This was addressed before in a previous thread, but I wanted to bring it up again with a new twist.

It's absurd that you buy a 40K+ vehicle and then have to keep buying new nav maps every couple years at $150 a pop. And with the rate of development in some areas, any map is outdated the moment it is printed (or burned in this case). So, since you can buy a Garmin with liftime maps for under $150, there has to be a way to purchase one and then load the lifetime map updates into your D. What I'm thinking is that if you buy the right model, you can get the free map updates and then load them in your D, saving lots of money over the lifetime of your car.

Any ideas about this, or internal model numbers that would make it possible?

 

I completely agree with you about the ripoff. Garmin happily sells devices with lifetime maps AND traffic. At least it's only $150, most other brands car's nav, it's $199.

Without direct access to the harddrive, I don't know how one could copy the files. Is the harddrive inside the main radio or somewhere else? I'm curious if the hardrive could be removed, connected to a physical computer, and then browse the file system.

 

Well, the CD/DVD slot can be used to update the radio unit software, and it's likely the USB input could be used as well. If you can buy a GPS and update it's software by plugging it into your computer's USB port, then it seems plausible that you could download the maps onto a USB stick and put that in your radio, or even cable your PC directly to the USB port on your radio. With a little more information, this all seems possible.

 

Agreed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Dodge (or all car makers) need to stop with their property software bull**** and use in-dash technology that scales or can be modified by the user. Put Android, WebOS or iOS(yeah..) in the dash and you have a car of the future- that will never be out of date.

 

Updating a portable garmin requires plugging it into a computer via USB and then running software. That software on the PC copies the update files to the portable garmin. I don't think the garmin "pulls" the files or that you can update a portable garmin by using a memory stick.

I wonder what happens if one plugs a computer (with a male/male usb cable) into the durnago? Will they be able to browse the file system?

Deep down, since it is a garmin system, I'll bet the map data files are the same. It's just a matter of getting access to the file system.

 

I think Garmin uses NAVTEQ maps.

 

It seems to me that this is the key concept. Someone with a little more hands-on technical experience than I have needs to give this a try. It has to be doable, because there's nothing unique (or proprietary for that matter) about the Garmin unit, or likely the USB interface to it.

 

Here's some interesting information on how to get new maps for free. Now someone has to just figure out how to download them into the car (vs. into a standalone Garmin). Does anyone know how to access the Garmin files in the car directly?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBlS0fzWjbY

I also talked to another guy who actually emailed garmin about getting maps for free by buying a cheap unit. Garmin never responded, which makes me think this is totally doable, they just don't want you to know about it.

 

This is not free. This is ripping off by BitTorrent. You never know what you're getting via torrent.

A more "gray area" way is IMO, to just buy a portable garmin with free lifetime maps, update that, and then just copy the files off of there.

Still the issue of getting onto the dodge harddrive. Worst case, I assume one could dismantle radio and mount harddrive to PC.

I still wonder what will happen if one connects a notebook to the USB port.

 

I'm not endorsing torrent, but it can be a valuable tool.

As for hooking up a laptop to the usb port, that might be very interesting, and might open the entire HD contents (vs. the very limited in-car interface) and make it very easy to copy a new map file.