# European maps



## the_fox (Jul 6, 2006)

It's been quite a few years since I've researched this last time, so I'm sure things have changed. In the past, I think there was a program for renting GPS SD cards for the ED trip. Do European maps come pre-loaded these days in cars with NAV? If not, what are the available options?


----------



## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

According to my BMW European Delivery Package the European maps are pre-loaded on a USB stick.


----------



## jhm5 (Jan 8, 2016)

Your ED car will be delivered with a USB stick that includes the European maps. Used it without any issue last September. I carried real maps, too, paper Michelin maps.


----------



## Trinitony (Feb 10, 2010)

jhm5 said:


> I carried real maps, too, paper Michelin maps.


I like to have the "real" maps too. The Euro stick behaves somewhat like the US maps that I got from BMW when my car returned home - in other words sometimes it will route you around 3 sides of a square. Once the Euro map took me on a road that was clearly the wrong way and the only way I could get off that road was to look at the paper maps and find a town that would force the navigation system to follow the road that I had intended to take. But on the whole the NAV is better than some map readers that I know well!


----------



## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

I always bring my Garmin Nüvi. I like to load all hotels, restaurants and sightseeing spots beforehand from my home PC as backup. I also co-ordinate Garmin's BaseCamp program with Google Earth in order to get an idea of what the neighborhood streets look like. Yes, I am obsessive.


----------



## bald (Feb 3, 2007)

I just got back from 3800 KM through Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and it works fine. Use some common sense. It tried to route me around a section of highway in Austria, and I ignored it, and then later I figured out the` setting was to use "cash only" toll roads. Whatever.


----------



## Ibiza (Jun 15, 2007)

Use your phone as a back-up with Waze to alert you of the speed/red light cameras. Paper maps are so 1980's. iDrive 6.0 is a big update. BTW, I travel to Europe multiple times a year for vacation and quite often have a rental car, as Google maps works great.


----------



## Ibiza (Jun 15, 2007)

Gluhwein said:


> I always bring my Garmin Nüvi. I like to load all hotels, restaurants and sightseeing spots beforehand from my home PC as backup. I also co-ordinate Garmin's BaseCamp program with Google Earth in order to get an idea of what the neighborhood streets look like. Yes, I am obsessive.


I have only done the above for the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Way too much planning your doing.


----------



## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

I picked mine up today. Has NAV on usb in 540. Works fine and even has route magnet to change a midpoint on your route. It got me fine to Oberhaching. Leaving tomorrow for S Bavaria Lichtenstein and on to Bellinzona for the night


Sent from my iPhone using Bimmerfest


----------



## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Ibiza said:


> I have only done the above for the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Way too much planning your doing.


Now _*you*_ sound like my wife. (See other thread about wives and monthly payments).


----------



## valeram (Oct 18, 2006)

Can we also use the map using Apple Play?


----------



## Ibiza (Jun 15, 2007)

valeram said:


> Can we also use the map using Apple Play?


No. AppleCar Play is not activated until the VDC stateside. This is 1st hand knowledge from my 9/17 ED for a '18 F83 ordered with CarPlay.


----------



## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

I’m here now. Every time I come back to th car and start it no recent destinations are saved. I’m not removing the usb and it’s not loose. The maps work fine. Just a pain. Any ideas?


Sent from my iPhone using Bimmerfest


----------



## Daryll (Jun 10, 2016)

soledoc said:


> I'm here now. Every time I come back to th car and start it no recent destinations are saved. I'm not removing the usb and it's not loose. The maps work fine. Just a pain. Any ideas?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Bimmerfest


Unfortunately that was my experience two years ago. The USB seemed to be NAV-lite with somewhat limited functionality. Also there were a very limited number of POI's on the usb stick. Guess that I would have thought with the upgrades since my 2016 was built they would have corrected that. Hopefully someone else on here has a workaround.

Sent from my iPad using Bimmerfest mobile app


----------



## BamaGoose (Feb 18, 2018)

Ibiza said:


> No. AppleCar Play is not activated until the VDC stateside. This is 1st hand knowledge from my 9/17 ED for a ***8216;18 F83 ordered with CarPlay.


All,

Just a quick introduction. I run the VDC In California for BMW, and prior to that Baltimore VDC for the Central. Anyways, No and Yes... The factory skips pre-loading the maps into the headunit with the "destination." for confusion reasons, so when you get a european delivery you get the usb drive. Then when the car comes to the VDC we have to fix all large damages you may have caused, give the car a good once over that all other units get, install any additional accessories, and change all applicable over the US specs. For example.. activate sirius radio and apple carplay, and one line item on all tourist cars is US GPS maps conversion.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me with any other off the wall questions like that.


----------



## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Goose - you may have just opened up the proverbial can of worms.


----------



## BamaGoose (Feb 18, 2018)

Gluhwein said:


> Goose - you may have just opened up the proverbial can of worms.


Yea i realized that when I was typing, but I am here to help. I've been running numerous VDCs now for about 10 years.

but i swear if I get a PM that says "when are you going to ship my car", or "what does released to distribution mean" haha

But if you order a car and want some pictures of it through the process for your scrapbook, just general information, want to know how the accessories are installed, etc. I am glad to help within the proprietary limits that I am legally bound.


----------



## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

BamaGoose said:


> Yea i realized that when I was typing, but I am here to help. I've been running numerous VDCs now for about 10 years.
> 
> but i swear if I get a PM that says "when are you going to ship my car", or "what does released to distribution mean" haha
> 
> But if you order a car and want some pictures of it through the process for your scrapbook, just general information, want to know how the accessories are installed, etc. I am glad to help within the proprietary limits that I am legally bound.


So there's no way to fix this problem while in Europe. It's very frustrating to reprogram each address every time. I did not have to do this with my wife's 2015 528

Sent from my iPhone using Bimmerfest mobile app


----------



## Egusiseed (Nov 23, 2017)

BMW Welt will insert an USB thumb drive into the USB slot inside the center console (at least for 3 series in my case). I was told by my delivery specialist not to remove the USB drive otherwise the European map will not be working probably even if you plug it back in, so no CarPlay for ED. Also remember to take it with you when you drop off the car if you want to keep it as a souvenir, If not the VDC will ***8220;take care***8221; of it for you. : )


----------



## bald (Feb 3, 2007)

No "recent" or "last" destinations on my ED 2 weeks ago either, and I was a little disappointed. I found entering the postal code the fastest way to get the address entered when the address was a bit confusing.


----------

