Sirius Traffic
 

Does Sirius traffic work with the BMW navigation system?

so... does it?

Not in the I-Bus generation of cars. I am not sure about the I-Drive cars, though.

I guess the DVD maps that are usable in the MK 4 system can also be used in the MOST DVD drives?

The reason I am asking is that I have a 2009 map DVD, that when I installed the disk into the Nav computer, I gained the greyed out TRAFFIC INFO line on the Nav screen - if there is no use for the traffic info in the i-bus vehicles, why would the disk contain the traffic info on the disk?

Yes, the "DVD High" map disk is also only used in the E65/E66 MOST iDrive nav system. The rest of the MOST iDrive cars use the "DVD Professional" version of the disk.

Also, note that the Euro cars have a traffic master system that does work with the nav system and has even back to the CD versions of the disks. So, they all use the same hardware. This was based on traffic data broadcast over FM.

so, the OEM Sirius module's paid traffic subscription would not feed the info into the nav system? what a pity... :(

Traffic on E53?
 

couple days ago I was driving a friend's 2008 X3, with NO Nav, and just a regular radio with a single CD slot. Naturally, being noisy, I noticed that the radio had the RDS and PTY features lit up on the far right segment of the display. The RDS had an asterisk (*) next to it and the PTY did not.

I put the radio into the service mode and went through the region options: the options were for USA, CANADA, JAPAN, OCE and EUROPE.

I put the radio into EUROPE mode, and the radio started to pick up even frequencies along with odd ones - in the US only odd ones are licensed to the radio stations...

As I was scrolling through the stations, I noticed that some stations picked up a "TP" next to station frequency number, and in the far right segment where the RDS and PTY were, the PTY went away and TP was in it's place.

This car is not equipped with a navigation, so I could not test my new theory, but I am wondering, if there were a Nav present, would it be able to utilize that TP information broadcast on radio (obviously ClearChannel stations) or not... In other words, a US radio that is put in Euro mode might (or might not) be able to pick up the traffic info... if the pattern standard is the same (like GSM vs CDMA vs TDMA in the cell phone business)

Which brings me to couple of questions -

1) the Sirius broadcasts Traffic info to paid subscribers, If I had the TP available on the Nav disk and had the paid subscription, would the MK4 pull the traffic info?

2) my current radio in X5 4.8 does not have EUROPE setting available, only CANADA, JAPAN, OCE and USA... If this radio had the EUROPE settings and would pull the TP information from the ClearChannel stations, would that be fed into the Nav?

Interesting, the radio in '06 model is BM53, and it does not have the EUROPE mode... My '02 radio was put into EUROPE mode in Moscow ( no TP info there), so I was wondering if the "newer" radio can have that EUROPE mode with both odd and even frequencies... maybe with updated firmware???

Is your actual radio a BM53 or a BM 54?

it is BM53

TP does not give you traffic data for your Nav. With TP enabled, when a station is broadcasting spoken traffic news, the radio will pause the CD and flip to the tuner, and increase the volume if it is attenuated for the duration of the traffic broadcast. It can also retune the radio temporarily to another station for the period of the broadcast. After the news is complete, it will restore the previous settings.

For nav traffic data, you need RDS-TMC.

Interesting... I'd like to test that theory, too bad the X3 is not in my possession any longer...

I erroreneously thought, that the ClearChannel stations in the US were broadcasting data information on one of the sub-carrier frequencies, to be utilized in the visual of the on-board navigation system if equipped with a disk containing the traffic data. I guess I was wrong. on the other hand, why one of the Navigation sub-menues would list a greyed-out entry "Traffic information"? I guess, it is unrelated...

So, if the broadcast stations only allow the receiver to "flip" from a source to radio broadcast of traffic news, then what does Sirius traffic data does?

Does it work on aftermarket devices, such as Tom-Tom or Garmin or such? can it be modified to work with on-board nav?

Also, if I were to take my US spec car to Europe, will any of my hardware allow me to receive the TMC information? Obviously, after some "tweaking" and recoding, and possibly adding some additional hardware...

when my 4.6 was in Moscow, the local guys switched something in the radio to allow every decimal frequency in th FM spectrum to be tuneable, in other words, I could tune to 92.6 FM or 97.3 FM, whereas, before the "coding" I was only able to lock in ODD frequencies... And I am sure that the 2002 model had a BM53 radio (I have to dig into the trunk to see what is fitted there)

Clearchannel is broadcasting RDS-TMC, but again this is not TP. The Clearchannel TMC signal is I think a subscription based service so you need an up to date disc. In most of Western Europe the TMC is sent unencrypted, but in Germany I think you can additionally pay for data which is more detailed.

I know the BM54 has two tuners so that it can tune one to the TMC equipped station whilst the other is used for music. Dunno what the BM53 has.

TMC data is sent to the MK4 I think over the iBus (rather than navbus).

Sirius traffic is again a data channel from the satellite that is sent to the nav computer.

The modification to your 4.6i was to change the region to say Europe, which changes the channel raster to 100kHz and cahnges the upper and lower bounds of the FM and AM bands.

ok, it seems that we are having some progress here... So, the ClearChannel is broadcasting the RDS-TMC.

Will this part, 65 90 0 029 763, the TMC receiver retrofit kit, help?

That would add a TMC tuner if you need one. Does the BM53 have one tuner or two tuners?

The first step is to find out if Navteq/Teleatlas actually pay for access to the Clearchannel data and place it on the BMW map disc, and after how many years it expires.

It seems that the disk has the TMC data, as the same disk is obviously is being used in the newer (idrive/MOST) cars. Hard to tell if the service has been paid for or not but if the disks are good for the newer cars, chances are it might have been paid for...

BM53 has only one tuner, so adding a dedicated TMC tuner with an antenna splitter may help...

Based on some other posts and no first hand knowledge, I may say that BM54 has two tuners but no support for Sirius radio, and BM53 has support for Sirius radio but only one tuner.

OK so you only need the second tuner if you want to listen to a separate FM channel. Before spending any money you can temporarily tune to the station that supports TMC, you should have a grey TMC icon under the map that then lights up green when there is TMC data.

ECS has this part, hopefully the whole kit, but the price is biting

Home Page > Search > 65900029763 > ES#183650 MODULE - 65900029763

I did not see a TMC icon at all, while scanning across the available channels - I suspect, that the TMC function is not activated in the radio as my radio is set to USA and I would need to have it set to EUROPE. However, my particular radio unit does not have the EUROPE selection available in the Service menu, it has Japan, Oceania, Canada...

I would think, that adding the TMC module would activate the TMC function on the screen and then that module will scan the spectrum to find the TMC broadcast... this is pure speculation, as it has not been tested and I could not find anything on the Xboard or on the web to prove that statement...

I guess, a plunge into $600-700 can resolve this issue... lol...

Here is some info off the TMC Forum's FAQ:

If I go from one country to another will my TMC receiver "roam" like my GSM phone?
In most countries and regions only one TMC service is available in a certain location. Most TMC receivers will automatically tune to the strongest TMC service. You should be able to receive free services across most of Europe as long as you have the appropriate navigation map disc. Where commercial services exist, access will depend on the partnerships and agreements established between operators and manufacturers.


How does TMC differ from TA (traffic announcements) and TP (traffic programme)?
TMC is a "silent" traffic data system, needing a special decoder in the receiver. The Traffic Announcement (TA) feature of a standard RDS radio allows interruption of a CD or cassette tape when there is a travel report from the radio station that is currently tuned-in. Stations broadcasting traffic announcements are labelled with the TP (Traffic Programme) flag, allowing them to be selected even when listening to another station.



How can I add TMC to my existing GPS navigation system?
Some GPS navigation systems allow you to add an external TMC receiver, if they do not already have one built-in. You will also need the appropriate software, which should be included in up-to-date map discs. A knowledgeable dealer should be able to tell you if this will be possible for your system.
If you would like to receive a commercial TMC service (see the Services Today section of this site to find whether this is the case), check beforehand with the service provider that your planned combination of map disc and GPS navigation system (and, if applicable, separate TMC receiver) will enable you to receive the service.

ok, here is more on the subject...

there is a member, who lives in UK and had to replace his factory radio (presumably a BM54) with a slightly newer one from US (presumably BM53). He had changed the coding to Europe from US, and he HAS the TMC active and functional on his MK4 nav system. However, when he tunes off the radio, the TMC icon goes from green to red, reconfirming the suspicion that he has BM53 unit from the US with a single tuner.

http://www.xoutpost.com/electronics/...tion-menu.html

This theory can be tested with existing setup - I know I have the BM53 radio, I know I have the disks with TMC info, supposedly the TMC standard is the same worldwide, so, I just need to flip the radio from US to Euro mode...

However, here lies the problem... I do not know what version of BM53 I have, but the service menu does NOT have the Europe available under service menu...

Anyone ran into this situation?

Is there anyone who ever got this working in the US? Are you fighting a losing battle? Can you get Sirius Traffic?

it sure feels like fighting a losing battle, but I have heard before that certain things can not be done in a BMW - from a BT before certain year to TV in motion... and then, somebody comes up and has it done... Considering that the system is operational (albeit might not be as good as we wish it were) in some parts of the world, it might be working here in the US too...

After all, people take advantage of the iBus, by creating StealthOne, IntraVee, ICElink and whole bunch of other things...

For the traffic messaging, we need a TMC receiver that translates the signal into something that the Nav computer can understand over the iBus link... Especially, thinking that the factory has done that itself, in BM54 with dual tuner and in the TMC retrofit kit for a single tuner set up...

I am just tired of spending hours in the DC metropolitan area traffic, when there might be other driving alternatives...

Don't forget that unlike EU TMC, the Clearchannel is encrypted. If the nav drive didn't ship with the decryption algorthims, no matter how much time and money you throw at it, you'll be out of luck. Since TMC was never an option in US iBus cars, you're hoping there is an easter egg inside the MK4 which simply might not be true.

According to TMC forum, the UK TMC is encrypted as well... not to say that the US TMC is encrypted by the same means... So, a subsription, perhaps?


On the other hand, the sirius TMC is definetely encrypted, their subsription runs about $5 a month, or so...

well, this is like collecting pieces of shattered china, that got scattered all over the place, in hopes to come up with a vase, or a shape of a vase...

While I totally realize that any development has stopped for the iBus cars, there are millions of vehicles on the roads worldwide that are using the iBus technology, both BMW and the others, like Rover, Mini...

Cars that are stuck in the traffic use a lot of fuel, pollute the air... all it would take, just develop a TMC receiver that would feed that info to the Nav systems - savings of the natural resources are enourmous... considering, that 3/4 of things are already in place, just piece them together...

One of those receivers is already available from BMW, obviously not for the US market, but nevertheless, it is available, so, tweaking that hardware or software and make it available to the rest of the world should not be a brainer... part # 69 90 0 029 763

I think ours used to be encrypted but not any more. TBH I'm not too sure.