I finally got my D2 installed in the Maxima thanks to help from those on this board. The dashkit worked perfect and I am real happy with the functionality of the unit. That said the Maps are incredibly frustrating. Many secondary streets do not have names on them althought the street physically shows on the display. You cannot do an address search to find these missing street names either. I had to find my house via GPS verses entering the address because my own street is missing from the data base. All streets I have looked for have been in place for over 4 years and the map version is the 2006. My old Garmin updated in 2005 finds all of them. End of Rant.

My question is weather this is a limitiation of the unit i.e. the DVD can only hold so many street names or Pioneer is just slow on map updates. If its the unit I can return it for credit and put in a Z1 which hopefully has a more complete map. If its the map it looks like I still need my old portable nav to get around town and the D2 just becomes a fancy radio. BTW i live in Raleigh Norht Carollina.

Umm, have you tried zooming in all the way?

The map isn't going to display the names of every street depending on the level you're zoomed in because there just isn't enough space on the screen.

I would assume that in the street is physically on the map, then the name and addresses are there.

I did try to zoom in and names still don't show up. Also when I try to type the name into search the last few letters are greyed out and cannot be entered. I can pull up both names in my old Garmin and my wifes Magellan, both of which have software at least two years old. I did call pioneer customer service who pulled the streets up on Mapquest, said yup they should be there and would forward to "engineering", but there was probably nothing they could do about it until an upgrade came out. I guess I'm trying to find out if this is a common problem, do I just live in the wrong area (too rural) or does the D2 have a less detailed Map because its on a DVD.

I did try to zoom in and names still don't show up. Also when I try to type the name into search the last few letters are greyed out and cannot be entered. I can pull up both names in my old Garmin and my wifes Magellan, both of which have software at least two years old. I did call pioneer customer service who pulled the streets up on Mapquest, said yup they should be there and would forward to "engineering", but there was probably nothing they could do about it until an upgrade came out. I guess I'm trying to find out if this is a common problem, do I just live in the wrong area (too rural) or does the D2 have a less detailed Map because its on a DVD.

not only do you have to zoom, but you have to make sure you're choosing the correct region. after using the address search funtion, before you enter in the street name, check what number you see in the corner. and touch that number to confirm it corresponds to the region you live in.

when i first installed my navi, even though i put in the right disc in, it still referred to the wrong state.

If you have done everything right as mentioned by others, then it's going to be a map limitation and not Pioneer. Pioneer gets its maps from TeleAtlas which is just not as good as NavTeq. Garmin makes the highest rated navigation units, and they use NavTeq maps. Magellan also uses NavTeq.

TeleAtlas and NavTeq are the 2 big players that supply North American maps for pretty much every navigation unit, OEM and aftermarket.

Over the weekend I tried to locate a North Allen St. and could not bring it up until I entered N Allen St. It didn't recognize North only N. Don't know if that always applies.

I'm in Canada and find the TeleAtlas maps are inferior to NavTeq. Not only that, the 2006 Pioneer maps are inferior to the 2004. At least the 2004 maps (although 50% of all addresses are on the wrong site of the street in my city), there are not many unroutable roads in my area. In the 2006 version, only major artieries (some of them misspelled) are routable. And God help me if I can easily find a Tim Hortons on the 2006 mapset while they all appear just fine on the 2004. I think Canada got scuttled, possibly for space, on the 2006 mapset. I had to downgrade back to my 2004 maps.

The Avic is a beautiful unit, hardware-wise, but its software just plain sucks - which makes the unit as a whole very disappointing. Think of having a beautiful sports car, all nice and shiny, awsome sound system, very smooth ride, top notch handling . . . . . with a 4 cylinder engine from a 1990 Plymouth Colt. That's the way I feel about the Avic.

I'm hoping next years map update will be an "update".

Anyway, the point of the message is that I am having similar problems as you ... although the streets are physically there, I can often not find the address on that street, or the street name is mispelled, or it is just not a routable street. I have a Garmin GPS V and it has no issues at all with finding addresses that the Avic misses all the time.

Aconite

You have described my problem and frustration exactly. It appears that its the Map set.

Does anyone know if the Z1 uses the same map sets or would I have the same problem is I upgrade my unit.

...Does anyone know if the Z1 uses the same map sets or would I have the same problem is I upgrade my unit.

The AVIC Z1 uses the same TeleAtlas map software as the AVIC D2.

This was the answer i to was looking for I'll stick with my garmin and its iti-biti screen

After giving up on Pioneer customer service I finally wrote Pioneer headquarters in Japan. They called back within a week and agreed that numerous street names in my area were not in the database. Said that the next update issued in March 2007 will add in the Navteq database which would make it comprable to Garmin, Magellan etc. Since I love everything else about the unit I will wait patiently.

After giving up on Pioneer customer service I finally wrote Pioneer headquarters in Japan. They called back within a week and agreed that numerous street names in my area were not in the database. Said that the next update issued in March 2007 will add in the Navteq database which would make it comprable to Garmin, Magellan etc. Since I love everything else about the unit I will wait patiently.

This is great news.

Said that the next update issued in March 2007 will add in the Navteq database which would make it comprable to Garmin, Magellan etc.

They have already stated that the D3 will use Navteq, but will the D2 be upgradable to these maps? For that matter, will the N3 be upgradable to Navteq?

I've been back and forth between Garmin (because I really wanted the Navteq maps) and the AVIC's (because they are built in). I decided I wanted the builtin over the Navteq maps so I settled on the AVIC. Between the D2 and N3 I decided on the N3 because of the dvd support and "better" Ipod features. Now they dangle the D3 out infront of me which uses the Navteq maps.

What I'm currently thinking is that if the N3 will be upgradable to the Navteq maps, I'll just buy that (I really wanted to buy something before the holidays). BUT if the maps won't be upgradable I'll probably wait for the D3.

If I wait for the D3 does that mean I don't need to buy the CD-IB100II to hook up my Ipod? And are any of the Ipod features updated?

What do you think the chances are that you will NOT be able to bypass the D3? That would be a deal breaker. I know there will always be something newer/better on the horizon........Eventually I just have to bite the bullet and buy something.

So what are your thoughts? Are the Navteq maps really that much better then the TeleAtlas maps or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Finally, I wasn't sure what board to post this to or if I should have started a new topic. I felt it kinda fit here, but if I messed up, sorry.

The D3 does have upgraded ipod control according to the article and little movie posted in the other thread. It will be cable instead of the CDIB100s and will have the ability to transfer video as well. Probably too early to tell if older models will be upgradeable and how good the new software will be since we are at least three months from the D3 arriving

just installed my d2 and completed the bypass at 2:am this morning (couldn't sleep). great stereo, decent interface, maps/routes load quickly enough, mapping software is horrible! i know, i'm not alone... like others on the board, my address, as well as many others, are not in the database (zoomed in/correct region). today i experienced what can ony be described as "flying" off the map. the vehicle postion cursor followed the road contours perfectly, only about 200 yards off the map! about 10 miles down the road the cursor finally found the road. it did the same thing on the return trip (clear sky, no obstructions). i hope at the very least the teleatlas upgrade coming next year is an improvement, though it appears that pioneer plans to charge a small fortune for the new dvd's. better yet, it would be fantastic if, as others have suggested, the d2 is upgradable to navtech. maybe i'm just spoiled by my (relatively) cheap plug and play garmin(s) and lowrance units, which never failed to find an address or poi. i hope i didn't make a long term mistake in exchange for clearing off my dashboard.

enough whining, i'm just looking for some answers in regards to future upgrades/improvements. thanks in advance for any information you might have!

The flying off the map cursor is a common occurance if the vss wire isn't hooked up or isn't hooked up properly. Also might want to check the signal strength on the gps.

thanks, i will check the vss wire. i thought it was odd that the same thing happened on the return trip. i doubt that it was a weak signal issue because i was in the middle of the anza/borrego dessert (so cal), but i will check next time i am in the area. any quick steps you can suggest to zip me through the menu so i can check the signal strength? if not, i will resort to the manual, as my intuitive skills haven't matched those of the d2's.

thanks

I have a friend who lives near the water, and you don't get any signal from anything around there. No cell, no satellite radio, and no GPS. Whenever a nav system is around there the car goes flying into the water.

wow, does that make sense on any level (the water)? i have navigated from so cal to the tip of baja at least 20 times, never had a problem. as well as all of the boats i have had. of course we're talking about considerably more advancd marine electronics. i wonder if the water you are speaking of has an excessively high salt content? could cause increased or abnormal electrical or magnetic levels? just a guess.

Does this body of water happen to be called the "Bermuda Triangle"?

I have a friend who lives near the water, and you don't get any signal from anything around there. No cell, no satellite radio, and no GPS. Whenever a nav system is around there the car goes flying into the water.

I think it'd have to be the Bermuda Triangle to pull a car off the road and into the water, especially if the car is moving.