Navigation with no 3G

[kunal]

I'm in BC right now and my car gave me the route to the location I wanted to travel to but the center display had no Google maps. It just showed the route. Also I was unable to connect to Slacker Radio and Internet. I don't care so much about the Radio or Internet (although it would be nice if needed to search without roaming on your cell phone), but not being able to scan the maps seems pointless.

What are the Canadian owners doing? How are their maps setup?

 

[Aussie]

I'm in BC right now and my car gave me the route to the location I wanted to travel to but the center display had no Google maps. It just showed the route. Also I was unable to connect to Slacker Radio and Internet. I don't care so much about the Radio or Internet (although it would be nice if needed to search without roaming on your cell phone), but not being able to scan the maps seems pointless.

What are the Canadian owners doing? How are their maps setup?

Canadian owners have 3G access in both Canada and the US. American owners only in the US.

 

[Owner]

Are you saying that when there is no cell service, there is no Map? What good is that. I routinely drive in the boonies where there is no service and I would expect the maps to display and the car to know where it is just like every other GPS based system. I hope I just misunderstood your comments.

And when you leave an area, the existing map goes black! More details here.

 

[Todd Burch]

The 3D Navigon map displayed on the driver's console is fully onboard and ALWAYS available for navigation, even with no cell service. It's only the Google map that you won't get.

 

[Owner]

The 3D Navigon map displayed on the driver's console is fully onboard and ALWAYS available for navigation, even with no cell service. It's only the Google map that you won't get.

even though I like the driver's console stuff for freeways with weird lane merges, my brain loves the full map perspective.

I worry about kids who don't look at old fashioned maps, as they probably will have less accurate sense of direction.

 

[Todd Burch]

even though I like the driver's console stuff for freeways with weird lane merges, my brain loves the full map perspective.

I worry about kids who don't look at old fashioned maps, as they probably will have less accurate sense of direction.

No doubt. I'm confident (or at least hopeful) that Tesla will implement a caching system in the future.

 

[JackA]

Todd; we just returned from Banff, AB and could not "control" the GPS because it always tried to access the internet via 3G. The GPS was operable because it showed where we were and what highway we were on. However, we could not find a way to input a destination. I am not talking about searching for a destination, I mean we could not input an address we know! How do you input an address while out of 3G coverage?

 

[ChadS]

Brian's first post in this thread shows a dialog box that you should get to make it work despite a lack of internet access - but you apparently didn't get it. Perhaps you don't have the tech package? Or perhaps Tesla has a bug where that dialog shows up when there is no signal (brianman's case) but does not show up when there is a signal but it can't be used because of a lack of a roaming agreement.

Possible workaround, if you think of it before driving in to Canada and you have a fixed itinerary: input the addresses you will drive to while still at home, and hit the "navigate" button. That will store the addresses in the "recent places" list. Up in Canada, you can pick an address from the list (press the "Places" button on the top left of the nav screen to see it), and hopefully it will send the address to the Navigon unit without going through Google again. That is just a theory, I have not tried it.

 

[jerry33]

I had a few places in Kansas where there was no 3G connection. The Nav system worked fine although the google map didn't display. Interestingly, the route and the arrow on the 17" display worked fine--just no background map.

 

[huntjo]

I had a few places in Kansas where there was no 3G connection. The Nav system worked fine although the google map didn't display. Interestingly, the route and the arrow on the 19" display worked fine--just no background map.

Dang it! First the performance plus package, and there there are people with a 19" display?!? I thought I was getting top of the line!! Technology... Outdated as soon as you buy it!

 

[jerry33]

Dang it! First the performance plus package, and there there are people with a 19" display?!? I thought I was getting top of the line!! Technology... Outdated as soon as you buy it!

LOL. Sorry about the typo. I comment a lot on 19" tires-- fixed.

 

[huntjo]

:biggrin:

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

One tip if you are in Canada and wanting to use the point-to-point navigation (I wasn't able to pull in a 3G signal to use the touchscreen Google Maps), in the 'state' field in post #1 of this thread, put the abbreviation of the province you are in. In our case, we were in Vancouver, so we put 'BC' in as the state and that did the trick for us to get the instrument cluster point-to-point navigation to work.

 

[TyrionMidEarth]

Wait, I am paying $3,750 for a navigation system that doesn't cache the maps?

 

[VolkerP]

the Navigon included in the $3,750 tech package has locally stored map data. The map caching is a feature of the standard Google navigation that runs on the center touch screen.

 

[TyrionMidEarth]

So I don't see the map on the center screen when there's no signal? What about the Navigon? Does it show just the turn-by-turn directions or the surrounding area maps as well?

 

[gregincal]

So I don't see the map on the center screen when there's no signal? What about the Navigon? Does it show just the turn-by-turn directions or the surrounding area maps as well?

Just the turn by turn, which kind of sucks. I'm still hoping they'll do true offline maps for people with nav at some point.

 

[brianman]

(1)So I don't see the map on the center screen when there's no signal? (2)What about the Navigon? (3) Does it show just the turn-by-turn directions or the surrounding area maps as well?

(1) You see the thick orange path, but the rest goes black on the 17".
(2) It continues to work fine. No changes observed when 3G dries up.
(3) See 2. (Continues to show the pathing, the turn info, and the terrain.)

 

[TyrionMidEarth]

(3) See 2. (Continues to show the pathing, the turn info, and the terrain.)

What do you mean by terrain? Does it show other streets close by?

 

[brianman]

What do you mean by terrain? Does it show other streets close by?

By terrain I meant mountains vs. other roads. I don't recall if it listed other streets close by or not. It's been a few months since the OP.