davisinla

As posted in other threads, like some others, I’m not a big fan of the nav on the RDX. But one thing that is particularly annoying is driving through “unverified areas.”

I live in a small city and routinely drive on “undigitized” or “unverified” roads. (Not sure of what the difference is.) It’s puzzling, since my five-year-old Garmin knows of these roads (some of which have existed for 15 years). Makes one wonder where the database for this thing comes from. I mean if you can see the road from space...

But what’s really annoying is that, unless I’m missing something, there doesn’t appear to be a way to turn off the notification beep whenever the vehicle is on one of these roads. (I’ve already turned off the voice because of this, but the nav beeps, even though the GPS screen is not displayed.)

I can understand it if I were actually using the GPS for driving directions. But I’m not. Why in the world should the car warn me if I’m on a road that the GPS doesn’t know about if I’m not using the GPS????

And I can’t believe there isn’t a way to add unverified roads to the database -- especially since I live on one!

Argh!

robuckj

Allow me to repeat something I posted last year (Sept 09 2012) when this came up; see if it makes sense for your issue. It only addresses what the phrase "unverified area" means; it does nothing for the main issue of how to shut her up:

"I learned several years ago, on a 2005 MDX with NAV, that "unverified" does not indicate a non-existent or unknown road; only that the company which supplies the map data has not taken ADDITIONAL steps to "verify" that particular road (or several roads in a specific area) actually exists in the location shown on the map, with correct GPS coordinates, etc. They do take action to verify most streets and highways in the U.S., but maybe not in rural areas or in subdivisions. Some of this is covered in the NAV manual for the 2013 RDX (starting on p. 232, but also on other pages), although I believe the 2005 manual was more informative about this topic.

So, "you are entering an unverified area" does not necessarily mean there is a database error or that the road is not really there. The intent of the warning is so you won't be surprised if the road turns out to be permanently blocked or a one-way street, or if you drive the vehicle over a cliff at night while following the indicated route (you may have heard the phrase "death by GPS," right?).

It is still annoying to get that warning when it's a road that you drive every day."



I've only been able to "shut her up" by turning the system volume to "off." Unfortunately that kills all other verbalizations, such as weather warnings, in addition to nav directions. My 2005 MDX had an adjustment for mininal, moderate, or maximum oral guidance, but not the 2013 RDX (at least I can't find it, and believe me I have looked).

davisinla

Thanks. I had actually seen your post when I first did a search on this subject.

The thing is that NO manufacturer of GPS software has actually had their own personnel drive on every road in the United States. They get their data from somewhere, and streets that have been in use for well-over a decade should be documented. I've used an older, cheaper Garmin (which hasn't been updated in years) and it seems to do fine on these same roads.

But my main point about this issue is that no matter WHY the message is displayed and the beep is heard, I submit that informing the driver that an area is unverified when the GPS is not being used for navigation or the map isn't even displayed is useless and annoying.

It would be like you received an audible message whenever the radio lost a signal to the channel it was last set on - even when it is off.

"Just to let you know that if you turn on your radio now, you may not be able to hear the station you had been listening to."

Wouldn't that be ridiculous?