Map update

[Valente]

Has anyone updated their map? I received an email notice of a new update with instructions:
https://static.garmincdn.com/autoOem/honda/docs/en.pdf

But it seems it's only for Windows. According to instructions I need to download an ".exe" file. Macs do not open .exe files. Only DMG files. I'm a MAC user. Are there MAC users out there who have been successful with the update?

 

[JackH]

Garmin Express is available for MAC https://www.garmin.com/en-US/software/express/

 

[leehoewonek]

I'm assuming us Linux users are just SOL? I haven't read through all the instructions posted, but I get a sense that the file is marked as specific to that car? If it's just a matter of copying a map file to the USB stick and upgrading from that, there should be a way to do it in Linux.

 

[petteyg359]

Try it in wine. The worst that can happen is it won't work. Every file installed has a checksum, so it won't break the car's navigation if it ends up making a bad USB copy. OpenStreeMaps also provides a supposedly Garmin-compatible map download: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

 

[Valente]

Try it in wine. The worst that can happen is it won't work. Every file installed has a checksum, so it won't break the car's navigation if it ends up making a bad USB copy. OpenStreeMaps also provides a supposedly Garmin-compatible map download: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

Just finished updating. Lots of trial and error. At first GARMIN couldn't find the USB stick on my computer. Since I'm on a mac I had to format the USB stick to MSDOS FAT. (Windows must be formatted to FAT32) Then inserted the USB stick into my car. Found the update device menu and it prepared/re-formatted the stick to recognize my car so it could read the "Garmin install" file off my computer. Then inserted the USB stick back into my computer. Garmin was finally able to find the USB stick. I uploaded the map onto the stick which took about 90 min. Went to my car and the car is currently updating the map which it says should take about an hour or so....and NOT TO TURN OFF THE CAR OR REMOVE THE USB STICK until it's done. Whew!

 

[MNSteve]

Whew!

It will be easier next time. Assuming you remember how you did it a year later. (Which I don't ... every time is the first time.) Your posting reminded me that I need to do the same thing. I am assuming that I will need to download the huge file twice, once for each of my Honda vehicles, since I think that the file is coded to only work with one specific vehicle.

 

[MNSteve]

So I go to the official Honda map update website ... and true to form, the Clarity does not exist.

 

[Valente]

It will be easier next time. Assuming you remember how you did it a year later. (Which I don't ... every time is the first time.) Your posting reminded me that I need to do the same thing. I am assuming that I will need to download the huge file twice, once for each of my Honda vehicles, since I think that the file is coded to only work with one specific vehicle.

Yes, when I inserted my USB stick into my car, it read my car and inserted a series of numbers on the stick. Cool that Honda doesn't charge for an update. Every other car I've owned charges minimum $200 for a NAV update. RIPOFF!!

 

[MNSteve]

Word to the wise ... Seems obvious and not necessary to say, but follow the instructions exactly.

The way this works is that the car writes a file to the USB stick, then Garmin Express recognizes that USB stick as "magic" and that's the enabler to download the actual map to the stick so you can then go back to the car, re-insert the stick, and update your map files in the car. But what I did, which in retrospect is insanely stupid, was to take a USB stick to the car, coerce the car to write the magic file, then when I got to the point of doing the download via Garmin Express it wouldn't do it because the USB stick was too small. So I found a bigger stick and tried again to download, but now it wouldn't download because the stick didn't have the magic file on it. Of course the error message doesn't say, "Hey, dummy, the USB stick that you're trying to use doesn't have the magic file on it." It just doesn't find any eligible devices to which it can download. It took me a little head scratching to realize that all I had to do was copy the magic file from the original USB stick to the new improved model to which I'm currently downloading the new map.

Moral: RTFM.

 

[Valente]

Word to the wise ... Seems obvious and not necessary to say, but follow the instructions exactly.

The way this works is that the car writes a file to the USB stick,

Moral: RTFM.

My stick was 16 gigs but I did go through a lot of trial and error steps. My biggest problem was that I'm on a MAC and didn't know what to format the stick to since I'm given 10 choices. There's not even a format option on a MAC. There's an erase option then it gives you 10 options to erase to 10 different formats!! There's not a FAT 32 option which the instructions suggest and FAT is not normally a MAC format. There are 4 different FAT options so I took a chance and erased to each one. The one that finally worked was MSDOS FAT. I doubt I'll see a huge difference in the map update since I normally don't travel to unfamiliar places but it's nice to know my map has been updated.

 

[LAF]

My stick was 16 gigs but I did go through a lot of trial and error steps. My biggest problem was that I'm on a MAC and didn't know what to format the stick to since I'm given 10 choices. There's not even a format option on a MAC. There's an erase option then it gives you 10 options to erase to 10 different formats!! There's not a FAT 32 option which the instructions suggest and FAT is not normally a MAC format. There are 4 different FAT options so I took a chance and erased to each one. The one that finally worked was MSDOS FAT. I doubt I'll see a huge difference in the map update since I normally don't travel to unfamiliar places but it's nice to know my map has been updated.

how much difference has anyone observed in the map info on the update?

 

[RickSE]

Yes, when I inserted my USB stick into my car, it read my car and inserted a series of numbers on the stick. Cool that Honda doesn't charge for an update. Every other car I've owned charges minimum $200 for a NAV update. RIPOFF!!

Honda usually gives five years of map updates from garmin as part of the deal. After that it’s something like $300 for lifetime updates. For anyone coming from another Honda with NAV (or owning multiple Honda’s with NAVs) do not reuse the USB from the other car without wiping it (or reformatting it). If you don’t then the original car ID will be recognized and the maps on the newer car will get wiped out. It happened to me when I got the clarity and when I had the dealer update the head unit software on my old Accord (so in that case it wasn’t just the dealer not understanding the Clarity).

 

[MNSteve]

how much difference has anyone observed in the map info on the update?

As much difference as there needs to be.

In an area where no roads have changed, zero.

In an area where there has been significant road construction with actual changes in the road layout, the update will show those changes. Eventually. There is a delay between the actual road changes, the mapping companies realizing that and re-surveying the area, and the map actually updating. This delay varies quite a bit depending on many factors including how visible the roads are.

Several years ago we were driving on a newly-constructed segment of highway but the GPS was not aware of the change. It thought we were driving in cornfields.

The real question is, "Is it worth doing the upgrade?" And the answer depends on a number of factors including how old the map is that you're updating and how much you drive in areas where the road layout changes. I try to update mine every year but I don't always manage to do so, and I continue to live a full life.

 

[petteyg359]

As much difference as there needs to be.

In an area where no roads have changed, zero.

In an area where there has been significant road construction with actual changes in the road layout, the update will show those changes. Eventually. There is a delay between the actual road changes, the mapping companies realizing that and re-surveying the area, and the map actually updating. This delay varies quite a bit depending on many factors including how visible the roads are.

Several years ago we were driving on a newly-constructed segment of highway but the GPS was not aware of the change. It thought we were driving in cornfields.

The real question is, "Is it worth doing the upgrade?" And the answer depends on a number of factors including how old the map is that you're updating and how much you drive in areas where the road layout changes. I try to update mine every year but I don't always manage to do so, and I continue to live a full life.

That's why I much prefer Android Auto for navigation. It's not ancient and ridiculous. On I-10, south of Mobile Alabama, where there's been no evidence of remotely recent construction, especially not huge redirection of the whole dang interstate, Garmin showed me driving through the middle nowhere a half mile south parallel to the road. I-10! There's no excuse to have an interstate be so badly misplaced in their maps, especially when it hasn't moved in years.

 

[MNSteve]

There are only two companies that provide digital map data. Chances are that your Android Auto is using the same data as the Garmin GPS. I'm sure that your Android Auto system has its quirks - maybe not the same ones as you have seen on the Garmin GPS, but it's not perfect.

It's a tradeoff. With offline data loaded into the GPS, there's likely to be a bit longer lag time between a change and its reflection in the GPS data. Until fairly recently it wasn't even an option to upgrade navigation systems in cars, so they did become obsolete. If you don't invest the time to update the GPS map, bad things may happen.

But different bad things may happen with your Android Auto. If you get caught in a place with no cellular service and you haven't downloaded an offline map, you will be in a world of hurt. This puts you into the same boat as updating the map in a GPS. Or you can just assume that you'll always have a good cellular connection.

 

[petteyg359]

There are only two companies that provide digital map data. Chances are that your Android Auto is using the same data as the Garmin GPS.

That is false. There are (or were, as of a few years ago) at least three. Garmin uses NavTeq, TomTom owns TeleAtlas, and Google, since sometime in 2009, has been generating their own data.

But different bad things may happen with your Android Auto. If you get caught in a place with no cellular service and you haven't downloaded an offline map, you will be in a world of hurt. This puts you into the same boat as updating the map in a GPS. Or you can just assume that you'll always have a good cellular connection.

Google auto-downloads maps for frequently visited places. If I'm desperate, I also have OSM, which again automatically downloads offline maps, but it sometimes makes rather stupid navigation choices, so I don't use it for directions. Given the car has a fast wifi internet connection every time it is parked in the vicinity of my house, the USB dance shouldn't be required at all - the car should be updating the maps automatically, and Garmin should get their crap together. Annual or even quarterly is NOT an acceptable frequency for map updates in the digital age; I might as well go back to a giant printed atlas that I have to pull over and unfold on the hood of the car to read.

 

[MNSteve]

Two companies. Three. The point is that no digital map is going to be perfect. You can find errors in all of them.

The tradeoff with GPS is very simple. "Should" is a great word, but at this point in the development of the technology, you have two choices:

Offline maps. Requires effort to keep them up to date, requires space on the device to store them, bigger lag between road changes and map changes.

Real time data. Great as long as you have a working connection to the outside world. Useless if you don't.

Personally, having been burned by not having an offline map when the cellular connection went south . . . I use both. I try to keep an offline map available, just in case, recognizing that I'd rather use real time data but I need a backup. I'm also a private pilot, and when I fly cross country I print the chart for my route. I almost never look at the paper, but one day it may save my life. The time I invest to do that, and to update my GPS, is time wasted when I don't use them, but I still do it. YMMV.

 

[petteyg359]

Offline maps. Requires effort to keep them up to date, requires space on the device to store them, bigger lag between road changes and map changes.

Unless you're trying to use some ancient pocket GPS-only device that has ridiculously tiny storage space, the size is not a concern. We have extremely efficient geospatial data storage methods these days. The full-detail OSM.pbf map for all of North America is 8 GB. Yes, it takes a while to download, especially if you're on an evil ISP with silly artificial download limits, but any mainstream phone has more than enough storage to hold it. The whole planet fits on a 64GB SD card.

Real time data. Great as long as you have a working connection to the outside world. Useless if you don't.

There's real time and then there's reasonable time. Having I-10 half a mile away on your map from where I-10 actually is on the planet for any amount of time at all is not reasonable time. These are digital maps. Changing them is not like printing a new batch of a million paper atlases.

 

[rickyrsx]

Is there a Canadian map update?


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[Steven L]

Has anyone updated their map? I received an email notice of a new update with instructions:
https://static.garmincdn.com/autoOem/honda/docs/en.pdf

But it seems it's only for Windows. According to instructions I need to download an ".exe" file. Macs do not open .exe files. Only DMG files. I'm a MAC user. Are there MAC users out there who have been successful with the update?

I had no issues updating the map using an iMac.


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