[st13phil]

I really don't understand why BMW are reinventing the mapping software, it's clearly not a core competency for them, they don't make tyres either.

My understanding is that BMW partnered with TomTom to provide the cartography and underlying navigation engine for the Connected app. While I have met other riders who use TomTom navigation on their bike it was always the exception rather than the rule, with Garmin dominating the motorcycle navigation marketplace and TomTom always lagging in their "off device" route planning offerings compared to Garmin.

So BMW chose to partner with the laggard in the niche application sector for motorcycle navigation rather than the leader, and then presumably told their new partner what functionality they wanted (or at least signed off on what they offered).

In that sense BMW weren't "reinventing the mapping software", but they are 100% to blame for the outcome.

Sorting waypoints alphabetically sounds like complete schoolboy error🙄

I believe that this is a core difference between how TomTom and Garmin handle gpx files when imported. I agree, it's idiotic and shows a lack of understanding about how a large proportion of the user base use their devices.

 

[DavidMcK]

@st13phil Phil you will have to take the big "Pill" and move away from Basecamp. When you sell your Garmin you will no longer get Basecamp updates and as you know Basecamp does not easily integrate with the BMW App. My advise it to try MyRouteApp, its much better (well in most ways). When I moved from Basecamp this is the problem I had:

BTW hears a funny for ya all, to get routes exported in the right way from MyRouteApp you have to export it as a "HD Boombox export". You will get waypoints in the correct order but no shaping points.

 

[st13phil]

My advise it to try MyRouteApp

I've already watched the tutorials and will definitely give it a try, together with the BMW Connected App, however...

Phil you will have to take the big "Pill" and move away from Basecamp.

That's by no means a certainty. I have a tour to Italy with friends that I'm leading planned for later this year and I'm not convinced that the BMW Connected App is really up to it (too many tales of random disconnects, delays in connecting after stops, inability to prevent automatic route recalculation if you stray off the pre-planned route, etc.), plus I'm not looking forward to the potential for shenanigans faffing about with getting a phone in and out of the bike to deal with any issues at the roadside if (when) its raining. I may well mount a Zumo XT on my new bike so I can guide us with 100% confidence in the results.

 

[DavidMcK]

@st13phil I really should do a video on this, i.e. how I moved from Basecamp to MyRouteApp and how it works with the BMW App, it works quite well, but............................................

I have a plan B, from my earliest days touring I have had a plan B.

My plan B is an app called Co-Pilot and I have used it for say 12 years or more. I have toured Europe, Canada and the USA with it. I can plan my trips at home and when I arrive I put my phone in a holder and stick it to the windscreen of a car, I have maps of North America and Europe all stored on my phone, no internet connection. I don't know how much it costs now, when I got it I think I paid £20 for all of Europe and the same for North America.

So, when I am going on a tour I have all my routes on the BMW App and all of them on Co-Pilot, it uses a file format called TRP but I use ITN converter to convert from GPX to TRP. its easy and it works.

Then this is what I do, and the phone is charged from an adaptor on the bike:

BTW its 100 times better than the BMW App, you can pay for a traffic subscription, think its about £10 for a year, the map layout is better with layers etc. Its got proper lane management etc. etc.

 

[st13phil]

I have a plan B, from my earliest days touring I have had a plan B.

Always wise to have a Plan B, but in all the years (15 or so) I've been using Garmin navigation devices I can honestly say that the closest I came to needing to deploy my own Plan B was when my original Nav VI had the "ghost finger" problem while on a tour in Scotland last year. Fortunately, it finished its "fit" after an hour or so and was fine for the rest of the trip, but the irony that it was a BMW-badged version of an otherwise 100% reliable device that almost let me down was not lost on me.

 

[orgabeke]

My plan B is an app called Co-Pilot

Have you tried the MRA Navigation app? If so, how does it compare to the connected app and Garmin devices?

 

[DavidMcK]

Have you tried the MRA Navigation app? If so, how does it compare to the connected app and Garmin devices?

I have used it. I think the BMW app is better.

 

[orgabeke]

I have used it. I think the BMW app is better.

Care to elaborate a little?

 

[DavidMcK]

Care to elaborate a little?

Well for a start it's not free, I can't remember how much a three year subscription was.

It's badly organised, in MRA I can organise routes into folders, when I look on the navigation app ALLL the routes are listed. That's a pain.

It's also a bit confusing, when you get MRA you get an App for your phone, that's free. When I create a route in MRA I load the MRA App on my phone and download ithe route I want and then export it to my phone. The BMW App picks it up. That's all easy.

So the navigation app is overkill. The only benefit of the navigation app is that the maps are downloaded.

 

[firstflirt]

is there anyway to share google map destination to bmw connected app??

 

[TouringTim]

is there anyway to share google map destination to bmw connected app??

The only way I've found to do it, is to drop a pin, copy the long / lat on maps and paste in search on motorrad app as it supports long/lat searching.
E. G. 51.4838688, -0.6048311

 

[jakfrost1]

Greetings,

I apologize if this is old information...however, if not, I hope it helps.

Go to Google Maps and plan your route...I like having waypoints (again, left over from aviation days). For example: Reseda...Thousand Oaks...Oxnard...Ventura...Santa Barbara.

Once you create your trip with waypoints. Select the entire internet address (URL) and copy it. Go to mapstogpx.com. Paste your trip. Press "Let's Go" and it will automatically download to your computer. Drag the downloaded GPX file to your desktop and then send the file to your iPhone. Open the email, save the file to a folder on your iPhone.

Open the BMW Motorrad App and import the file. Bingo...works like a charm.

I like planning trips on my computer (larger screen, keyboard, etc).

Semper Fi

Well I got to the part where it says "save the file to a folder on your phone" I just copied it...and tried to find how to import the file after opening the Motorrad app...no luck? Any tips?
Jim

 

[Arizona Jim]

Well I got to the part where it says "save the file to a folder on your phone" I just copied it...and tried to find how to import the file after opening the Motorrad app...no luck? Any tips?
Jim

As a test I grabbed one of my Basecamp gpx files and emailed it to myself. When I opened that email on my iPhone I touched the down arrow in the blue square box and got the pop up shown in the photo attached. I then touched the Save to Download arrow. This puts it in a "place" on your phone that the BMW Connected App will look when you do an import in the Connected app.

Out of curiosity you can find that file location on your iPhone by finding the app pictured in my second photo on your iPhone. It should be an app that came already installed on your phone. By opening that app I found the gpx file I downloaded as stated above along with other items stored there that I have no idea how they got there. One of smart phones many mysteries.

 

[jakfrost1]

Thanks Jim, it worked…I now have 3 routes I created using the HD free app, copied the .gpx files and mailed them to my phone, opened them in ‘Files’ and selected ‘send to’ Motorride App and bingo, there they are!
I’ll do a search for another file converter to change the Google Maps ‘copy file’ to a .gpx and try that next.
jim