JonDeutsch

I've only had my car for 5 days now, but in the last 2 days, the navigation system seems to be "off" and I find myself needed to manually adjust my position almost constantly. Since it went "off" 2 days ago, it consistently doesn't realize that I'm on an exit ramp until well after I make a sharp turn (then it jumps me from the highway to the exit ramp), and it also seems to be "behind" reality by about 100 feet or so, even when I try to manually adjust myself back up to reality.

I know for a fact that this thing worked perfectly the first 3 days. I watched it constantly (no cops on this board, right? ), and I was fascinated, amazed, and impressed with its accuracy.

I heard that there's a way to see how the sat. reception is, and I wonder if that's something I should look at. The reason why I say this is that I'm almost convinced that the NAVI is working off my wheels and not the sat's the way it's acting lately. But that could be a false assumption. I'm too new to really know what's going on yet.

Can anyone else chime in on similar experiences and solutions?

Thanks,
Jon

Whiskers

There is a way to hack into the configuration. But if it was me, I would just go back to the dealer to have them fix it.

Dan Martin

Sounds like you might be getting bad reception with your antenna.

phirenze

If it's been rainy/cloudy in your area for the past 2 days then the sitation you describe is somewhat typical. During heavy thunderstorms I've had my navi go completely ape and be off by a mile or so.
Also, this may be total BS but i've heard that during wartime the dept of defense purposely worsens the accuracy of their GPS satelites.

Outlook

yeah, have your dealer take a look at it.....

GIBSON6594

I think this is true as well. Our GPS cannot be completely accurate for military reasons. I'm not sure what the reasons are, but thats what Acura told me when I asked them why it says my car is parked at my neighbors house when it is parked at mine.

faston

So your neighbour will get hit by a cruise missile instead of you!

GIBSON6594

Yes, if it is amied at me. I just hope it's not aimed at my other neighbor

daniel1113

The military doesn't control the accuracy of the GPS; however, they do have the ability to shut-off all civilian GPS usage at any time if need be.

NorCal

Happened to me a few times too but, it's only been a few times and I haven't really worried about it since it corrects itself fairly fast (by the time I'm actually off the offramp for example).

I've heard that metallic window tint on the rear window 'might' affect nav's accuracy but, have never pursued or confirmed this.

sygyzy

The military does control the accuracy of GPS system for civilians. They don't want to give an unfair edge to people who might use the system for non-friendly actions.

"selective availability (SA), a process that altered the signals received by civilian GPS users, making positioning accurate only to within 100 metres, while the military still had access to the undegraded signal accurate to within 20 or 30 metres."

JonDeutsch

Thanks for the info, guys! I'm getting conflicting info, though. Seems like some people have NAIV accuracy problems, and some have never had any? Is this the synopsys?

I wonder if this is due to bad weather (it has been cloudy the past 2 days)?

I know the .mil system reduces accuracy, but the GPS system is supposed to triangulate accurately despite this built-in limitation through other tricks.

Thanks,
Jon

lazynay

Today I was driving on an unmapped road that I had driven on a few days ago, the GPS had my vehicle located about a quarter of an inch (on the screen in 1/8th scale) from the breadcrumbs left in the system by my last trip.

daniel1113

Wikipedia

GeorgeTSX

Jon,

I have been using the NAV on my TSX since April 2003. The only time mine goes a little wacky is just after I pull out of my parking garage and leave work here in downtown Columbus Ohio where there are tall buildings. It will be out of sync for about 3 minutes with the map but after that it is ok. This is due to the fact that it needs time to sync up with the satellites. it has been cloudy here in Columbus too but I haven't had any issues like that.

If you are driving on open road and the GPS antenna has a clear shot at the sky and it doesn't sync up within say 5 minutes then you might have another problem. You didn't get your rear window tinted did you? Is there anything that might be interfereing with the anntenna maybe on the back window?

Another thing you might do is go into the diagnostic menu and look and see how many satellites it can see when you are having problems.

GeorgeTSX

For some reason I can't edit my previous post. But after you get to the Diagnotics screen press GPS Information and you will get this screen...

http://www.cifrancis.com/tsxnavi/res...931Resized.jpg

here are some more TSX NAV display pics for those interested. I posted these some time ago on here...

http://www.cifrancis.com/tsxnavi/

JonDeutsch

Can someone please tell me how to get into the diagnostics screen?

Thanks,
Jon

GeorgeTSX

Press and hold the (Map Guide) (Menu) and (Cancel) buttons all at once for a few seconds.

JonDeutsch

I haven't had a chance to test the GPS reception yet, but I wanted to add some details around my problem:

- It seems that my icon lags behind "reality"
- What's the difference between the red acura logo and the circle surrounding it? When I first got the car, I just assumed the little red arrow/acura symbol was my car, and it seemed to match up to things perfectly. Now, it seems like the circle is my car, but that doesn't seem right.
- The location where I work has "mis-mapped" roads. They are either mapped in the wrong place or my system is so screwed up that it just seems that way. Similarly, a road right across from my house also seems mismapped. Does that seem right?
- When I go to work, my NAVI gets all confused, and doesn't sync back up by itself until I get onto the highway after about 2 miles of back roads. Frustrating.
- I've manually adjusted my NAVI twice after leaving work to see if that would help, but it doesn't seem to.

Jon

GeorgeTSX

I would definately take it to the dealer then and have them look at it.

I have always assumed the arrow was your car and the circle represented the scale of the map. For example if you had the map set to 5 mile scale, the circle would be the 5 mile radius.

Kighter

No the circle is just...a circle. The distance key down on the bottom left of the screen changes to reflect the new zoom.

The nav will switch from using the satellites to the gyros if it can't get a signal. You can tell if it's using the satellites by the color of the GPS text under the compass in the top left. If it is green you have good satellite lock, if it's white you don't.

So the million dollar question:

Does the GPS show up as green (satellite lock)? If not, it makes a lot of sense that it would get easily confused by the maps/roads using just the gyro. So there might be something wrong with the GPS receiver or the unit itself communicating with it. If it has satellite lock and is still getting confused - something more serious is wrong.

Run the diagnostics on it (Map+Menu+Cancel) and see if it's even getting a signal most of the time, and how many satellites it can see.

You don't have tinted windows do you?

JonDeutsch

Hey guys, thanks a lot so far with your comments and suggestions.

On the way to work today, I did go into DIAG mode and saw the sat. reception screen. It looked really good. I think it varied from 4-12 sats that were "green" depending on where I was.

So, the good news is that my antenna seems to be fine. The bad news is that:

a. My expectations for accuracy are too high, and my current nav accuracy is all that I should expect.
b. Something more troubling is wrong, since the reception is fine, since my little arrow on my GPS seems to consistently be 50-100 feet "behind" (and sometimes to the right or left) of "reality" which makes the NAVI think I'm on a highway when in fact, I'm on an offramp for a few moments, after which it jumps to the appropriate road.

Can someone confirm exactly what the circle vs. the acura/arrow represents on the NAVI screen? Also, does anyone have any tips on how I can work with Acura service to ensure they're looking at the right thing?

I already know for a fact that they're going to tell me it's fine, and that the inaccuracy is built into the public sat. system. And that's already pissing me off before it even happened!

Jon

JonDeutsch

Oh, since I've been asked 3-4 times, let me finally answer definitively:

I have no tint. This is a stock TSX with nothing changed/added/removed.

Whiskers

The Acura arrow = the car.

JonDeutsch

That's what I thought. Thanks. So, then, what's the circle represent?

The reason why I ask is because I could honestly say that my NAVI's accuracy is within the circle, but no longer with the Acura arrow. I don't think this is right, but when the service guys tell me that it is (assumption), I want to have some data to back up the fact that that's not an acceptable answer.

Thanks,
Jon

Whiskers

I think the circle is just your radius.

MoFocker

i can honestly say that my car is usually, if not always, exactly where the arrow is. If im passing a road, the navi screen is in perfect tandum with the car. this always impressed me because i wasnt aware how acurate and to the point it was.

JonDeutsch

What exactly does this mean? I'm looking for a more specific definition of the reason for the circle, and what it's supposed to represent.

A radius is 1/2 the diameter of a circle. That doesn't tell me what the circle is actually representing.

mrcenzo, thanks for the confirmation. This is what I experienced the first two days of owning my car, and I'm glad to hear confirmation that this is what I should expect moving forward as well.

Thanks,
Jon

MoFocker

i think the circle is just there to 'circle' the arrow representing your car. I think your looking too far into it. Ive seen other cars navi systems with the arrow and at the same distance and they show different size circles (based on their arrow being larger or smaller. I could be wrong but never really cared much to know, so just assume its aesthetic...? Does the navi book say anything?

G36

Did you tint your rear window???

If the tint you use has any metallic matter in the film, it WILL recat with the GPS.

GeorgeTSX

He has been asked that a few times already in this thread. He said no. (see post 23)

Dan Martin

Did you tint your windows? Because if you di...a....a.sdr...ea.ew.r...<and Dan's been sacked>

Whiskers

Oh, youre a dead man Martin....dead.....

JonDeutsch

Quick update...

I do have an appointment with Acura service next week, but they advised that I try to "reboot" my car this weekend and see if that fixes the problem.

So, I disconnected the battery for 10 minutes and tried to re-sync with the satellites.

It really didn't change anything, but I do have some additional info that confused the heck out of me:

My car definitely seems to be ahead of where the NAVI thinks I am. If I am right in the middle of an intersection, the adjacent road on the NAVI map shows it just ahead of the tip of the acura arrow.

However, when I'm in guidance mode, at an intersection, where the right side of the screen shows the car coming up to the next turn, the accuracy is essentially perfect.

So, in guidance mode, accuracy good. In regular map mode (full zoom), accuracy behind (and sometimes to the left or right of) reality by 100 ft or so. Doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Jon

jwb998

My car seems to be a little a head of the point all the time to. I don't pay that much attention to it, and I never have it at full zoom (always on back). When I tinted my windows it didn't seem to affect the Navi.

Dr. T

The circle DOES represent the scale of the map: if you look at the scale mark at the bottom of the screen, its length is the same as the diameter of the circle. So if you're on 1/8 mile scale, the circle diameter is 1/8 mile. At least it looks that way to me.

JonDeutsch

Does anyone get on an exit ramp from a highway, but the NAVI still thinks you're on the highway for a few hundred feet, and then the car finally "jerks" to the exit ramp on the NAVI screen?

GeorgeTSX

Yes that sometimes happens for me as well. I think that is normal. I believe the manual mentioned something about the NAV having issues with roads that are very close because the GPS is only accurate within so many feet.

daniel1113

Yep. It will happen every once in a while, but remember: the car also has numerous onboard sensors that allow it to correct most positioning errors, so it shouldn't be that common of an issue. I've probably noticed it 2-3 times since I picked up my car in August.

Master47

So what were the results from Acura service?