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Old July 12th 18, 06:27 PM posted to rec.autos.tech
micky
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Posts: 383
Default how does the map get into the radio?

In rec.autos.tech, on Thu, 12 Jul 2018 11:34:16 -0500, Vic Smith
> wrote:

>On Wed, 11 Jul 2018 23:44:00 -0700 (PDT), dsi1 > wrote:
>
>>On Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 6:15:26 PM UTC-10, micky wrote:
>>> In a new car radio with GPS, how does the map get into the radio? Does
>>> it receive cellular data, wifi, or come already installed?
>>>
>>> What if you want to install the next year's version?
>>>
>>> My current 2005 toyota has a map on DVD, and it's not got all the roads,
>>> even the ones that existed then. A repacement DVD is 90+ dollars!
>>> but mine is good. OTOH, one for 2011 is only $20, but I'm guessing it
>>> won't work right??? And I don't know if it has many more roads or not.
>>> Maybe it only has more recent stores.
>>>
>>> And I don't see anything newer than 2011, so I figure they don't use
>>> DVDs anymore. ??
>>>
>>> I don't need navigation, only occasionally to know where I am.
>>>
>>> If the GPS map on new radios isn't a lot better than what I have, I'd
>>> rather save a couple hundred dollars and get a radio withou it.

>>
>>I'm surprised that they still make standalone GPS units. I use an app on my phone - Waze. The app gives real time updates on road/traffic conditions, estimated time of arrival, presence of road hazards, including police. In the future, all cars will be sending data back and forth to each other.
>>

>
>Some people (me for one) don't pay for a monthly cell phone plan. If I did, I would make
>use of such an app.


It probably won't give directions, which I guess is calculated at the
web site, but even without data, you can use the cell phone to see where
you are on the map. Just dl the maps when you're at a wifi source.
I forget the details but google maps last iirc 3 months and maps.me
might last much longer. Maps.me has the advantage that it displays
house numbers. Google will find a house by number if you put the number
in, but maps.me (on the PC too) displays the whole street with numbers
for every house or maybe at the ends of each block. There are other
advantages to each one too. But they both work for telling you where
you are and you can enter a destination and find out where it is, on the
map, assuming you are in an area for which you have dl'd the map. (If
you had data, it would dl the map on the fly, as you drive into new
areas, but I usually have all of central maryland and wherever else I
plan to go soon. For the trip to Florida, I dl'd the whole path to
Florida.

Even without a monthly plan. Just about any phone, even that someone
has stopped using will do this.
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