rushbikes

Without a SIM card, where do the traffic alerts come from? Are they native to the GPS system? Fed into the Nav interface by Sirius (don't they have a traffic report system?)?

With Audi Connect (SIM Card), I see that you can use Google Earth. Does Google provide traffic pattern updates as though using the Google Maps app on an iPhone or Android?

snagitseven

Depends on the MY of your A6. Prior to MY2016 traffic and alerts come from Sirius with a subscription and overlay on the nav map and nav Info screen. MY2016 A6 uses Inrix.

The Audi Connect Google Earth overlay does not display online traffic from Google, only from Sirius or Inrix.

cbl1

As snagitseven says - MY2016 gets traffic via the much more reliable Inrix (pretty much just like google maps) via your data subscription. MY2015 and prior receive traffic via subscription from satellite (XM) which has always seemed pretty unreliable in accuracy and timing on cars I have had with it.

rushbikes

So if you have a SIM card on a MY2013, fair to say that won't improve any of the traffic data?

Is there any real world advantage to using Google Earth? From what I can tell it's just a neater interface with access to Wikipedia.

jasonlitka

That is correct. An active AudiConnect account on a model prior to 2016 makes no difference on your traffic. For 2016, you MUST have an active account for traffic to work. Simply having the SIM installed will not do it.

It's a trade-off. You have to pay more, but it actually works this time.

cbl1

Yea my wifes has the XM traffic. If had any use whatsoever I would have kept it. But after free trial I dropped it ... the traffic info was never right.


Looking forward to real traffic info on my 2016

snagitseven

The Google Earth overlay is essentially the same (overhead) satellite view as Google Map online (minus many of the features). Handy for seeing how things look from above. It does nothing else. In fact, in larger cities, the standard map (no Earth) provides very cool building graphics when zoomed in. All of the Audi Connect services like Google online search, gas prices, events, news and the like work independently of Google Earth and will work on both map views (there's no Wikipedia access as such but there are some decriptions with certain landmarks).

Traffic on your A6 model is completely independent from Audi Connect and the sim card. It comes over your Sirius radio and has a separate subscription of $4 per month. It isn't perfect but I've found it to be reasonably helpful most of the time. (XM merged with Sirius a few years back but they still maintain somewhat separate services).
Note that Sirius Radio is a separate subscription from traffic.

DB22

Sirius traffic is as useless as their weather reporting. If a freeway lane is closed then most of the time it says the freeway is closed and re-routes wasting time and gas.
I have learnt to take traffic as a system that makes the map prettier but not for anything else.

snagitseven

I think it may be location related. Where I live it's reasonably accurate about 80% of the time. No better or worse than my two Garmins' traffic reporting.

rushbikes

Bodes well for a fellow Northeasterner I suppose. Anyone else around the NYC tristate have a strong impression one way or the other?