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Are the updates done over the mobile internet? Does this have to go through an I phone for example? I don’t have a lot of data space. If you are sitting in the driveway, will the car pick up your internet signal from your house?
I really don’t understand how the update works through mobility.
Or does the car pick up an internet signal from a tower somewhere?
Are the updates done over the mobile internet? Does this have to go through an I phone for example? I don’t have a lot of data space. If you are sitting in the driveway, will the car pick up your internet signal from your house?
I really don’t understand how the update works through mobility.
Or does the car pick up an internet signal from a tower somewhere?
One confused owner with a 2021 GLE 450.
Toban
The car has its own internet connection and it happens in the background. You don’t need to worry about the details except of late the update notice to the owner seems to be missing.
I noticed there's a WIFI setting which can be turned off and on. Has this anything to do with the operation? I think mine if off.
Although the other day, I was sitting in my driveway and I scrolled over to Settings on the right screen. I went to software updates and hit this. It asked if I wanted to restart the system so I did. it restarted and about 2 minutes later it showed it downloaded the 2021 Canada/Alaska map up date.
I'm in Canada. One poster was talking about downloading a update manger and downloading to a USB?
I'm really confused. Ron, I understand it's suppose to download automatically but all of a sudden we have manual downloading. The dealer has no clue at all, they know nothing.
Assuming Canada is like the US…WiFi has nothing to do with updates. Your vehicle has a setting to allow automatic updates over a cell tower that is on by default. I’m not sure if you can effectively turn it off. In the US Mercedes was using AT&T…maybe Rogers in CA.
Comments about manual map updates seem to be for those that want them for more than just the region where you live. Since you have a smartphone you have a backup (Android or Apple) for an occasional trip outside the region that will be updated OTA. You can check to see your region coverage by going to the map update Internet site mentioned by those doing a manual update.
Mine must be a retarded Mercedes Nav or maybe Google Maps just works better on a Google phone. I have wanted Mercedes Nav to do the job and keep trying it only to come away disappointed. The full screen integration has a much better look than the Plain Jane GMap. I still use my Mercedes maps much of the time when not out of town. You can see a HOV lane exit/entrance so if Google doesn’t list them I can live with that. We all have different use/needs so maybe we see features differently for our needs..
We may have different priorities but I’m used to Navigating in my car the same way I do on my phone or tablet-by voice commands. Anything else seems to be awkward, inconvenient or unnatural. We can cherry pick features but for all around quality of Nav you can’t beat Google,IMO. Try using a Mercedes command like”Navigate to the nearest Loves Truck Stop” or “How far is it to Las Vegas” in mid trip. Try “Navigate to Albertsons, Salt Lake”. When out of town on an all day trip voice commands become an important feature. When using MNav I’ve had my wife do a search on her phone but then it’s more distracting and easy to miss a turn.
With Google-when I ask for a Navigation route it usually gives me three options showing estimated time & fastest route. All You do is tap on one of the routes to start. For Mercedes live traffic, my experience is that the issue is late to appear in the system and doesn’t clear until we’ll after resolution. A lot of this might be location related but Google seems tot tie into State and County Construction projects where M doesn’t have a clue. Earlier I posted a screen shot of a road closure that will span almost a year & nothing in MMaps. Google had routing delay info on another road widening project that has been ongoing for several months and M Maps still hasn’t a clue. I ran into a similar situation in Vegas this Spring. At some point reality begins to shape an opinion.
Last year I traveled to 8 Western States & several large cities for vacation/leisure so my experience isn’t just local. I might be wrong but if I were betting money my $’s would be on Google 1st and Apple 2nd.
How strange!
The positives about Google maps is like you're describing the updated M-B mapping.
I highlighted your post where the M-B NAV does exactly what you say Google does, but M-B does better than Google Maps in my (new) experience.
Some of these, like directing to exit a HOV lane to make your upcoming highway exit, are new last week (update, I assume), but the others, like multiple routing options, have been there. There's a setting to enable alternate route displays.
The short-term construction notifications are new (State not local), although the long-term ones have been there for months now (as long as I've had the car).
It sounds like you're an update behind. Interestingly, even though there was significant improvements last weekend compared to prior, yesterday I briefly saw a notification "Downloading map update" again, although I wasn't able to read the entire message before it disappeared. I don't know what map territory was being updated. I have only done automatic updates.
True, I used to use Google Maps for the latest routing (PITA to use multiple screens!), but it seems to have fallen behind M-B in several areas with my last week's updates.
I'd say, wait for the next update to see if you have a better experience.
I'll also say that the old "navigate to..." is an obsolete (!) phrase. Now the NAV wants to hear sentences like "Take me to...." I've had to change my vocabulary to get Madame Mercedes to hear, although she seems to be learning my speech pattern, so when I slip back to my old ways and say "Navigate to..." she is more likely to comply.
Somewhere in the owners manual or Quick Start Guide is a list of scripts - hard for me to change since we still have a Command GLC in the fold.
FWIW these comments are about driving on Colorado's Front Range. Not coming to Boise until August, so I won't be able to experience your roads until then!
I noticed there's a WIFI setting which can be turned off and on. Has this anything to do with the operation? I think mine if off.
Although the other day, I was sitting in my driveway and I scrolled over to Settings on the right screen. I went to software updates and hit this. It asked if I wanted to restart the system so I did. it restarted and about 2 minutes later it showed it downloaded the 2021 Canada/Alaska map up date.
I'm in Canada. One poster was talking about downloading a update manger and downloading to a USB?
I'm really confused. Ron, I understand it's suppose to download automatically but all of a sudden we have manual downloading. The dealer has no clue at all, they know nothing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Toban
There are good answers above already. Regarding the WiFi setting, your car has the ability to provide Internet access to other devices. Your passengers could bring along their laptops, iPads etc. and connect to the car's WiFi to get Internet access on the go. This however requires an additional subscription you have to pay for. The Internet access that the system uses for its own purpose such as map updates, live traffic etc. is complimentary for the first 3 years. After that you have to renew the subscription and pay for it. At least that's how it works here in the USA.
As for the manual map updates, as mentioned above already, the OTA update only updates your home region. In my case that's the Western USA. If I want to update the maps for the rest of the USA, Canada and Mexico I have to log in to the Mercedes Me portal and download them manually onto an SD card or USB stick, and then insert it into the car to install the update. BTW, the map update for Canada is a single region for us in the USA. I guess you guys just have many fewer roads etc. Not sure if for Canadians the maps are broken up into your geographical regions. Also, along with each map update comes an update for the voice recognition, but this update also has to be manually downloaded and installed from the portal. So I generally do the manual updates to update everything at once, even though I haven't driven my car outside the Western USA, but since I want the voice recognition to be updated, I might as well just update all the map regions and I like the idea of the entire map to be up to date if in case I happen to plan a longer road trip that takes me outside my home region.
Last edited by superswiss; 06-10-2021 at 01:16 PM.
When I go into Mercedes Me on the screen in my car, it comes up as it’s not available or not functioning. Don’t know what this means and why because I have Mercedes Me on my IPhone app.
I’ll get the exact message by going out to the car.
When I go into Mercedes Me on the screen in my car, it comes up as it’s not available or not functioning. Don’t know what this means and why because I have Mercedes Me on my IPhone app.
I’ll get the exact message by going out to the car.
Toban
I
Not entirely sure what screen you are talking about, but I think you are referring to the Mercedes me apps screen in the car. This may not work in Canada. The car apps are not supported in all markets. What's usually there is a weather app, Internet radio and a couple of other apps. They do work here in the USA, even though a Mercedes rep once told me they don't work in the USA. To manually download the maps you have to do that on your computer by pointing your Chrome browser etc. to the Mercedes me connect portal. Then go to My Vehicles, click on your vehicle and then Online Map Update towards the bottom of the screen. You'll then see the instructions for how to download them, along with a list of all the regions, and whether there's an update and which version is currently installed in the car for each region. This is also where you can configure your home region for the OTA update. Here's what it looks like for my C63 which uses COMAND 5.5. I'm currently fully up to date.
I guess I need a Mercedes Me ID in order to log into the portal?
Does the dealer do this for me or canI do this? Wonder how the portal knows my car?
Stupid questions for sure.
Toban
If you are using the app on your phone then you already have a Mercedes Me ID. Log in to the portal using the same credentials you used to login to the app on your phone. The portal connects to the same backend. If the phone knows your car, the portal will as well. Your dealer together with you should have setup the Mercedes Me connect account for your car when you took delivery.
I got around to checking my maps & the GLE version is fragmented for the West Coast in the US. I am on version 280 and have 340 available. To update all areas I visit I have 3 regions to up date.
My OTA would cover-Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
I will also need region-California, Hawaii, Nevada;
Plus-Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
What a PIA…no update showing now for the Northern US-US & Canada. Canada shows Canada + Alaska.
My region also includes the Voice recognition to version 340 from 280.
I got around to checking my maps & the GLE version is fragmented for the West Coast in the US. I am on version 280 and have 340 available. To update all areas I visit I have 3 regions to up date.
My OTA would cover-Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
I will also need region-California, Hawaii, Nevada;
Plus-Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
What a PIA…no update showing now for the Northern US-US & Canada. Canada shows Canada + Alaska.
My region also includes the Voice recognition to version 340 from 280.
Toban, Canada might be different this is MBUSA…
Yes, for some reason the MBUX maps are broken up into several smaller regions compared to COMAND 5.5. I technically only need the OTA region to cover all the places where I visit. It's fairly easy to update everything, though. If you go through the download process you can just select all and download them at once and then perform one update. If you only want to update the 3 regions or so you visit, then just select those and download them. It's not really anymore painful either way. It would be nice if we could select multiple regions for the OTA update and have them be updated automatically along with the voice recognition update, but to use offline maps with Google Maps for example you also have to painstakingly define areas that you want to download for offline use. It doesn't even have predefined regions.
I don’t have to login to Mercedes Me on my phone, it’s an app that I just touch and the app appears with all my information. I can hit map updates and it tells me what I have downloaded re maps.
If I have to go on my computer login to Mercedes Me portal with an ID, I don’t know what the password is.
I don’t have to login to Mercedes Me on my phone, it’s an app that I just touch and the app appears with all my information. I can hit map updates and it tells me what I have downloaded re maps.
If I have to go on my computer login to Mercedes Me portal with an ID, I don’t know what the password is.
Toban
The app remembers your username and password. You had to login once, the first time you installed it. If you don't remember your username/password then I can't help you. That's your job. You better figure it out, because the app occasionally will log you out, and then you have to login again. It hasn't happend for me in a while, but if it's malfunctioning you may have to logout and login again, so you need to know your credentials. If I remember correctly the app no longer uses a password. You enter your email address that you used when you created the Mercedes me account and then it sends you a code, which you have to enter in lieu of the password. There should be a forgot password link on the Mercedes me ID login page, once you enter your email address, so try that to reset your password if you don't remember, but at least you need to remember which email address you used to create the account.
Last edited by superswiss; 06-10-2021 at 08:35 PM.
Yes, for some reason the MBUX maps are broken up into several smaller regions compared to COMAND 5.5. I technically only need the OTA region to cover all the places where I visit. It's fairly easy to update everything, though. If you go through the download process you can just select all and download them at once and then perform one update. If you only want to update the 3 regions or so you visit, then just select those and download them. It's not really anymore painful either way. It would be nice if we could select multiple regions for the OTA update and have them be updated automatically along with the voice recognition update, but to use offline maps with Google Maps for example you also have to painstakingly define areas that you want to download for offline use. It doesn't even have predefined regions.
I did that once into the process it allowed me to select any or all other regions. Spoke too soon…looks easy to update.
Okay, I think I've got this done now. I have registered with Mercedes Me ID. I was able to put in a password or it allowed me to reset the password if you had forgotten it. Anyway, it's done with thanks from everyone's help. I see now about the online map updates and all the instruction in installing the different regions manually and how to do it with a USB device etc and software manager etc.
I noticed my maps have all been loaded to a 280 level with a 340 level available in all regions. My Canada/Alaska region has been updated to the 340 level.
Have all of you synchronized your iPhone with the car for updates? There's a setting for that. On my phone it says it can take up to 5 minutes to synchronize. There's a button you can slide for on and off.
Yes, and as you pointed out all updates are done automatically through the built in mobile communications module in the car. I would think Mercedes is paying for this connection for 3 years and then you pay if you want the service continued.
After updating Mercedes Maps I decided to try it out again today…here are my preliminary thoughts. Backdrop-I had agreed to a UTV ride in the mountains West about 50 miles, We were to meet at a remote gas station/C store near the ride so that was my Nav destination.
Road closures now show for the first time, at least more consistently in the area I traveled. Traffic signs seem improved with better display of the primary limit side by side with yellow reductions for curves, etc. Didn’t get a chance to test the miscue of reading 80 as 60 so time will tell. Mercedes was unable to locate the destination no matter how I asked. If I had known the town associated with the location it might have been different. I asked for a Phillips 66 station at Walters Ferry, Idaho and then Dans Ferry Service, Idaho. Android Auto got it the first try using Phillips 66, Walters Ferry, Idaho . After I arrived Google asked me how well the Nav worked so I assume G wasn’t sure…see attached.
‘On the return I asked M to navigate to my home…it displayed the correct address but instead of Cole Ln it selected Cory Ln-I didn’t notice until late in the trip since the two are only a few blocks apart. At first M did a good job of routing around a city but then wanted to take secondary roads all of the way instead of the Freeway. I checked with a friend that took the Freeway and there was no congestion heading back.
I guess one more thing to check is your route settings. Make sure nothing is excluded and select the correct route type you want, fastest, economical or whatever else MBUX offers. BTW, Google is about to release a major change to their routing algorithm. Moving forward it will pick the most fuel efficient route, which may not be the fastest route.
The biggest problem I had was not knowing that I had to insert an acceptable USB stick, before I could proceed with the download. The "The Start Download Manager" cue was greyed out if I didn't have the memory stick in place before beginning.
Once I reformatted my Stick to NTFS and inserted it, the M-B menu allowed me to proceed. I also needed to update my JAVA. I could have formatted to exFAT also.
The download for "ALL" took about 30 - 45 minutes (slow connection day). Cute and informative download progress charts - best I've seen.
Total space for ALL was 19.1GB.
I followed the instructions in the car, and it took another 30 - 45 minutes to transfer to the car. I was busy programming my radar detector so I didn't pay attention. It took about two minutes for the update to begin.
Because of the delay, I withdrew and reinserted the stick a few times, and got an error message every time I removed it, saying among other things "installation removed," or words to that effect.
Just give it some time.
I think the time to remove it was during "restart," but I waited until after full restart, got another error message, but the installation was finished correctly.
All now Version 340.
I verified this back on the aforementioned website, which showed:
Your regions
The maps of your navigation system are up to date for this region/these regions.
California, Hawaii, Nevada
Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
Texas
Canada and Alaska
US States OK AR MS LA and Puerto Rico
Mexico
Kansas, Missouri
Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, N.Dakota, S.Dakota
Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin
US States AL FL GA and Bahamas, US Virgin Islands
Washington DC, N+S.Carolina, Virginia, W.Virginia
USA Northeast CT DE ME MD MA NH NJ NY PA RI VT
(Here is a message from the site about Automatic Updates - "Q: With an automatic update, how long does it take before the data for the selected region are up-to-date?
A: If new map data are available at the time of an automatic update, they will be transferred over your vehicle's mobile phone connection. As this process is carried out on a very high number of vehicles, it can take up to three months before the map data have been updated on every vehicle."
I have the latest map update for Canada/ Alaska 340. I scrolled over to settings on the right screen as I was curious about checking updates again and couldn’t find software updates. All that was showing was MBUX Assistant. It wouldn’t scroll down anymore.
Am I in the wrong mode to find software updates? I also couldn’t find where you can turn the automatic updates on and off? Think I’m doing something wrong.
I had this at one point but can’t find them now. I was wondering if the system doesn’t allow you to check on map updates if you are up to date? Don’t know.
Your thoughts?
I have the latest map update for Canada/ Alaska 340. I scrolled over to settings on the right screen as I was curious about checking updates again and couldn’t find software updates. All that was showing was MBUX Assistant. It wouldn’t scroll down anymore.
Am I in the wrong mode to find software updates? I also couldn’t find where you can turn the automatic updates on and off? Think I’m doing something wrong.
I had this at one point but can’t find them now. I was wondering if the system doesn’t allow you to check on map updates if you are up to date? Don’t know.
Your thoughts?
Toban
I think you are correct. I see the same thing. And this - "The maps of your navigation system are up to date for this region/these regions."
I can open each map region and it shows the version. We'll probably have to wait to see if / when a new update changes things.
06-10-2021, 08:41 AM
