Google Maps, Street View, Traffic, etc.
 

I just purchased a CPO 2012 A7 Prestige. Absolutely love it and spent a lot of time on this board prior to the purchase. After driving it for about a week, there are a few ongoing questions that I have.

1.) I was able to get an AT&T SIM card working on 2G and have Google Maps, but don't seem to have the "street view" that I see some people talking about (zooming in and/or when approaching a destination)

2.) I don't have any Traffic info. This goes for the map as well as an option under the "audi connect" page.

3.) When in Dynamic Driving Mode, does pulling the shifter into "S" mode do anything or is it already in S mode?

VERSION INFORMATION:
HN+R_US_AU_KO566_5

Navigation Database Version:
8R0060884AC NAR 5.5.3

Thanks!! posting here b/c it seems to get a lot more traffic than the A7 page, and we basically have the same cars.

-Ben

1) I can only get Street View to work when stationary. Zoom in to the max (30 yards), wait a bit to see if the man appears, then zoom in more.

2) Have you enabled online traffic in the TMC settings? And then have you set the Nav map to Google Maps or Traffic map?

3) Don't know...

1) Street view was introduced with late 6xx sw versions if I recall correctly, anyway, you have 566 and should ask your dealer to update to 7xx due to issue with HD radio sound, camera freezing or BT sound issues. There is topic on here about what version is current and how to get the update.

2) Traffic (TMC) requires an active Sirius Traffic subscription, it doesn't work over the 3G internet link

3) If you select Dynamic then the transmission will be in S mode but after turning the car off and back on, while still in Dynamic Mode the transmission will be back on D.

Which is annoying by the way...if you select dynamic mode it should stay in dynamic (sport trans) mode! I believe the steering and belt tensioner remains, but the transmission doesn't - kind of a head-scratcher if you ask me...

Four years of free Sirius traffic started with model year 2013 I believe.

Ridiculously annoying and I think it has to do with being in compliance of our absurd EPA standards.

1) As previously stated, MMI software 0566 added Google Streetview. If your MMI has not been updated, you prob have 0467 or 0487 in a MY2012.

2) You need to call Sirius and subscribe to Traffic. About $4 per month.

3) See post #10 in this thread:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/s6-.../#post24509039

Thanks for the input everyone!

Since I'm on the AT&T 2G network, I'll be skipping the Traffic subscription.

Seems like Google Street View was added after 566 since that's what I'm running.

Finally got it on the driving modes. Kinda confusing but manageable.

Traffic has nothing to do with the car's cel network. It comes via satellite on your Sirius radio. No Audi Connect internet subscription is needed to use it, just the $4 per month traffic subscription from Sirius. (You don't have to subscribe to Sirius radio either).

Right, but previous posts have stated that traffic is only compatible with maps when using a 3G connection I'm on AT&T so it's 2G... I'd have a list of incidents on the info tab, but sounds like it wouldn't carry over to the nav maps.

Sirius Traffic, if enabled, is shown on the "normal" map as well as the Google Earth map and has nothing to do with the Internet connection speed. The first year I was on AT&T also with Sirius Traffic enabled and 2G data for Google Earth. An now with t-mobile, with much worse coverage than AT&T, Sirius Traffic works just fine where available and without a working internet connection. Over the years I found that Google Traffic / Waze or even Apple Maps traffic is more accurate than Sirius though, so getting a CarPlay upgrade would be a nice to have.

Those comments are just plain wrong. As others have stated, traffic condition red/yellow/green overlays will display fine on the standard map (with a Sirius traffic subscription). The Google Earth map overlay also displays the traffic but is optional with Audi Connect but not required.

Thanks again. Glad to have some clarification on all of this. I totally agree that Waze is an excellent choice for navigation. The "Police officer ahead" alert has saved me more than once. Car Play would indeed be amazing.

Can't remember if I've read any other post on this situation:
I canceled my Sirius subscription after the trial period. But every once in a while (maybe every month or two), the traffic display on the Nav and half of the Sirius channels show up for around a week. As if Sirius was trying to entice me to come back. (But I haven't seen a need to resubscribe yet.) Anybody else have this happen?

There have been reports that Sirus would enable traffic or radio for a few days or a weekend once in a while even without subscription. Doesn't last long usually though.

Funny, since posting this - I started getting Traffic Updates. It's a new to me CPO, so I don't know if the dealer threw in a few months of regular Satellite Radio, but that also works.. haven't subscribed to either.

It's possible that the prev owner didn't cancel his Sirius subscriptions. If so, when they end, the services will stop (the renewal notice will go to the orig owner). If at that time you decide you want radio and traffic to continue, you will have to call Sirius and establish your own accts.

When I purchased my 2-year-old CPO, I was given a 3-mo trial of Sirius radio and traffic. Didn't ask for it, so I don't know if the dealer arranged it or not. I didn't even notice it til 3 weeks in. Previous owner traded up, so their Sirius account went with them.

Those 2+ months were enough to convince me that other sources of traffic info were more accurate/reliable...

Paying for TMC is one of the biggest rip-offs of all subscriptions. The reporting is by far the worst of any service available and in reality is completely bogus information.
At any time of day, compare your TMC with Google (or anyone) and they will be drastically different.
Sirius and Audi should be embarrassed, I would not use this information even if they paid me $4/mo to have it.

No worries; there's no chance they will be paying you to use it.

I save $4/day by ignoring the display and the re-routing by just using the freeways that this dumb system says are closed.

Actually, in MA/RI, Sirius traffic, while not perfect, is pretty reliable most of the time. Must be a So Cal issue. BTW, since the first 4 years is free for MY2013+, there's no savings of $4 per month if you're not using it. (And definitely not $4 a day :) ).