What are these yellow car icons on my nav? Never seen this before
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
Likes: 2
From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
What are these yellow car icons on my nav? Never seen this before
have an 09 GL and been driving almost two months, but first time I've seen this (on a road that I drive every day).
Pics of little yellow cars covering the entire street I was on. At first I thought it might be an indicator of heavy traffic - but traffic wasn't heavy at all and I dont think Little Rock, AR has any kind of traffic updates anyway (if the Nav even has this capability). Anyone know what this is?? Notice how it goes from 1 lane to both lanes right ahead of me. Baffled...
Pics of little yellow cars covering the entire street I was on. At first I thought it might be an indicator of heavy traffic - but traffic wasn't heavy at all and I dont think Little Rock, AR has any kind of traffic updates anyway (if the Nav even has this capability). Anyone know what this is?? Notice how it goes from 1 lane to both lanes right ahead of me. Baffled...
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 635
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From: Cali
2011 GL450
Not sure, I always thought it meant slowed traffic or congestion. The red cars mean traffic is stopped. So far when I have the cars show up on my Navi it is correct. Not sure about the one lane turning to two? Traffic slow in both directions? Maybe the slowing had cleared by the time you got there?
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Joined: Dec 2007
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2007 S550 AMG with ABC
This is the RDS Traffic system http://www.navteq.com/rdstraffic/ That doesn't require a subscription (Like XM in other cars). The double yellow cars is slow moving traffic in both directions (as in less than the posted limit for the road). Did they update the Nav screen in the 09 GL? Also if you have a traffic option in the Nav screen (S550 has that) you can pull up the bulletins for what's causing the NAV to display there is traffic..
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
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From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
thanks for the link - what's interesting is that Little Rock, AR isn't one of the "participating" metro areas...so still not sure how it showed up since I was in Little Rockat the time. Maybe they're testing it in this area? If so, the service is pretty flawed as there was zero traffic on Hwy 10 at the time it was displayed.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
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From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
hmm..found another link that has an updated coverage with 77 cities (Little Rock is one of them) - so perhaps they are here after all. Still wasnt very reliable and have been in standstill traffic before & never seen these car icons on the NAV..hmm.
http://developer.navteq.com/site/glo...p_coverage.jsp
http://developer.navteq.com/site/glo...p_coverage.jsp
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
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From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
I have yet to find the Little Rock traffic reports- I have Sirius service active right now and know there are about 10 traffic channels at the end of the channel spectrum, but have never seen LR as one of them. Sirius web site shows the following under traffic & weather:
Canadian Weather Network
New York
Boston / Philadelphia
Los Angeles
Chicago / St. Louis
Baltimore / Washington D.C.
Atlanta / Miami
Dallas-Ft. Worth / Houston
Detroit / Las Vegas
San Francisco / Seattle
San Diego / Phoenix
Orlando / Tampa-St. Petersburg
SIRIUS XM National Weather Chann
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: LAS VEGAS
ML500
Yes, it's possible they upgraded the NAV system which is actually very usefull to have traffic on the screen.
OMG, I must've been smoking some real good crap on Sunday on my six and a half hour trip at 55 mph towing my racecar from Buttonwillow to Las Vegas. Or my brain was fried after racing at track temperatures over 155F, but I could've sworn I was flipping thru Siruis channels and heard Little Rock info.
OMG, I must've been smoking some real good crap on Sunday on my six and a half hour trip at 55 mph towing my racecar from Buttonwillow to Las Vegas. Or my brain was fried after racing at track temperatures over 155F, but I could've sworn I was flipping thru Siruis channels and heard Little Rock info.
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 302
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2007 S550 AMG with ABC
On the S550 and I would assume the GL, the RDS real time Nav feature is improved via a Nav CD update.. See http://www.navigation.com/is-bin/INT...gationMenu=YES
I never had that facility on my 2007 S550 until I updated both the Command and the Map CD. Some S550 folks who had the updated Command had to get the updated Nav CD to see the Traffic info.
From the link above Navteq updated the Map Data for the GL in December 2008, so If you don't have the lated Navteq DVD, you probably won't have the traffic display functionality. It's strange that Navteq/Mercedes don't advertise this, but S550 owners ran into it (i.e needing the updated Map CD to get the RDS traffic data)
I agree the reports are sometimes not accurate, but that's also the same for the radio reports as well.
I never had that facility on my 2007 S550 until I updated both the Command and the Map CD. Some S550 folks who had the updated Command had to get the updated Nav CD to see the Traffic info.
From the link above Navteq updated the Map Data for the GL in December 2008, so If you don't have the lated Navteq DVD, you probably won't have the traffic display functionality. It's strange that Navteq/Mercedes don't advertise this, but S550 owners ran into it (i.e needing the updated Map CD to get the RDS traffic data)
I agree the reports are sometimes not accurate, but that's also the same for the radio reports as well.
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2007 S550 AMG with ABC
BTW, I love the GL (as a S550 owner) but the current Nav Screen/iPod integration is a deal breaker for me as well as the in-ability to find a GL with something close to Active Body control...
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
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From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
well I bought my car new in April '09, so hopefully whatever updates were made in Dec '08 would already be included.
Have you taken a look at the Nav/Ipod for the '09GL ? they compeltely overhauled it from the '07/'08 models. that was what kept me from buying on a year ago when I was seriously interested in the GL. Improvements were significant, but I'm not sure what specifically you dislike about them
Have you taken a look at the Nav/Ipod for the '09GL ? they compeltely overhauled it from the '07/'08 models. that was what kept me from buying on a year ago when I was seriously interested in the GL. Improvements were significant, but I'm not sure what specifically you dislike about them
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
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From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
Found this on another thread and think it might explain why I saw the traffic on my NAV. I have yet to see this again since that ONE day it showed up and I have owned the car for almost 4 months. I bet Sirius was doing some testing or something? Anyway, looks like Sirius provides traffic data with compatible NAV systems (of which 09 GL is compatible). I am not subscribed to this service, but it's available in Little Rock
http://www.sirius.com/traffic
http://www.sirius.com/traffic
Super Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 814
Likes: 9
15 GL550
Franman, I have an 09 GL and I get the traffic service too. Check out your Command manual. The car colors denote speed. Yellow is slow and red is slower. There is another symbol for stopped traffic. The manual lists the speed range for each color. I haven't signed up for the service either, but I think it is included for the first six months you own the car. That might be why you are seeing it. Also, there is a chance that there had been an incident that had cleared by the time you drove through. I have noticed that the system is pretty accurate, but doesn't necessarily update in real time. It might take a few minutes for Sirius to receive the data and who knows how often the data is downloaded to your car.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 274
Likes: 2
From: Little Rock, AR
2009 GL550
I'm not sure - that day I snapped the pic was the ONLY time I've ever seen ANY traffic in Little Rock during the 4 months I've driven this vehicle (and the road I saw it on is the same road I drive to work every day).
