BMW Motorrad NAV V - Will It Capture GPS Odometer Miles?

[boltgunner]

I’ve been searching through my 2015 R1200 GS manual and the manual for the NAV V and I cannot find any information about setting up the NAV V to record miles ridden based on GPS inputs.

I was wondering if anyone out there had some experience with this.

One other thing - I’m not finding as much information as I thought there should be on making adjustments on the NAV V that are reporting data from the the bike itself and I thought I saw that at one time in the literature that came with either the bike or the NAV V.

Thanks!

 

[strataj]

I’ve been searching through my 2015 R1200 GS manual and the manual for the NAV V and I cannot find any information about setting up the NAV V to record miles ridden based on GPS inputs.

I was wondering if anyone out there had some experience with this.

One other thing - I’m not finding as much information as I thought there should be on making adjustments on the NAV V that are reporting data from the the bike itself and I thought I saw that at one time in the literature that came with either the bike or the NAV V.

Thanks!

You need to change the page to the Trip screen. You can also get the route you traveled by opening tracks, they can be viewed in Basecamp as well.

 

[lee]

In the map view click on the 3 bars at the lower right, then scroll down to Trip Computer.

 

[boltgunner]

You need to change the page to the Trip screen. You can also get the route you traveled by opening tracks, they can be viewed in Basecamp as well.

Do you know if the odometer on the NAV V is synching with the bike or with GPS? I would like to collect a GPS odometer reading.

 

[Dann]

It should be GPS ODO

Easy to verify.
Set both the bike's and the GPS's Trip meter at zero and go for a ride.
Check if the distance is the same at the end.

 

[pglaves]

It is odometer miles calculated by the GPS aggregating all of the point to point position changes.

 

[lkraus]

The GPS can record speed and distance everywhere you go if you have the feature enabled. On my Zumo 595 (which is similar to the Nav V) the feature is called Travel History and is selected in Settings>Device. Using Basecamp with the GPS connected, the recorded tracks are in the internal storage and called "active tracks". This might be useful depending on your need for a GPS distance measurement. Select the recorded points you are interested in and Basecamp will total the distance.

 

[cadmanpilot]

I believe the reported or calculated GPS odometer distances will always be less than the bike odometer unless you’re traveling on a straight path. The point-to-point distances omit the curving of the track between the recorded reference points. Also, I don’t believe the change in elevation is taken into consideration by the GPS. I’m not sure where the estimated mileage comes from when you first select a route.

Paul

 

[pglaves]

I believe the reported or calculated GPS odometer distances will always be less than the bike odometer unless you’re traveling on a straight path. The point-to-point distances omit the curving of the track between the recorded reference points. Also, I don’t believe the change in elevation is taken into consideration by the GPS. I’m not sure where the estimated mileage comes from when you first select a route.

Paul

The difference with actual wheel track distance and GPS odometer distance is real, but so minute as to not be of any significant difference in most locations. Riding across Nebraska the difference is almost not existent. Riding a full day of switchbacks in the Alps is a different story. It of course depends on the rate at which locations are identified. And that depends on what GPS is being used. If it is every second you get one amount of variance; if it is every ten seconds you get another.

My current experience is that the Distance to Destination at the start and GPS Odometer when I have arrived are nearly identical. For example, from my house to an automotive shop in Presidio, Texas via TX118 and FM170 is 92 miles. Using my Zumo 660 the Distance to Destination when I enter it is 92 miles. When I stop when I get there the GPS Odometer reads 92 miles. My motorcycle trip meter on my G310GS reads 92 miles. I have paid no attention to the tenths of a mile. But in any event the differences between the three numbers are less than a whole mile in 92, or practically speaking less than one percent.

Given the design and construction of BMW speedometer/odometer devices I am fairly sure that GPS distance is more reliable than bike odometer distance. In riding a few hundred thousand miles together on Voni's R1100RS and my '86 K75 we consistently had about an 8% difference between the two bikes, day after day. Her R1100RS was 4% short and my K75 was 4% long compared to the GPS. It didn't much matter if we were riding I-70 across Kansas, or riding in the Colorado Rockies, these differences were always nearly constant.

 

[Rainman48]

I believe the reported or calculated GPS odometer distances will always be less than the bike odometer unless you’re traveling on a straight path. The point-to-point distances omit the curving of the track between the recorded reference points. Also, I don’t believe the change in elevation is taken into consideration by the GPS. I’m not sure where the estimated mileage comes from when you first select a route.

Paul

Hi Paul,
I think you could be partially right, but I'm not so sure it's as significantly different as you have stated.

For one, though BMW does much better than many bikes in measuring speed and distance by using wheel rings and sensors (wrong technical term) instead of gearing, there is still odometer error based on wheel and tire diameter and circumference. So there is no "officially accurate" mileage found here.

Second, if you look at the Garmin GPS example given above, the "leg length" between points isn't consistent, is it? It changes, and I believe it is only when there are angular changes between its sampling points. Perfect? No, but close, except for the most twisty roads or tunnels, or road sections where trees, cover or buildings blind it from the (multiple) satellites used. Also, the assumption(?) that elevation changes aren't taken into consideration is suspect as well. There are other screens in Garmin's BaseCamp that use even more of the tracking information to show both speed and elevation change, so I think elevation change is included in mileage reported. We should stop considering only what we see or perceive with 2-dimensional maps. Imagine your riding up or down a really steep grade that goes on for miles, and then try and remember that the GPS satellites tracking you know not only what elevation you are at at any point, but your horizontal latitude and longitude as well. That's exactly what they do, and I have no doubt the distances shown via tracks ridden are pretty darn accurate using a lot of pretty simple math.

 

[hexst]

on the Nav V if you open the apps go to my motorcycle open last ride tripmeter automatic gives you daily ride, then go to where Ive been and open the date of your ride at it gives a different mileage I don't know wich one is from the speedo or gps I would imagine where I've been is gps.

 

[cadmanpilot]

I keep forgetting that all odometers are inaccurate devices. What I meant in my post was that if you had an accurate surface measurement along the actual traveled path, the distance reported by the gps as calculated between the reporting points would always be less than the actual distance traveled. I didn’t say it would be significant, just less. Even with elevation taken into consideration, the gps calculations are always based on straight line distances.

One question I do have is when you pick a route and the gps gives you an estimated distance, where does that information originate? Is it based on historical route length records?

Paul

 

[strataj]

One question I do have is when you pick a route and the gps gives you an estimated distance, where does that information originate? Is it based on historical route length records?

Paul

I have two answers for you depending. If you ask the GPS for a destination it will provide the distance as a bird fly's, point to point. Once selected the gps will calculated the distance based on the path (roads) of that route.

 

[pglaves]

I have two answers for you depending. If you ask the GPS for a destination it will provide the distance as a bird fly's, point to point. Once selected the gps will calculated the distance based on the path (roads) of that route.

GPSs that do auto routing use the base map. That map is composed of many discrete segments. How many and how long the segments are varies vastly. In a city a segment might be one block long. In a truly rural area a segment might be many miles. But with a late model GPS each segment is recorded to have a specific length and some number for speed. I have no idea what is actually used for speed. It doesn't quite match the speed limit as far as I can tell looking at distance, speed limit, and projected arrival time or elapsed time to destination or via point.