I am in the UK and one of the most infuriating things is that the nav system cannot tell where the Greenwich Meridian is. OK the map is correct but those damn co-ordinates drive me mad because when driving from East to West the East co-ordinate correctly counts down to zero and then counts up on the West side BUT it still shows that the co-ordinate is an Easterly co-ordinate until I get to 1deg West and then all is OK.

Setting a manual co-ordinate is just as crazy as there is no facility for a W0,nn,nnn !!

MB of course send me this **** Off Letter after I complained three times to the dealer saying it is only a minor timing problem which 'might' be fixed in 2007.

On a car of 18 months age I don't expect this sort of thing so wonder if others have noticed this and what the result has been with complaints to dealers or MB direct.

Oh the car is an E270CDI estate.

Anyone?

Also comments on MB after sales service would be interesting. I have had fairly good service from two dealers except for that stupid nav thing. One guy sat me down and tried to explain that sats don't know the difference between GMT and BST and this was the problem!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr

 

mercedes-benz don't own the satellites, but the US defense center. i think they can't calibrate it.

just cool down. every new technology got the glitch.

 

Well this has NOTHING to do with satellites so read my posting.

It has everything to do with MB not understanding, like you also, that some of us live either side of the Greenwich Meridian.

It is too much to expect that first grade geography is understood by a major manufacturer?

 

As long as the maps are correct, why do you need GPS coordinates? What are you trying to do, launch precision insults at people and places? Use street addresses. You're not going on military missions.

 

Position reporting using co-ordinates is the standard way of talking to the emergency services - ambulance, police, fire etc.

Where are you? Co-ords and they know exactly.

So in my case I would report a position miles out from the actual position if in any area W0.nn.nnn which happens to be where I live.

Nothing military or sinister about that, just the proper way of doing things if requested.

 

Oh, I see. We don't do that in the US. We use street addresses, mile markers, landmarks, 911 systems, etc. I don't think the ambulances and cops even carry GPS units. Maybe, though.

 

Interesting. Don't forget that GPS co-ordinates are also map (or chart if you are an aviator like me!!) references so are the most useful way of conveying actual positions.

I guess this is one of my major probs with the thing. Positional awareness is a vital part of flying so if all else fails you have a mental image of where you are. It just happens.

So when I see an Easterly co-ord my brain just gets crazy knowing it is just not true, and when you cannot believe your instruments it is a bad bad situation.

I don't know if you have access to the Merc command system but even if you try and put in an westerly W0.nn.nnn co-ordinate you cannot. It charminly goes from E0.nn.nnn to W.1.nn.nnn.

Actually if you look at the map you can see that Germany all lies to the East of the GM so I bet its just one of those bugs that no-one has noticed but in an expensive car like the E with all the gizmos it is really sad that Merc don't see the importance of making their features work.

I will probably go back to BMW next time which is sad because there is a lot I really like about the Merc. Also the new R series look nice.

 

does this problem exist on other GPS too?

 

Is that the problem coming from crossing zero latitude?
Germans and Americans can't have it
Sound to me, like equivalent of "Year 2000" fear. but this one actually makes problems.

 

Yeah, you're right. You can't get the correct street address if the coordinates are incorrect.

I assume GPS usage is more widespread here in the US than I'm implying. I just don't think it's used widely in terms of GPS coordinates, not including pilots or professionals who needs them.

For example, my truck has OnStar. If the airbag deploys, it uses the GPS system to find the GPS coordinates and send them to the OnStar facility by cell phone. When the OnStar folks receive the data, it appears in terms of a map location with an address, not GPS coordinates. They can surely retrieve the coordinates as well, but I don't know how they would use them. They'd just call the authorities and tell them my truck is at a certain address and to send an ambulance.

My Garmin works the same way. It will display the GPS coordinates, but it can also translate them into street addresses. That's what I have displayed on the unit.