Trialing the NEXT app and have 2 specific questions

Grumpy Goat

I am on a 2-week trial and on a trip starting today and using the MyRoute App and NEXT navigation app. I am a user of a BMW Navigator VI and am familiar with and like its navigation usage.

I uploaded a GPX file created with another software and it created 4 day routes, Day 1, Day 2, etc. That is what I wanted. I was able to access all routes from my nerw CarPlay device.

Today I started Day 1 from my house and all was going well until I decided to try searching for a restaurant.

I initiated the search and it found several but I noticed it gave no indication where these restaurants were in relation to where I was, and in relation and my direction of travel. I clicked on one of the restaurants to see if it would provide more information along those lines before giving me the option to add it to the route. Nooooo.

It immediately, and without warning me, added this "test" restaurant to the route (I think) as it completely messed up my route and had me going in the opposite direction to where I was happily proceeding before I stupidly decided to try looking for a restaurant.

So I stopped the bike and decided to abort the route, close the app and start over again. Noooo ... (as you experienced users probably can guess what happened next) ... It proceeded to direct me back to my house, now some 4 hours away! It wanted to restart Day 1 instead of resuming Day 1 from where I was. The possibility to resume was certainly not obvious at the time of the ride.

Here are the questions -

Is there any way to know which search results (restaurants, gas stations, etc.) are where in relation to where I am before I make the decision to add one of them to the route?
How can I resume a route from my current location?

The answers to these two questions will have a direct impact on the success of this trial. I don't ask much of my navigator but these fundamental aspects need to be part of the package. I can't believe these are crippled in the trial.

Stefan Hummelink

@Grumpy-Goat said in Trialing the NEXT app and have 2 specific questions:

Is there any way to know which search results (restaurants, gas stations, etc.) are where in relation to where I am before I make the decision to add one of them to the route?

When adding a "destination" in your route, the map zooms out after you've clicked any of the categories. The closest POI are then shown with the blue POI icons:

If you then click one of those icons, the name is highlighted:

To add this POI to your route, simply longpress the POI icon you want to visit, or just select the POI from the list.

How can I resume a route from my current location?

Best is to ALWAYS use the resume button on the home screen. Otherwise one can always longpress a waypoint from which the route shall be proceeded. You can do this from the waypoints in the map by zooming out and finding it, or by longpressing on the waypoint in the waypoint menu.
The latest beta release has an new feature to auto start from the nearest waypoint, but that is not in your trial.

Grumpy Goat

@Stefan-Hummelink Thanks for the reply and explanation. It actually makes a lot of sense, and honestly speaking that is what I thought should have happened, but didn't.

I wonder if it has something to do with this message I get when I select my day's route:

I had selected "Route" for the navigation and I got changes that were unexpected to me - whether or not they are the unexpected changes that the warning was speaking about I don't know.

What I can say is that I did not see a nice indication of the route with the found restaurant icons on it as you showed. That would have been a good start as I could then see which ones are on my route.

Also, there was no way I could see to resume the original route even after I restarted the application on my iPhone (and hence on the Carplay unit also). Maybe I did not look closely enough as by that time I was getting a bit confused and slightly frustrated on the side of the road, as I was then pointed in the direction back towards home. I did try longpressing a waypoint behind me but that did not do anything.

Not sure whether if I had selected navigate as a Track it would have behaved the way you said.

Also, not sure whether using the HERE map (with the Gold subscription) the behaviour would be as you are suggesting. Not even sure from that popup warning whether I was actually using the HERE map (since I was using the trial version) or whether I was using / seeing the OpenStreetMap.

I will be doing the route for Day 2 today and will try and repeat the search attempt.

Stefan Hummelink

@Grumpy-Goat said in Trialing the NEXT app and have 2 specific questions:

wonder if it has something to do with this message I get when I select my day's route:

This message only comes when you have this "check" enables in the settings: check if routes are made in the HERE map. Obviously you have this setting enabled, and you have created this route using the OSM toolkit instead of the HERE toolkit. The nav module uses the HERE SDK for the navigation so to have the most accurate navigation experience make sure your route is how you like it in HERE. Now, I'll not go into how to do that now, since that is routeplanner related, but when you've planned the route in OSM, the actual route is recalculated in HERE when navigating the route. Since the two databases or maps are never identical, it may happen the navigated route is NOT identical to the one you planned in OSM. One may observe loops, incorrect turns etc etc.

Maybe I did not look closely enough as by that time I was getting a bit confused and slightly frustrated...

Well, probably you missed the resume option haha. Even after a force close, the resume option stays available and it'll ask you also to resume the track recording if you had one running before the force close.

Not sure whether if I had selected navigate as a Track it would have behaved the way you said.

Riding the track may have prevented some strange OSM /HERE occurrences, but some other quirks are applicable for that mode, so route Navi is the best use here.

whether I was actually using the HERE map (since I was using the trial version) or whether I was using / seeing the OpenStreetMap

This is where I must re-emphasize how the app works.
The app is built in basically two parts: the 1st/main part (including all the main screen functionalities), and the 2nd/navigation part/module. This navigation module is only available to navigation next licensees whereas the main menu is available to everyone, even basic users.
Now here is the basic difference between main part and navi module: in the main menu or map shown, many map layers can be selected and used to look up stuff. This also includes the route info screens when one opens a route and the stat screen of that route shows up. In the Navi module though ONLY the HERE map is available since the entire routing code is done using the HERE SDK. So as soon as you're in Navi mode, HERE is the only database applicable and that is precisely why every route shall be at least confirmed to be good in HERE, so the navigation can do its job at its finest.

Now, additionally, the curvy generation/calculation of routes using the "destination" or "round tour" functionality is done using OSM(fasted option is already in HERE, but only when nav next license is purchased), but as soon as you are going to navigate that route, the app converts the generated route into HERE and proceeds with navigation.

will be doing the route for Day 2 today and will try and repeat the search attempt.

Well, perhaps you should recheck your routes before doing so. , or post a link to them here. We can check them quickly so that your trial experience is not negatively impacted due to "bad routes".