[ampere]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Thanks Ampere. I unlocked using the data in the unl file. It shows only parts of Andhra now. Not the entire India. How do I load other segments of the map ?

If its an All India map, then it should show everything. Not sure why its showing only AP! That is the only procedure.
Do you have MMI or Satguide maps?

Pardon me for my naive question: assuming that the same MMI v 6 maps are loaded in two different navigators, say MMI Lx130 and Garmin Nuvi 215, will the display and navigational features on these two navigators be different or the same? If different, which one would be better? Could somebody enlighten me?

[kalpeshc]

Garmins are considered having better hardware than the ones provided by MMI. The satellite lock would happen that much more quicker and routing capabilities would be better.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ampere

If its an All India map, then it should show everything. Not sure why its showing only AP! That is the only procedure.
Do you have MMI or Satguide maps?

Neither. I bought the Garmin from a shop in an exhibition. It came preloaded with this map (think it is SatNav according to Garmin's website).

As per the Garmin website, my existing map is the latest and I am eligible for free update up to one year from the date of purchase.

Thanks again ampere. I know that the map contains all india details.

I used this PND when I drove to Goa at the time of Christmas. It was excellent. It showed the right way all the time. On a couple of occasions, I doubted the GPS and asked for directions from passersby and regretted the decision. Once I asked the route from a state highway to Darwad while the GPS was begging me to take a small road, someone told me to take a different road and I ended up in Belgaum ( Circuitous route wasting nearly 90 km).

Now I trust this little box to guide me in all my trips. It is a little bewildering when everyone is asleep except me driving the car and you hear a loud disemboweled female voice asking you to take the next right to somewhere. If you ignore her, she is relentless - "Route recalculating ..." and then she comes up with another alternative.

[ampere]

@Prowler, the whole GMAPSUPP file should about 180-200 MB size. And are you sure, you are not seeing anything other than AP in Mapsource. Hope its not a rendering issue where S/W is not updating the display.

It should show all the details.

[NetfreakBombay]

@Prowler, right click on map and select "Find nearest places". Find "Cities" and try Mumbai and Goa.

Does it find these cities?

What OS do you have; is it 32 bit or 64 bit.

[ampere]

Folks, Does MMI not provide any promotional offers? I have not seen any from them? If there are any, its only on the hardware which they want sell.

I have never see any promotional offers on the maps.

[iTNerd]

MMI maps for Garmin are available for 4999/ till June 15th. I am in a fix whether to get it. I have upgraded to 2011 NAVTEQ City navigator 2011 today, and I can see a lot of new POIs, and new maps even for the north east regions (roads only). My experience with the NAVTEQ maps is fairly good in Delhi/NCR and in Bangalore. Have not gone beyond that, so can't comment.

[NetfreakBombay]

IMHO, latest version of Navteq is pretty good and has closed coverage gap that existed between Navteq and MMI. If you already have latest Navteq maps, purchasing MMI might not make sense.

I have MMI on Android and coverage in Mumbai/Pune is same as Navteq.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

IMHO, latest version of Navteq is pretty good and has closed coverage gap that existed between Navteq and MMI. If you already have latest Navteq maps, purchasing MMI might not make sense.

I have MMI on Android and coverage in Mumbai/Pune is same as Navteq.

thanks for the info! I will evaluate how the new navteq maps fare when I drive down from Delhi to Bangalore, this month end!

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

@Prowler, right click on map and select ...

Sir, 'right click' on a Garmin unit? I thought @prowler bought a Garmin unit?

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

... closed coverage gap that existed between Navteq and MMI. ...

On another note, aren't MMI (as well as SatNav) using Navteq maps as base and building the POI, address search etc. paraphernalia on top of that? Not sure if MMI as a company has the resources to do the basic maps all by themselves.

[sajo]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

sajo (and others!), I am looking to buy a decent GPS unit that provides the most recent maps possible.

Hey selfdrive, saw your post a bit late.
If you need a GPS Unit purely for navigation purposes, and a basic one would do,it probably makes more sense to have someone bring down a unit from the US and then buy Satguide map. The total solution thus works out to be about 5.5k rupees, and still remains cheaper than the cheapest 4.3" devices in the market as present. You can even order it from websites like 20North. It will be slightly more expensive in that case, but the hardware you get will still be better.
If all that seems to long winded, get a MMI Roadpilot device. Costs around 7.9k the last time I checked.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Sir, 'right click' on a Garmin unit? I thought @prowler bought a Garmin unit?

Garmin maps can be used on PC as well. And his problem is, he cant see complete map on PC.

By the way, newer Garmin unit have multi-touch screens. So they might have 'right click' (long tap like Android/iPhone)

Originally Posted by DerAlte

On another note, aren't MMI (as well as SatNav) using Navteq maps as base and building the POI, address search etc. paraphernalia on top of that? Not sure if MMI as a company has the resources to do the basic maps all by themselves.

No, none of them use Navteq as base.It is easy to identify since both of them are making their own errors w.r.t. road network

And these are multi-million $ companies (literally). Have a look:

Qualcomm Ventures Invests $9 Mn in GIS Firm MapMyIndia | VCCircle

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Garmin maps can be used on PC as well. And his problem is, he cant see complete map on PC. ...

I have GMPC 5.00.70 (not sure if it is the latest) on a laptop with Win7 64-bit. Didn't respond with anything to right-click on the map!!! Is @prowler using some other software?

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

... And these are multi-million $ companies (literally). Have a look: ...

Thanks. That VC funding doesn't mean anything either way, maybe they are using it to strengthen their Sales channels. It is definitely not being used for product QA, otherwise they wouldn't have had so many data errors (not software bugs; granted errors can only 'tend to 0', not become 0). There is no substitute for either physically driving around, or using local agencies to verify the data (the way TomTom is investing time and money on QA). That needs much larger funding which is why I commented on company size.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

I have GMPC 5.00.70 (not sure if it is the latest) on a laptop with Win7 64-bit. Didn't respond with anything to right-click on the map!!! Is @prowler using some other software?

You need Garmin Mapsource for this.

Originally Posted by DerAlte

There is no substitute for either physically driving around, or using local agencies to verify the data (the way TomTom is investing time and money on QA). That needs much larger funding which is why I commented on company size.

Thats is the way (driving around, capturing GPS tracks + video and processing in back office) map data is being created. Indian companies had to start from Zero since govt sources are useless. In last 5 years, maps have come a a long way. And these investments have helped setup back offices processes (including QA).

Tomom is doing it via "crrowdsourcing" from individuals and small companies, this initiative is called "spoider". Details on http://www.spoider.com/.