Dan in St. Louis

I doubt that this was Google's decision. I think Audi bought into a different mapping company.

NorthwestB9

Since Audi only uses Google Earth as an overlay to their actual mapping system, it's entirely possible they could stick with that while replacing the underlying mapping data. I could see a scenario by which they use Here underneath for navigation and the 2D maps, but use Google Earth as its overlay in that mode. I don't know what technological challenges would be involved, so I don't know the likelihood of them even considering that, but it would go a long ways towards mollifying people who considered GE as a big selling point towards buying an Audi.

superswiss

It's already working that way. HERE is the former NavTeq mapping provider that supplies maps for most car navigation systems. NavTeq was bought by Nokia and renamed to HERE and then last year Nokia sold the HERE business unit to BMW/Audi/Daimler. So, the map data of the MMI is already HERE and the Google Earth images are overlayed. It would make sense for Audi to ditch Google Earth altogether and use the HERE satellite overlays. HERE is available on the web and as phone apps for iOS and Android, and Microsoft Windows uses HERE as its map provider. The killer feature of HERE is the offline support. It can download and sync entire continents offline so that navigation continues to work even w/o a data connection. I use HERE on my iPhone whenever I travel overseas for example. The offline support is much more advanced than what Google Maps offers.

https://wego.here.com/

PageMaster500

Out of curiosity, if Google Earth does go away what shows in the virtual cockpit under the map tab? Does the VC still display a full screen Navigation window just without the GE overlay?

securityguy

^^^Yep...still shows the standard NAV

Dan in St. Louis

An issue with "Here" is their slow updates. I sent them some corrections to map errors a few months ago, and the maps displayed at the link above are still wrong.

superswiss

Same with Google. I sent Google map updates in the past and it took many months until the corrections finally showed up.

DirkM

Don't mix map updates with satellite image updates, the latter happen even less frequently than the regular map data updates. I see no reason why HERE can run old Smartphones but cannot be added to the MMI. There should be plenty of CPU power and the MIB is supposed to be modular to allow futures upgrades. In Audi language "future upgrades" seems to mean that they can change it for new models but they won't offer these changes to existing customers. To me this sounds like Microsoft saying that someone has to buy a new computer after 18 months when the Windows 10 branch that was OEM installed on the hardware goes end of life.

securityguy

@AudiA4B6US...there are both versions running on the MMI in the B9. If you lose your cell-wifi signal and cannot obtain Google Maps, then the stored version kicks in so you are never without a map.

DirkM

The (Navteq/HERE but not Google Maps) map data is stored locally, available offline and updates are provided for download twice a year. Google Earth overlay is only available online (plus a small cached area) and updated in unspecified intervals. The latter is was this discussion is about since the first will not go away or stop working.