Use Google Maps to program a destination in your Leaf's Navi

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sdbonez

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Sep 29, 2010
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How To Send a Google Maps route destination from your computer to your Leaf's Navigation System

WARNING: If you setup auto-download, there's no known way to get it to stop prompting you. The suggestion is to not use auto-download until a fix is available from Nissan (if ever)

This was first hypothesized here, then broke out in a conversation here and I promised to do a quick write up on details for others in the Tips forum (sorry, I tend to be verbose!) There's no reference to the Google Maps bits (although some of the others are covered a bit) so here's my best shot at detailing it/wrapping it together so others can do it, too.

What You'll Have When Done With Setup Below
You can enter a route on your computer in about 20 seconds/4 clicks, the route will be sent to your car, automatically downloaded when you start-up the car, and with a final 3 clicks on the car's touchscreen, you'll be navigating to your Google Maps Route Destination.

Intro: The Carwings Router Planner is sluggish (though it does include range estimation based on your vehicle's state of charge). For many of us, Google Maps is our preferred route planner and I've discovered how you can send a Google Maps route destination from your computer to your Leaf's Navigation system. No more printing maps, writing down addresses on a sticky note or scrap of paper, etc.

Disclaimer: Exact procedures may vary depending on software versions in your vehicle. Be careful when setting/sharing your Carwings login name (not your nickname) since no secondary factor of authentication (e.g., a password) is required to send a route destination to your vehicle. These instructions do assume you have your Leaf and have Carwings setup and working with it (normally done upon delivery of the vehicle). Google claims that only the destination address is sent to the vehicle.

Step 1A: Get Driving Directions in Google Maps & Send the Route Destination to your Carwings account
  1. Visit http://maps.google.com/ from any computer
  2. Use the search box to enter a start and end point for your route (e.g. "1551 Auto Park Way, 92029 to 8118 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, 92111"). Don't enter the double quotes and make absolutely sure you click on the 'Search Maps' button to the right of the search bar or it may not work
  3. Driving Directions will be displayed - adjust as necessary if your addresses weren't specific until you have a clear 'Point A' to 'Point B' route
  4. In the upper right header of the page will be some links to 'Print', 'Send', and 'Link' your Driving Directions. Click 'Send'.
  5. A window will pop-up defaulting to sending the directions to an email address. In the left column, click on the second option 'Car'
  6. Change the 'Name' of your route if you like, Choose 'Nissan' as the 'Make' and enter your Carwings username(a.k.a, your PIN from your Carwings setup sheet) in the 'NISSAN CARWINGS account' field next to it, add any notes you like, and click the 'Send' button. Note that checking the 'Use as default' box caches/stores a cookie on the computer you're using to remember the 'Make' and 'Nissan Carwings Account' field - so be sensitive about checking this box on public computers, etc. (but it makes things a lot faster for repeat entries)
  7. Google sends the destination to the Carwings service which in turn, makes it available to your Carwings account and ultimately to your vehicle itself.

ALTERNATE Step 1B: Find a Destination in Google Maps & Send it to your Carwings account (courtesy of garygid)
  1. Visit http://maps.google.com/ from any computer
  2. Use the search box to enter an address (Destination) (e.g. "Hometown buffet, Santa Ana CA"). Don't enter the double quotes and make absolutely sure you click on the 'Search Maps' button to the right of the search bar or it may not work
  3. Up to several 'pinned' locations will be displayed - looking at the pin locations on the map, or the descriptions in the left column, note the pin letter that you are interested in (e.g. the HTB on 17th Street)
  4. In the upper right header of the page will be some links to 'Print', 'Send', and 'Link' your Driving Directions. Click 'Send'.
  5. A window will pop-up defaulting to sending the directions to an email address. In the left column, click on the second option 'Car'
  6. Choose "your" pin letter from the 'Include' dropdown list at the top of the Send window (e.g., 'B. Home Town Buffet'), choose 'Nissan' as the 'Make' and enter your Carwings username(a.k.a, your PIN from your Carwings setup sheet) in the 'NISSAN CARWINGS account' field next to it, add any notes you like, and click the 'Send' button. The same security precautions about saving your default settings apply
  7. Google sends the destination to the Carwings service which in turn, makes it available to your Carwings account and ultimately to your vehicle itself.
  8. Note: This works for any location you've found on Google Maps and allows you to send the corresponding address to your car.

Step 2: *Manually* Retrieve the Route Destination from your Carwings account and use it to set a new destination in your Leaf Navigation System.
  1. Start-up your car. You must be logged into Carwings for this to work (normally, you remain logged in after initial setup) and must have wireless network signal for your car.
  2. After acknowledging the Nag Screen by clicking 'Accept', press the physical button labeled 'Zero Emissions' located on the extreme lower right of your navi display
  3. Navigate using the touch screen to Carwings -> All Information Feeds -> Google Maps -> Send To Car
  4. Carwings will connect to your account and download the Route Destination you sent to the service earlier
  5. After downloading, it will 'speak' the info to you. While it's doing this, press the 'Pause' button. (If you miss it, you have to hit 'replay?' then Pause while it's playing.)
  6. Pressing Pause brings up another menu with several options.
    • Pressing 'New Destination' sends the Route Destination to your Navigation System and starts you on a route to get there.
    • Pressing 'Add to Route' allows you to add the Route Destination to an existing route you're already navigating on.
    • Pressing 'Store Point' allows you to store the Route Destination to your Navi's address book.

Optional Step 3: *Automatically* Retrieve Route Destinations from your Carwings account on Leaf Startup

  1. WARNING: If you setup auto-download, there's no known way to get it to stop prompting you. The suggestion is to not use auto-download until a fix is available from Nissan (if ever)
  2. Navigate to Zero Emission Button -> Carwings Settings -> Information Feed Setting -> Download Automatically -> Select Download Interval
  3. Choose 'Power On' (or another interval you prefer)
  4. Navigate to Zero Emission Button -> Carwings Settings -> Information Feed Setting -> Download Automatically -> Select Information Feed
  5. Choose 'Google Maps', then 'Send To Car'. You should receive a confirmation of 'Automatic Connection to <Send To Car> will be performed at Power on.'
  6. Now, whenever you power on your car, it'll automatically connect to the Carwings service and download any new Google Maps Route Destinations you've sent

Note RE: Deletion of Feeds
  1. Navigate to Zero Emission -> Carwings Settings -> Information Feed Setting -> Delete All Information Feed Records
  2. Once you press delete, this deletes ALL of the feeds you've previously downloaded to your car (including your Google Maps Route Destinations). It however *does not* delete them from your Carwings account. As such, the next time you update the feeds (manual or auto), you will re-download the feeds you just deleted if you haven't sent new ones to your account up to a maximum of 6 feeds before they auto-delete

Note: Unfortunately, there's no online management of your Google maps Route Destinations. With some testing, it looks like it holds a max of 6 destinations in your Carwings account at any given time and basically, it's FIFO (First In, First Out) though it does seem to have a concept of keeping unread Route Destinations from the feed and not allowing them to be deleted until being 'read' (within the limit of 6, of course). Bottom line, you can keep sending as many Route Destinations from Google Maps as you want and you'll always have 6 on your vehicle after the sync with your Carwings account.

Note RE: Mobile Support
One thing I thought would be really cool is if you could do this on your smartphone and send to your car that way. Unfortunately, in my tests on an Apple Iphone (Maps), a recent Froyo Android phone (Maps and Navigation), and a Blackberry 6.x (Google Maps), I found no way to do this. You may be able to do it via a WAP/Safari/Opera/etc. browser but I didn't waste my time going that route.

Hope this helps.

-Mike
 
As a variation, you may enter just a single address:

1. Just type one location that you are looking for, instead of the "route" (a first address "to" a second address).

Example: Hometown buffet, Santa Ana CA

To select and send one of the "pinned" locations:
a. click the displayed map
b. looking at the pin locations on the map, or the descriptions in the left column, note the pin letter that you are interested in (the HTB on 17th Street).
c. click Send (at the top of the map) and choose "Car".
d. choose "your" pin letter from the dropdown list at the top of the Send window.
e. if necessary (not already stored), select NISSAN and enter your CW account ID.
f. click the Send button

When you have found/located any location on Google Maps, you can Send the corresponding address to your car.

QUESTION:
When you download destination(s) from CW manually, pause, and save each as an address, THEN these are "permanent" in your LEAF addresses, even if you delete the CW feeds, right?
 
sdbonez said:
How To Send a Google Maps route destination from your computer to your Leaf's Navigation System[...]
-Mike
Good job!

BTW, one question, what are the differences between involving maps.google.com and this method, described on leafic.com, which doesn't seem to use Google maps? The two methods seem to differ in how the route is mapped initially and in how it is transmitted to a LEAF. In your method, the route is mapped in maps.google.com and sent via its "Send" feature. In the leafic.com method, the route is mapped and sent all from the CARWINGS Web site. Does that sound about right?

(I don't have my LEAF yet so I can't verify.)
 
Nice. Thanks for the detailed steps.

Yes, the navteq program is quite user unfriendly. Doesn't remember any addresses - for eg. But it does have the ability to show the route Leaf will use for the destination and you have the ability to adjust that route a bit.
 
Apparently there is:

1. the Google Maps addresses ("feed" via CW), which appears to send only the destination address?

2. a CW "route" creator that might also send only a route-destination.

In the LEAF, from CW, you can:

1. hear/grab the "Google feed" addresses (apparently a max of 6).

2. download "CW routes" (but perhaps only the destination address?).
 
So, with the CW-created "route", it can contain way-points, and they all get sent to the car as one named "Route"?

With Google Maps, you can only send (up to 6) single locations, and manually pause-put them into your "address book"?
 
Glad it's working for folks. A few responses:

garygid said:
As a variation, you may enter just a single address
Good point, Gary! - I'll add yours bits to the main post if that's ok with you

To the comments about CW routes, I do think that's correct - remember, I found that there is web-based management of routes for the CW routing solution where as Google only sends destinations. When you enter a destination from your Leaf, it does a Carwings check (which I believe is for traffic) before having the NAV route you. I wonder if the CW routes really are just multiple points (an origin, intermediary stops as application, and a destination) vs. the Google Maps simply being a single destination.

I guess bottom line I'm saying that I bet the Nav system is always doing the routing - and that the only think going back and forth between Carwings in the car and the Carwings server are addresses/points... multiple in the case of their routing service, single in the case of google maps.
 
garygid said:
QUESTION:
When you download destination(s) from CW manually, pause, and save each as an address, THEN these are "permanent" in your LEAF addresses, even if you delete the CW feeds, right?

Done. thanks again, Gary. To your quest that I missed before. Once you 'Send to Car', it appears that you'll always have Send to Car feeds in your Leaf's Carwings screen. However, you can only have a max of 6 at any one time and they clear out as you put new ones in (again, I think subject to what you've 'read' - those stay until you've ready them) Again, you can manually clear them from the car but it doesn't impact your account...so for instance, if you ever sell the car, I suspect the process would be to clear them, then logout (thereby preventing them from downloading from your account before sale)
 
Thanks for working through this process and posting the tips to do it. I tried it just now and it worked perfectly. It would have taken me forever to figure out the "pause" trick!
Nice job.
TT
 
sdbonez said:
Now, whenever you power on your car, it'll automatically connect to the Carwings service and download any new Google Maps Route Destinations you've sent
I have tried playing with this, and I really want to get it to work, but it isn't working properly for me.

I set this up but every time my car connects it plays back the 6 previous map points even though I've already "listened to" them. At the moment I've given up and turned off the automatic feed option.

Are others really getting the automatic feed to work properly? Does it only "play" it if there are new items in the feed? If so, any suggestions on how to "clear" or "fix" mine?
 
Apparently Carwings "Google-Map" support holds the most recent 6 "locations" in a "stack", with no way to erase or clear them. The most recently added location is at the top of the stack.

After I have added new locations (from GM to CW), I can manually request a download of the stack (of 6) to the car, essentially "syncing" my LEAF with my Carwings "stack" of GM locations.

Then, at leasure, I can "play" those locations (top location first), skip fwd/back through the stack, and Pause the playback while on the location of interest. I can then use it as an immediate destination, Store it as a "saved" location for use later, or a few other options.

Doing an auto-sync at power on does not change the story much.
 
nader said:
Any chance that this route with waypoints could be entered. The waypoints aren't really important but the route is.
Short answer - No, not through Google Maps.

Long Answer:

  • For whatever reason, the final destination you have doesn't even let you get the option to submit the route to a car. I had to remove the destination before Google would give me the send to car option.
  • I believe only the final destination is sent when you do it through Google maps, so multiple destinations or waypoints will not be sent (I tried to test this, but it looks like I'm having a Carwings problem right now).
  • The Leaf only allows you to have a total of 6 waypoints, and you've got many more than that to force that specific route. You said the waypoints don't matter but the route does - which I'm not sure what you mean since the waypoints force the specific route.

What you'll have to do is break this up into segments (which you'll have to drive in segments anyway since the trip is longer than the Leaf can go in one charge). You will then need to enter those segments with the waypoints you want directly into the Leaf nav system.
 
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