possibility of using a Dual-Layer DVD with the 2nd gen MINI's, but the 1st gen MINI's just don't seem to like them at all. I'll have to keep playing around. The problem is that the Dual-Layer DVDs get expensive after you've burned through a dozen or so of them (at anywhere from $1 to $5 each depending on where you buy them from).

 

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on this one. It would take way too much work for them to resolve the problem with a firmware update. The POI data is setup to be fully controlled via the data DVD and not the firmware (I'm sure it was done that way so that NavTeq could control how the POI data is updated over the years).

It would be very easy for NavTeq/MINI to resolve the problem by simply updating the map DVD. And, they wouldn't have to duplicate any of the data. Since they have full access to the data (something we don't have), they can move it around and produce the exact same results as I have without duplicating any of it. Very easy!

Also, it's much easier to sell a customer a new DVD (which they can order by mail, purchase over the Internet, etc.) than it is to have them bring their car in and flash the firmware (especially for the POS 2nd gen nav system setup where updating the nav firmware is a HUGE ordeal - unlike the 1st gen nav system where it's a simple two minute insert an update CD and you're done process).