Upcoming cross streets no longer display

I have just returned from a 200 mile round trip with my Nuvi 750. The unit has been updated to v4.9 firmware and it performed flawlessly. No lockups and it displays the names of the cross streets as I approached them. I am using 2009 maps though and the unit does complain about outdated maps sometimes on startup.

Jack j

I remember reading a report that Garmin and others were being sued for patent infringement over the "technology" used to determine the upcoming cross street and then display it on the green navigation bar at the top of the screen. Until the lawsuit is settled, the feature was removed.

Whatever the reason, the reality is that if indeed there is a patent, the patent in question is simply not enforceable because the techniques are 'obvious to people skilled in the art'.

My information is that Garmin didn't bother to challenge the patent for this most useful feature, but rather simply caved in - end of the line for one of THE most useful features in the device - after all you aren't navigating most of the time and you ought to know what street you are on (sometimes just called 'road', which is itself extremely helpful . . . NOT). The good news is that they still do display upcoming exits while driving on limited access highways.

With new restrictive laws being implemented in various jurisdictions that make touching your screen illegal while enroute, Garmin's 'solution' (which is to display all of the names on most of the streets on the map itself is not workable.

As well, with all that text, you can't tell if the streets themselves are interconnected because the text covers any cross streets under them.

So, with this change, along with the reduction in street detail displayable on current models, my 760 is likely the very last (of many) Garmin models that I will have owned.

I understand that my feelings are shared by at least several others among us.

As to downgrading, it is possible, if you can find someone who downloaded the last firmware manually who will send it to you . . . I think you should be able to find a copy available out there on the internet if you look.

Do you have any information about the lawsuit? I would like to read more about it. I just purchased and started using my nuvi 850.

Thanks

I always wonder about changes...I keep getting a splash screen to buy a new map, mine is over a year old. But now the 660 takes a long time to find a satellite, the last thing I want to do is to sink more $$$ into it! Sometimes, and many times nowadays, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is imho especially true when it comes to firmare loads to a car's ecu. They often update it to fix something and knock something else out, and then have to revert back, all the while tying up the owner's vehicle for days...

I can't believe that.... I find that feature very useful while in area's unfamiliar to me.

I guess I will keep my 760 for a while...

JB in Atl

I've been looking at upgrading my 260 to something with a few more features. "It would be nice to have... " type of thing. My 260 works fine, even if the maps are out of date...

With this information, I won't be updating the firmware in my unit any time soon, nor will I be buying new maps (why risk a forced update?) and I certainly won't be buying a new unit. I use the cross street feature. I can pass on the other features.

Scratch several potential sales from me Garmin...

I think I am going to hold off on my firmware update for a while too.

I saw this thread and wondered how it would affect my 660..... Checked it today, and the 660 is still displaying cross streets, and it has the latest/last firmware version....

Remind me NOT to update firmware on this unit if a firmware update suddenly becomes available, as I agree that cross street displays are VERY USEFUL!!!

On my new Garmin 855, with the latest software, I can adjust how many cross streets are named by adjusting the "magnification" and the "amount of Detail Shown". I haven't noticed any problem similar to what you mention.

Guess I will not be updating my 765t any time soon. Glad I have not connected to my PC for over 1 month!

You don't need to worry as the 7x5 series already does not show the upcoming cross street on the green info banner (when not navigating a route). It instead shows the street you're currently on.

I have the exact same philosophy as jonnatash4 and thats why I've never updated the firmware on my unit even though there have been several.

DorkusNimrod explains in the thread below how you can avoid updating the units firmware while being able to update EVERYTHING else. (Maps, Bluetooth, Chipset etc)

His method works extremely well and because of that a user doesn't have to wait until Garmin releases a "fix" for their latest upgrade.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/18810

HI,
I contacted Garmin and they said that they had to remove that feature to make room for the new update.
They don`t sell any other GPS that has this feature anymore.
I guess I`ll be looking for another brand GPS that has this feature. I hate going down dead end streets when in normal mode.

Just so you know, that's bull.

Call back and ask again. I can pretty much guarantee you the next tech will give a different explanation. The phrase "I don't know' is simply not in their vocabularies.

Their people love to make things up - they told me that my Zump 660 was 'defective' because it didn't show streets in the banner box . . . .

I was directed to this thread by an answer to a post I made regarding the absence of cross streets in the bar at the top of our Garmin GPS units.

If new Garmin units no longer display that cross street into, I will never buy another Garmin unit and it appears that many GPS users share my feelings.

What a totally bonehead decision to drop that info from the display. It's close to criminally stupid.

I much prefer to have the "Next Turn" shown in the top bar, the cross streets show on the map anyway. If the cross street is important you can always put the intersection in as a via.

"Next Turn" (metaphorically speaking) displays when you are navigating.

What Speed3 is referring to (and what this entire thread is all about) is what is displayed when you are NOT navigating. In which case, I suppose that displaying the upcoming cross street might actually be described as the "Next Possible Turn". (Sometimes I crack myself up. )

After all, who cares what street is coming up next while you are following directions? (unless, of course, the next street is the one where you need to make your turn. )

but I digress . . .

Cold, man. Cold.

You're right I don't understand. I frequently drive around, not navigating, with the display bar telling me what street I'm driving on. In a strange area that, to me, is more important than the next cross street. All cross streets are displayed on the map anyway, including those a few blocks away. A quick glance tells me where I am related to the street.
I repeat, if the cross street is important to you and you don't know where it is, then enter it as an intersection. Don't just drive, navigate. The short time required to do this makes the drive much more relaxing. You don't need to look at any screen and you get a warning when you are getting close.

I concur that those who are lacking in sight and not so bright, may need the larger print in the display bar.

And the first post does make it perfectly clear what the thread is all about.

I personally like to understand the topic before I write a post for the thread.

And, if you'll bother to read the thread through, NOT all streets are displayed on the map and even where they are, they often cover possible intersecting roads, not to mention that in some jurisdictions, zooming in and out while in motion is proscribed.

Knowing what street you are on is important, indeed. And the navigator should not have to be constantly reminding you that you are on a street that is often described simply as 'Road' (or even as "" - the message eing "Driving on " tres useful - NOT.

And thry that on a secondary road with the zoom factor set to something father out that 500 meters on newer units!!! You are driving along an undisplayed street with no name!!!!! That's because along with eliminating the cross street data in the banner box, they also reduced the displayable map detail by a factor of almost 4!

You should be aware of what street you are on (because you turned on to the street in the first place), in which case, knowing the cross streets is more important, for if you are on Main and you are looking for Fifth & Main, the banner box used to provide that information at a glance.

This is made all the more important by the fact that the icons used for the position indicator are often much larger than the spaces between streets, so it can become less than obvious whether you are approaching one street or have just missed it - the banner box display is very clear about this.

Then again, it is often not obvious how to SPELL the name of the street you seek. In fact, sometimes even the name of the street you are driving on is not clear, so entering intersection names can be a tedious & sometimes frustrating process. But if you can find your way to street 'A' and know that you need to travel 'west' to get to street 'B', using the banner box to annunciate the upcoming streets becomes a panacea.

I suspect you may never have owned a navigator that did things that way . . . all of the older Garmin units did and if you never had the feature, you may not miss it - your loss, I suppose.

But that is why a bunch of us are not happy with this change.

We obviously don't agree. vive la difference!

i'm sorry, but i don't understand; i've been using my 760 for two or three years now, i find it completely indispensable, but there's never been a single time i've been driving in an unfamiliar area and wanted to use it to discover the names of the cross streets. when i'm in an unfamiliar area it's because my GPS is taking me through that area on the way to the destination i punched in before i started my truck.

am i neglecting some incredibly useful...use...for my GPS unit? why would i want to do what people in this thread are complaining can no longer be done?

thanks...

Makes three of us that don't understand.

Most of the time I don't care about cross streets either. But, it is a useful feature at times and I would hate to lose it. Don't think I am going to get that update.

If you stop and think for a minute about WHERE the cross street data resides, you will understand it's not the firmware, but the map version.

Cross streets display on the 2008 version of the maps but not on the 2010 version. I believe the display was disabled at one point during the 2009 map cycle which would have begun mid 2008.

While I can't cite the patent case and I'm not going to take the time to do a search, the case that was just argued before the US Supreme Court may be pivotal. Two mathematicians filed for a patent to use data to predict weather trends. The patent office rejected the application which puts a lot of patents over process and not physical devices at risk of being canceled.

From the news reports in the law groups, the Court was not very supportive of the suit to force the issuance of a patent. IF the display of cross street data is a "process" of extracting the data from a third-party map data, then this may be a patent that would also be canceled. Until this happens, Garmin would have to pay royalties to the patent holder for each and every unit sold that used this "feature." The royalty would be based on the number of map data sets installed or sold that allowed the display. The question before Garmin and others right now is do they owe royalty for the older sets of map data where the information was used.

So, while the unit firmware may be part of the problem, it's the map data that has to contain the info. It only takes ONE instruction to tell the program to skip that routine. As cross street names show on the map, we know the information is in the map data. We just don't know exactly how the map data is processed and if the routine to send the cross street name to the info bar is in the map data or the unit software. My bet is the routines are still in the units, they are just skipped over in the later versions of the map data.

Does anyone out there have a unit with both current software and maps and the 2008 maps that can be loaded? There is were the test should prove if the unit firmware or map data is where the block resides.

Well, I have '09 mapping on the Nuvi 780 and it shows the cross streets.

However I also own a Zumo 660 that came with 2009 mapping and now has 2010.20 on board courtesy of the free update and it never displayed cross streets with the original map, the map version that DOES display cross streets on my Nuvi.

The data in the mapping comprises 'links'. Links extend from one point to another and every block you travel is a link - so displaying cross streets consists of looking to the end of the current link and displaying the name of the street you find at that point - the mapping ought not impact on it.

Note too that the new GUI from Garmin does display cross streets (sort of) by putting street names on the map if you zoom in close enough. Unfortunately it doesn't show ALL of the cross streets and determining where you are relative to those streets is in any case not a precise science, not to mention that the displayed names cover any streets that may interconnect those cross streets, making the map only semi-useable when zoomed in - so the data is still there.

I am not planning to update the maps on my Nuvi 780 this year just to prove a point, but if you have a Nuvi with the latest maps (2010.20) and if your unit displays upcoming cross streets in the banner box when not actively navigating, then it will have been conclusively proved to be a firmware issue.

NOTE: There is no point in posting that your unit DOESN'T display the data - and for that matter, it only takes one person to prove the point.

If you have a unit that does NOT display the information it proves nothing, because the latest firmware might have been loaded and that firmware could well be the controlling factor . . . .

I strongly believe that the feature is firmware based. But anyone with the current map whose unit displays cross street info in the banner box will prove it for certain.

I have a Nuvi 760 with the latest maps and the latest software updates and I still get the cross street information in the green bar at the top while not navigating.

I also have a Nuvi 255w that doesn't show that info (don't think it ever did) but if I zoom not too far in and not too far out, I find the street labeling for cross streets on the map OK for me. You have to experiment to get it just right though.

The maps/map version have nothing at all to do with whether or not the upcoming cross street is displayed on the green info banner. The deciding factor is the specific unit and it's firmware version.

I have had all map updates since CN NA NT 2009 on the following units throughout the years:

nuvi 200
nuvi 250
nuvi 350
nuvi 750
nuvi 760
nuvi 765

The nuvi 200-760 units have *always* displayed the upcoming cross street on the green info banner and continue to do so even with the newest CN NA NT 2010.20 version.

The nuvi 765 has *never* shown the upcoming cross street on the green info banner, regardless of the map version installed.

Title says it . . .

I will (continue to) lobby Garmin to return the feature to the devices, along with increased map display resolotion so that we can see street details beyond 500 meters.

Yeah, the Nuvi XX5 and the new 1XXX series have never displayed upcoming streets - but from what I've been told the Zumo 450 and 550 USED to display the upcoming streets and no longer do. The 660 never has.

A hint of changes in upcoming firmware releases, probably.

I just got a 265WT and it doesn't show the intersection in the green info banner, but it does name the next two screens on the map.

We have been going around on this for at least a year and you have tied it to the model - which means it's in the unit software and not the maps. If you have one of the 3-digit units ending in 5 you are SOL.

It had never dawned on me that the units affected were the xx5 series models. That would be a much better way of verifying the unit's "green status bar" operation.

I caught that awhile ago... The xx5's don't have that feature... However, I still bought the 775T.

I can't change the past, so I move to the future when it benefits me, and does me no harm!