A question to the hive: In-car Navigations systems and how they differ from phone Nav Apps

[palmerwmd]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your haphazard terminology makes me think you don't fully understand how GPS navigation works

Best brush up on it, never hurts to learn

Satellite Navigation - GPS - How It Works | Federal Aviation Administration

Satellite Navigation - GPS - How It Works

www.faa.gov

As for your day to day usability questions, most of not all factory GPS systems are completely offline (if you will), relying on locally stored map data (be it CD, Hard Drive, flash storage, etc) and the ability for it's GPS antenna to see the sky

Same goes for your (these days rather old school) suction cupped Garmin/TomTom (I don't miss those days 😒)
It's offline locally stored maps, and GPS coordinates
Maybe some saved POI data, that's usually out of date 🤨

For these two navigation solutions, no cellular service is required, as long as you're coordinates are somewhere the map covers, and your antenna can see the sky well enough to get a lock, you'll get something
God knows how useful, efficient, accurate, or up to date it'll be, but it'll be something

For the older, maybe tech illiterate, or those in rural areas who need steadfast reliability, these are the safe and easy options, but kinda limited

You mentioned OnStar Navigation, that's a different beast
For people who couldn't be bothered/figure out how to work a GPS system, OnStar offers a boomer friendly navigate me to XYZ service
You'd tell the advisor an address, or ask for a POI, they'd generate a route, then transmit it (over cellular) to your GM vehicles DIC or radio, where it would give you turn by turn instructions on screen and in spoken work
I remember my grandmother making use of it in the '04 DeVille, '08 DTS, and '12 SRX
It worked, well enough I guess 🤷‍♂️
This system is dependant on an OnStar subscription, and decent cellular coverage

Newer cars (past 5 years or so) are bringing app integrated navigation solutions on board, most popular is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
Which is really just recasting your smartphone on the dash, in a car friendly interface
Navigation is powered by Apple or Google Maps, A few other map apps are available
These services are at their best with a cellular signal, but Google Maps let's you download offline areas so you'll have basic mapping + turn by turn, even with no coverage

They've all come a long way in the past 5 years, but you may not get 100% perfection all of the time

Now I'm a city boy, and I know my way around my locale, so a temporary loss of cell service or turn by turn hand holding isn't a big deal
But I am aware there's large swaths of inhospitable land in this country that may not be the case

The phone/app based Nav systems I am well aware are dependent on cell service.
I have used them with my iphone on multiple rentals.
I have both a personal iphone and a work issued iphone (for work outlook) however I do not relish the idea of carrying apocket computer around with me all the time.

I only mentioned ONstar (which I have never used) because it is clearly a connected to corporate system which I wish to avoid.

based on the answers here does appear that Garmin and/or hard wired Nav systems in the car offer better privacy and no dependence of cell phone towers.

I am willing to sacrifice update maps for a bit more privacy.
Lets face it 90% of all drives happen on roads that havent chnaged in the past 10 years or more.

 

[michaelluscher]

The phone/app based Nav systems I am well aware are dependent on cell service.
I have used them with my iphone on multiple rentals.
I have both a personal iphone and a work issued iphone (for work outlook) however I do not relish the idea of carrying apocket computer around with me all the time.

I only mentioned ONstar (which I have never used) because it is clearly a connected to corporate system which I wish to avoid.

based on the answers here does appear that Garmin and/or hard wired Nav systems in the car offer better privacy and no dependence of cell phone towers.

I am willing to sacrifice update maps for a bit more privacy.
Lets face it 90% of all drives happen on roads that havent chnaged in the past 10 years or more.

Ah, so it's the privacy aspect you seek
Understandable.

Where in NY are you that the roads don't change?
Because where I am, one ways get changed quarterly 😭
On ramps become off ramps, and off ramps becoming nothing 🫣
And don't start me on Bus/HOV lanes
Some GPS systems I've used are so old and out of date, I had to Google the Inter-Borough (Jackie Robinson)
One Chrysler unit still cited the Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Cary)
My old Garmin still calls it the Tappan Zee, AS IT SHOULD 😳

 

[palmerwmd]

Ah, so it's the privacy aspect you seek
Understandable.

Where in NY are you that the roads don't change?
Because where I am, one ways get changed quarterly 😭
On ramps become off ramps, and off ramps becoming nothing 🫣
And don't start me on Bus/HOV lanes
Some GPS systems I've used are so old and out of date, I had to Google the Inter-Borough (Jackie Robinson)
One Chrysler unit still cited the Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Cary)
My old Garmin still calls it the Tappan Zee, AS IT SHOULD 😳

I am originally from the City, but now live in the Deep South

 

[4WD]

I have had several built in Nav systems with much of the +/- mentioned so far … have not had them stop in bad cell zones …

The Google map based Nav in our 2022 Tahoe is my favorite to date …

 

[DejaVue]

The phone/app based Nav systems I am well aware are dependent on cell service.

Except some aren't.
Long ago, I got lost driving around in a forest.
The phone GPS without a cell signal wasn't much help.

From then on, I always put a GPS app on my phone that stores the maps on the phone. Doesn't need cell towers except for live traffic updates.

My current favorites are TomTom and Sygic apps.
A very good free one that rivals some paid ones is Magic Earth app.

Yes, Google Maps can do offline maps, but the offline maps and Google Maps itself has various limitations I don't like.

 

[gathermewool]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your haphazard terminology makes me think you don't fully understand how GPS navigation works

Best brush up on it, never hurts to learn

Satellite Navigation - GPS - How It Works | Federal Aviation Administration

Satellite Navigation - GPS - How It Works

www.faa.gov

As for your day to day usability questions, most of not all factory GPS systems are completely offline (if you will), relying on locally stored map data (be it CD, Hard Drive, flash storage, etc) and the ability for it's GPS antenna to see the sky

Same goes for your (these days rather old school) suction cupped Garmin/TomTom (I don't miss those days 😒)
It's offline locally stored maps, and GPS coordinates
Maybe some saved POI data, that's usually out of date 🤨

For these two navigation solutions, no cellular service is required, as long as you're coordinates are somewhere the map covers, and your antenna can see the sky well enough to get a lock, you'll get something
God knows how useful, efficient, accurate, or up to date it'll be, but it'll be something

Garmin offers map updates, for a price. I haven’t had a Garmin in a long time, but one of my first Garmins (one of the ones that had the flip-out antenna) came with lifetime updates. The updates were not perfect, but were good enough. You are right, though, that the POI database was pretty awful.

 

[michaelluscher]

Garmin offers map updates, for a price. I haven’t had a Garmin in a long time, but one of my first Garmins (one of the ones that had the flip-out antenna) came with lifetime updates. The updates were not perfect, but were good enough. You are right, though, that the POI database was pretty awful.

I remember the days when Garmin models were suffixed with
LM/LMT
L for lifetime
M for lifetime map updates
T for lifetime traffic service

Android Auto/CarPlay + Google Maps and Waze was really the nail in the coffin for the standalone PND

 

[michaelluscher]

I remember the days when Garmin models were suffixed with
LM/LMT
L for lifetime
M for lifetime map updates
T for lifetime traffic service

Android Auto/CarPlay + Google Maps and Waze was really the nail in the coffin for the standalone PND

And don't start me on MSN Direct, that was a thing
I remember in Middle school, people had the MSN/Fossil watches that were getting "smart", but smart by 2007 standards

REVIEWED: Microsoft Wrist.NET (MSN Direct) Watch from Fossil

Well, I've had my Microsoft SPOT Watch for over 24 hours now, so it's time for ...

www.hanselman.com

The old Dash Express was a glimpse of the infotainment future that was coming

How Dash Express Works

The Dash Express married GPS and Internet technologies to give directions and up-to-date traffic information. Sounds good, right?

electronics.howstuffworks.com

Navteq FM based traffic is still active AFAIK
Some factory nav systems get traffic info from Sirius Infotainment
So you can pay extra on top of your SiriusXM satellite radio subscription

Infotainment | SiriusXM

SiriusXM gives the information you need in your vehicle at your fingertips. Get latest traffic, weather, fuel prices, movie listings & more with Infotainment.

www.siriusxm.com

For the cellular deprived, and the privacy conscious, factory nav paired with SiriusXM NavTraffic would be the absolute best option

Man, this is how I know I'm getting old 🥺
GPS for public use in the USA is the same year I was born 👴
I remember when all this stuff was new and cutting edge, it's all long since been sent to the E-Waste ♻️

 

[wtd]

I'm still using an old Garmin 2555 that I've had for around 10 years and it still works fine. It has lifetime updates and Garmin still has updates for it so I just keep using it. I prefer it to using my phone.

I've never owned a vehicle with an in car navigation but from what friends that have them tell me, updates are expensive and after a few years are not even available in some cases.

 

[4WD]

It‘s hard to believe - but after all these years of built-in Navigation -
I now have both the best and worst owned (in signature)
Jeep is horrible - Tahoe is awesome …

 

[MCompact]

I loved the navigation system in my M235i until 3G shut down and I lost live traffic and the ability to search destinations online and/or send them to my car from the My BMW app. The system in the C43 is very responsive and accurate. At least when 4G goes away I’ll still have wired CarPlay.