kennelm

Nick, et. al.,

Does the new DVD have the latest Fairfax County Parkway (7100) segment that runs between route 267 (Dulles Toll Rd) and Route 7 (Leesburg Pike). This is in the DC suburbs of VA.

This will give me an idea if I want the new DVD....

Thanks.

galfert

Someone please post some pics

Megatron

Can someone with the new DVD please check to see if by some miracle, they put Canada in there. Try BC or ON for the state.

Please let us know. Thanks!

nick79

canada is not there. i dont think anyone needs pictures. its the same as the older navigations.


kennelm, i will check today, i just woke up.

MikeElmendorf

Just checked; no Canada. Sorry!

ScotTLTypeS

It most certainly does... It also has new parts of Whiele ave from the FFC parkway to Drainsville road, and more...

mangoboy

Have they organized the categories better?

Because in pre-2.11b, major retail stores are listed under useless sub categories. For example the closest Home Depot to me is found under something like Home Depot->Hardware Retail-> ***Door Frames***???

nick79

the categories are different. they did change them. they tryed to make it more clear.

kennelm

Mango is right. The categories under the current version are almost useless. The only way I can find a business is either by POI (phone), or by major category, distance from where I am now. otherwise, it's hopeless.

I hope they fixed this in the new version...

Bochenek

could someone/nick check that out for me please

fasTLane

Lafayette and Bloomington, Indiana are indeed covered. In detail.

Bochenek

awesome.. thank you very much :worship:

MikeElmendorf

Very pleased with the map coverage on the new DVD for my 2003 TL-S (which is better than described on the Navi website). However, I have encountered a problem.

I noticed today that I am unable to add or update entries to my address book. I go in, get the name and location, but it hangs on "DONE" after I press it. I need to turn the ignition on and off to reboot. This had been working fine when I first installed the new disc.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?

Thanks.

Chet03TL-S

Anyone know if the Socal I-110 is properly mapped now. I remember that it isn't in previous versions and if the I-210 extention is on there. My version has be on city streets if I ever drive the I-210 extention.

gregtomash

Anyone with new DVD, who lives in Mass... is it any better? If yes, in what regard? Does it worth money and trouble? Thank you in advance!!!

SC TL

Also, does anyone in So Cal know if the "Points of Interest" category has been upgraded? I was in Culver City wanting to know how to get to the Costco toward Marina Del Rey, and the closest Costco my Navi spit out was somewhere in New York.

jordanny23

pics please

pianoman41

I'll have mine Wednesday and will let you know. Any particular areas you are interested in that aren't currently mapped? I think most of Eastern MA is already mapped on the older version.

I'll be curious to see if they thought ahead and put the final road layout of the Big Dig on there even though it's not done yet.

gregtomash

"I'll have mine Wednesday and will let you know. Any particular areas you are interested in that aren't currently mapped? I think most of Eastern MA is already mapped on the older version.

I'll be curious to see if they thought ahead and put the final road layout of the Big Dig on there even though it's not done yet."
Thank you! I live in North Andover - and, yes, this area is mapped pretty good, but there are some mistakes. I too hope they put Big Dig on the map. Also it will be nice to know whether it recalculates route any faster...

MikeElmendorf

To people asking for pics: No need. There are no graphical changes on maps or menus. All the same. Just a lot more and better data.

Onerastaman

Anyone in FL(Orlando) with the 2.11b? Any major changes?

ucla107

what about the voice? does anyone have a clip of the new voice?

AcuraT

The new DVD is nice in that it offers more details in markets it did not use to cover using the "unverified" process. An example is in upstate NY, called Ithca. Previously, Ithaca just had three roads - all major like Route 17. Now roads like Stewart Avenue are in the system, and stores like "Old Navy" appear at the local mall. Unvertifed may not be exactly right, but it is close enough so I can get to my destination. Overall, this new DVD may not be a home run but it is definately at least a double and worth the extra money. Some roads are updated, others are not. You get inaccurcies from time to time, but I definately prefer this to (A) a map or (B) the old DVD. Not sure I like the more fluid voice, it definately sounds like a more mature woman. Obviously the software has been upgraded to make it sound more human - it is definately less jerky than before. Considering what I got, definately worth the nearly $200 price tag.

galfert

FLA-TLS got the update and I asked him about Orlando and here is what he said:

- Will it show the Greenway (417) connecting up to I-4 in Sanford? or at least show it going as far as Reinhart Rd.
A. It shows it going to Rinehart

- Will it show the Oviedo Mall?
A. Yes - it's there

- Does it have the 429 going from the Turnpike in Winter Garden/Ocoee going all the way up to 441 in Apopka?
A. Yes, all the way

- Does it have the Millenia Mall and the Conroy Rd extension going over I-4 (this is a new exit on I-4 too)?
A. Don't know about the mall (not sure where it is), but it shows exit 78 as being the exit from I4 to Conroy. That shows that the I4 exit renumbering is reflected in this DVD as well.

- Will it show (I asked about road in a neighborhood that was 3 years old) in Lake Mary
A. Yes - it's there

- {I asked if the numbers on my street were going the wright way or if they were still reversed.}
A. {They are still going the same way as before} (hence they are wrong) my street numbering was backwards on 2.04 and still is in this release - even though I complained to Acura

He also said that all of I-4 and I-95 have the new exit numbers (that correspond to the mile markers)

galfert

Okay so the voice is more mature and the graphics are the same.

So can anyone record and post a sound file of the new voice?

MIZU

Got mine last week. Have been using it for several days.
The covrage is great, it even gets me in my drive way, (old version could not even find my house approching from the east).
I don't care for the new woman voice, last one was cute , this one sounds bossy.
One thing i have noticed, the indicator seems to run just off the road and intersection are not spot on, probably need to calibrate it .
over all i am happy with it.

fortunate2001

Got Mine last night. A couple quick tests on routing show an apparent increase in speed, but I think this is due to the fact that it now jumps to the map l instructor screen as soon as it has the first part of the route figured out.the rest is still being figured out in the background. A great idea, especially when you need to make a quick decision.

As for as coverage, MA is improved (for the guy who asked about MA).

More later.

VTEC11

the old one takes forever to recalculate. Especially if your moving, it just keeps recalculating and recalculating since i already passed a turn i was to take but wasn't told b/c the screen kept saying "recalculating"..

pianoman41

Just got mine Wednesday. I'll be posting a full write-up (or at least things I haven't already seen posted here) once I've had some play time with it. I will also see what I can do about getting a voice sample of the new voice.

kennelm

Anyone have a chance to look into my Fairfax County Parkway (7100) question?

Since the DC 'burbs are already covered pretty well, it doesn't make sense for me to drop $200 unless the new roads have been added to this version...

pianoman41

Okay, several people have already posted about the update, so I'm just going to try and post comments (and pictures!--I apologize in advance for some of the blurriness) and thoughts that haven't already been seen here. I received mine on Wednesday so play time has been limited, but so far here's some of my thoughts:

1. Everyone keeps asking about the voice. Well, daggummit, I made a voice sample for y'all to hear. The quality isn't the greatest as I grabbed it off one of those voice memo recorders, but you'll get the idea. Closest I can think of is Demi Moore after a heavy night of drinking and smoking:

New Navi Voice

(Also worthy of note to the ubergeeks with perfect pitch: The "ding" chime that preceeds a voice instruction has been lowered in pitch. I don't know if it's because they re-recorded it or because they slowed down all the waveforms during playback to give the chick a deeper voice.)

2. The database version is from 07/15/03, the most recent database available in all current Hondas and Acuras. This is the same database currently found in the MDX as well as the TSX and the Accord.

3. The only real change in operation is the fact that there are now two overlapping datasets: (a) the old, verified road database (I don't know if these roads have been updated or just copied over), and (b) the new, unverified road database. Although the supplement that comes with the DVD talks at length about unverified roads, it never actually says how they determined which is which. My guess--and this is only a guess--is unverified roads are those roads that were imported from someone else's database (another company, etc) and not physically driven (i.e. verified) to make sure they are accurate. The only problem with this is that the unverified data is pretty much everything else the last version didn't have--like they just overlayed a full road map of the entire country onto their current dataset, and anything that wasn't already covered is now considered unverified streets. As such, you can tell the navi to ignore these roads when calculating a route by choosing the option in the set-up menu.

By default, the disc starts with the option set to "off" which means the navi pretty much ignores all those new roads and only calculates routes by the old data. Kinda defeats the purpose of having the new disc if you ask me. With it off, the navi draws a dotted-blue vector line from your starting point to your ending point (in addition to drawing the solid blue route line showing your intended route) to give you an idea of where you need to go. If you can see roads on the navi that you want to take you can drive down them, but the navi will try and get you back onto the verified roads as quicky as possible.

4. To me, this next thing is the worst part of this new disc: the unverified roads (light tan) are displayed in a different color than the verifield roads (black/red). This wouldn't be so bad except light tan is the absolute worst contrasting color against the light grey background:



This picture makes it look *better* than it actually is because this was shot at night (with navi set on "Day" mode) in a dark car with the brightness on *max*. They are so faint they are next to impossible to see during the day when the sun is shining in the car, and forget it if you are wearing sunglasses. Why the heck they chose that color is beyond me, but it is horrendous. This is what the same shot looks like with navi set to "Night" mode (such as when your lights are on):



Notice the big contrast in how easy it is to see the black streets but not the tan ones. Also, remember, this is with the brightness on the display turned up to max. Here's what day and night look like with the brightness set to just below half (my normal setting):




Even if it doesn't look it, take my word for it--the new streets are very hard to see in at night and even worse during the day.

5. If you set the Unverified Routing option to "on" in the setup (and I highly recommend you do otherwise you won't use the new roads), whenever you calculate a new route that uses even one unverified road, you get this warning on the screen *and* the voice reads it to you verbatim:



This happens *every* time and you cannot bypass it--you can touch the "OK" and make the box disappear but the voice still has to finish reading it to you. And there's no way to not have this show up. In addition, when you go from a verified to an unverified road, you get a large yellow bar across the top that says "Entering Unverified Area" and the voice also says that. As directions come up, the voice ends every instruction with the words "if possible." So on a verified road, it would say "In a half mile, make a left turn." On an unverified road it would say "In a half mile, make a left turn if possible." Something tells me that's going to get real annoying real fast.

Also, with the old database, the full screen driving instructions (the big arrows overlayed on sections of road) showed light blue roads with big yellow arrows on them and the name of the road you were about to turn on to appeared in a light blue box at the top of the screen. It still does all that with the verified roads, but with the unverified roads it makes the arrows pink and the street name is in a dark blue box across the top. I think Acura's lawyers got too involved in making this DVD--there are way too many reminders and differences between verified and unverified roads, probably to avoid liability if you end up in a bad part of town on the wrong road and get jacked up.

6. If you use the full map view when following a route (as opposed to the screen by screen instructions, there is also a change. Instead of a blue line with arrows every so often showing you your route, it is now blue over verified roads and dotted blue-and-pink over unverified roads:



As for the speed, my own observations tell me the system is either the same or slightly slower in making calculations. After a few days with this I don't think anyone would notice. However, what I *did* notice was a much more pronounced lag in the touch-screen response to my input. I press a letter and it takes longer for it to acknowledge it, probably because it has a bigger database to sort through so it knows which letters to "grey out" because they can't be used next. That may take some getting used to.

I haven't really had much time to play with the POIs yet (hopefully this weekend), but I will make two comments: (a) there are definitely a lot more in there (they say double and based on my area I believe it) and (b) it looks like they didn't just add them, but also updated old ones. There's a restuarant in my neighborhood that got bought out and renamed but they kept the same phone number (and obviously location as well). The name change is on the new disc with the old (but correct) phone number and location. So that's a good thing.

Naming final destinations seem to be a mixed bag: sometimes it will tell me which side of the street ("In a half mile, destination ahead on the left") and other times it won't ("In a half mile, destination ahead"). I've seen it do both on unverified and verified roads so I'm not sure what the deal is (yet). I'll keep an eye on it and see if I can detect a pattern.

This probably seems like a lot more *****ing than good stuff, but I want to make sure everyone understands there are a few downsides to this new disc. Personally, I like it (except for the damn color of the roads). The new POIs are nice, but it's the road coverage I like the best. I live in a very rural area and all the roads are in there. Every public road in my town is listed--even some that are just dirt farm roads only passible on tractor or four-wheel drive.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions or look up streets/addresses for anyone if you are trying to decide whether or not to buy this disc. And on that note, my version 2.04 disc is officially for sale. I'll be posting it (as others will as well, I'm sure) in the For Sale forum very soon.

pianoman41

Database:


Set-up menu:

fasTLane

I totally agree with you on this. How this got past beta-testers is beyond me!

fla-tls

FYI - I had a problem that I wanted to share. I reset the unit (i.e. did a backup clear and a forced download) after I installed the new DVD and found that I could not save addresses into my personal addresses. The unit would not process the command (hit the button and nothing happens).

I noticed that when I'd plan a trip to a certain road, the state selection came up as three boxes instead of a two letter state abbreviation. Once I selected FL (which it saved for future use as always), the problem cleared up and I was able to save addresses to my personal addresses.

If it happens to you, you'll know what to do.

ScotTLTypeS

See my reply to you on page 7 of this thread... If you have any other specific questions on coverage, let me know...

MikeElmendorf

FLA TL-S - The SAME thing happened to me, and I was lucky enough to stumble on the same fix, too. I had called my dealer for help, and they had no clue. So, I called them to tell them how to fix it.

Some people have said that the major additions to the database are the unverified areas. Not so in the Albany, NY area. Previously, there was very little coverage--only major roads. Now EVERYTHING around here is on there, and it is verified coverage. The website did not seem to indicate that would be the case, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

kennelm

Duh! I guess I missed that one!

Scot, is our area plagued by the unverified road thingy? Thanks!

Smelly

Additional things that I've noticed with the new version:

- Although the touch screen response seems noticably slower, panning around using the joystick is much quicker and smoother.

- I agree that route calculations are slower, and I also think zooming in and out is slower.

- Like everybody has said, the unverified routes are almost impossible to see. However, they seem to contain all of the roads around. I'm very impressed with the coverage...even if they are unverified. Someone just needs to figure out to make them viewable.

- This may just be me, but the the "ding" chime preceeding the voice seems to be much louder than the voice. I have to turn up the volume to hear the voice, but this makes the chime very loud. It may just be because the voice is deeper and harder to hear.

- I'm not sure whether or not this also worked on the previous one, but I just noticed that the "My Location" screen also updates in realtime. This is the screen that tells you your current location (in longitude and lattitude) and altitude. I don't remember, but I thought on the old version, once you go into that screen, it stays static.

- Overall, I'm very happy with the coverage. I live out in the Ashburn, VA area, and drove out to Winchester the other night. It had all the roads in between (although the majority were unverified).

pianoman41

Also, one other comment I forgot on my review--the unverified roads only show up at the two most zoomed-in views (1/20th and 1/8th mile). Once you go to 1/4 mile or further out, only the verified roads show up. To me this isn't a big deal since the unit defaults to displaying at 1/8 mile and I hardly ever change the zoom under normal use.

pianoman41

Definitely. Panning doesn't seem to jerk as much while it's fetching data from the DVD. Maybe they implemented a better caching scheme.

That's definitely new. You're right--it used to stay static. Nice feature.