New (sort of) maps!

[Ciaopec]

On December 19th Tesla released new navigation map updates for both EU and US.

Tesla has begun pushing these out. You will need to have a WiFi connection if you want to get them anytime soon.

The US version is almost 4 gigabytes, so this is why they want you on WiFi.

The versions are listed as 4th Quarter 2015. So I guess they are about a year old.

I received latest firmware while tethered to wifi. The next day I received the map notification while on LTE. Just a matter of processing maps for another day or is there a chance maps actually came via cell connection?

EDIT: @Ulmo may have answered my question a few posts earlier.

 

[5thumbs]

Interesting. Ulmo's post led me to look at my router logs. I got the firmware update on the 23rd, and there it was on the router (about 3GB). Then I got the map update while on the road yesterday (24th). Nothing on my router, so it may have come in on cellular.

 

[PaulusdB]

The 'about 3GB' was the map update. It just took one day to check, unpack and install.

 

[wesley888]

I got the map update,but I didn't notice it saying you are using the updated map...

I've been watching my Tesla download since 12/21 but never seen any 3GB download. Very weird. It might have done a sneaky LTE download while I went out. The 1.32GB download is the 2.50.180

 

[5thumbs]

Thanks PaulusdB. Did not realize it takes a day or two for a map download to matriculate to the actual update! Then I must have gotten the firmware update while on Cellular, or maybe they both came in on the 23rd and updated on different days.

 

[Boatguy]

So if maps are downloaded to the car, which means it has some basic level of detail, then how can it be that today it would display nothing once I lost cell phone connectivity 20mi from home? I tried zooming out several times to see if eventually it would show something, but nothing, except the name of the road I was on (which had not changed since I drove out of cell coverage).

I have not received the update, as far as I can tell (is there a way to version check my maps?), but presumably there is something in there if this is supposed to be an update.

Or another way to ask this question is: When are the downloaded maps used versus the "download on the fly" Google maps?

 

[TexasEV]

The downloaded maps are used for navigation, when you have a destination entered. They're displayed in the left side of the IC. The map displayed on the center screen is Google and requires a cell connection.

 

[bob_p]

Since 8.0, I seem to have a lot more instances when the Google maps aren't downloading - often with the display with large blank blocks - that usually get filled in eventually.

Since most driving is done in the same area - using the same maps - which don't change that frequently, the software could cache the nearby maps - instead of having to download each map segment every time.

At least for cars with the "tech package", we were supposed to have onboard memory for music storage - and since we haven't been provided access to that music storage memory, cars with the tech package should have some space for caching nearby maps.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

The downloaded maps are used for navigation, when you have a destination entered. They're displayed in the left side of the IC. The map displayed on the center screen is Google and requires a cell connection.

Too bad they don't show the Navteq maps in the center screen when there's no cell signal.

 

[TexasEV]

Since 8.0, I seem to have a lot more instances when the Google maps aren't downloading - often with the display with large blank blocks - that usually get filled in eventually.

Since most driving is done in the same area - using the same maps - which don't change that frequently, the software could cache the nearby maps - instead of having to download each map segment every time.

At least for cars with the "tech package", we were supposed to have onboard memory for music storage - and since we haven't been provided access to that music storage memory, cars with the tech package should have some space for caching nearby maps.

Actually back in 2013 Tesla said exactly that-- the memory was being used for caching maps rather than music storage as originally planned.

 

[Boatguy]

Since most driving is done in the same area - using the same maps - which don't change that frequently, the software could cache the nearby maps - instead of having to download each map segment every time.

The irony of course is that navigation maps are needed more frequently when traveling in a new area, then when in the same old neighborhood. To my mind this is another case of Tesla s/w engineers not having a good usage model to guide their development.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Since 8.0, I seem to have a lot more instances when the Google maps aren't downloading - often with the display with large blank blocks - that usually get filled in eventually.

Since most driving is done in the same area - using the same maps - which don't change that frequently, the software could cache the nearby maps - instead of having to download each map segment every time.

At least for cars with the "tech package", we were supposed to have onboard memory for music storage - and since we haven't been provided access to that music storage memory, cars with the tech package should have some space for caching nearby maps.

I've seen more problems filling in the map in my local area in the last month or two and I am still on 7.1. For some reason the car sometimes has trouble connecting to 3G or using it when it is connected. I've found that rebooting the display will usually correct the problem although it takes a minute or two after the reboot for the 3G connection to get established and functioning. Just an anecdote, but it suggests that the recent difficulty in downloading maps is unrelated to 8.0.

A few days ago I got the nav maps update (via home WiFi). It did correct one of the nav mistakes in my neighborhood but still doesn't get it quite right and also chooses less than optimal routes, in some cases, which a local would never use. But the combination of dirt and paved roads here is hard to parse from just a map and road numbers. Not that I need nav in my home county anyway. I need to check and see it the new maps still make a major mistake when routing to the Blanding Supercharger Station. For some reason the old nav chose a longer route over the mountains rather than the shorter, much easier, route around the mountains. Throws off the energy plot estimate. Go figure.

 

[George Jetson]

My maps came down last time using the cell network of the car, I have never used wifi of the car.. and I got them around same as everyone else was reporting. Is this "sooner on wifi" a myth?

I don't think so, I got the message today while on WiFi at home. My Google Maps onthe center display panel also refreshed, which is just a coincidence I suppose. The building icons in terrain mode have more detail, for example the sports stadium near my house distinguishes the field from the seating areas.

 

[George Jetson]

I got the map update,but I didn't notice it saying you are using the updated map...

I've been watching my Tesla download since 12/21 but never seen any 3GB download. Very weird. It might have done a sneaky LTE download while I went out. The 1.32GB download is the 2.50.180

View attachment 207714

Which app is that screen shot from?

 

[theslimshadyist]

And yes, the satellite setting is still slow as hell when it renders while driving. So frustrating.

 

[wesley888]

Which app is that screen shot from?

It's from Ubiquiti's UniFi network products. A bit more difficult to configure than the average consumer products, but they have quite nice management tools.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Not that I need nav in my home county anyway

Just my two-cent's-worth, but I use Waze even on local journeys. I'd prefer not to be delayed because an accident is blocking the road, or road works started this morning ...

... I suppose that could be viewed as "I won't be adding to that congestion", although I'll probably be annoying someone using their side road as a rat-run!

 

[bob_p]

My previous Lexus had real-time traffic, while limited to only the primary highways, it was very useful in warning me about upcoming traffic problems - something Waze does - and Tesla doesn't do (even though that information is available).

TexasEV is right - I recall the same thing. When I ordered my P85 over 4 years ago, the tech package promised onboard music storage - and, as I recall, Tesla indicated (unofficially?) that they were backing off that promise, and would instead use the onboard storage for map caching - which doesn't appear to be happening, since I often leave my house with large blank areas on the map when I shift from home WiFi to the AT&T cell network.

Still waiting to get my map update - and then see if they fixed the problems in my area that I reported immediately after getting the last map update a year ago.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Just my two-cent's-worth, but I use Waze even on local journeys. I'd prefer not to be delayed because an accident is blocking the road, or road works started this morning ...

... I suppose that could be viewed as "I won't be adding to that congestion", although I'll probably be annoying someone using their side road as a rat-run!

We don't have traffic in my county, with a population of only 4500 and fewer than 300 miles of roads. On the rare occasions that I visit big cities I wouldn't have the faintest idea of how to use navigation traffic alerts and the like; it isn't something I want to spend time learning. I worry a lot more about deer, elk, or bighorn sheep on the roads than traffic. We also have cattle drives on the roads at certain times of the year when herds are being moved between summer and winter pastures. I once had to stop my bicycle on the road to wait for a herd of elk to finish crossing. Different world here.

 

[jeffro01]

Still haven't gotten the map update... Should I be concerned or just be patient?

Jeff