Contributing to mapping and navigation

[johnmcgrann]

I've had my R1T for about a week, and am observing things I'd like to correct in mapping and navigation (e.g. some addresses in my normal travel routines were either incorrect or totally missing). I read in some posts here that the base map is OpenStreetMaps.org and have poked around there a bit, adding and revising some points on the map.

Can others here confirm 1) that it's true that OpenStreetMaps is the base map for Rivian navigation and 2) that changes like the ones I'm making eventually get to the real world?

And I guess another question: will any of this "learn" from real-world driving behavior? I'm also getting some bizarre navigation results where it either doesn't know about some existing roads or thinks that they might be closed.

I could see myself going down this rabbit-hole a bit. I'm happy to spend some time here if it'll contribute to future improvements but don't want to waste a bunch of time for no reason.

Thanks.

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[OverZealous]

I've heard it's based on MapBox, which uses OpenStreetMap data according to Wikipedia.

So correcting data in OSM should eventually make it to Rivian, but there will be a delay (possibly significant) as the data gets shuffled down through the different services.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I've heard it's based on MapBox, which uses OpenStreetMap data according to Wikipedia.

So correcting data in OSM should eventually make it to Rivian, but there will be a delay (possibly significant) as the data gets shuffled down through the different services.

I'm not sure if Rivian is choosing when to change the underlying data, or if that is all on MapBox. The map in my R1T is woefully out of date. It shows businesses that haven't existed for over 5 years. Checking https://www.openstreetmap.org/ shows the correct information.

It'd be nice if we could get some clarification on map info, as well as planned update cadence.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I'm not sure if Rivian is choosing when to change the underlying data, or if that is all on MapBox. The map in my R1T is woefully out of date. It shows businesses that haven't existed for over 5 years. Checking https://www.openstreetmap.org/ shows the correct information.

It'd be nice if we could get some clarification on map info, as well as planned update cadence.

Some of the POIs that a friend added late last year are definitely in my local map. I know because they only put it in OSM and it's not based on reality

 

[godfodder0901]

I have made edits to OSM and they have not made it to my R1T yet. These edits are 6+ weeks old, so if it does, it's not super quick...

 

[AdamUCF]

It's 100% mapbox so I think https://www.mapbox.com/contribute/ might be the best way to get fixes in though I haven't tested it. Mapbox does say they use OSM so theoretically that should work as well.

 

[johnmcgrann]

It's 100% mapbox so I think https://www.mapbox.com/contribute/ might be the best way to get fixes in though I haven't tested it. Mapbox does say they use OSM so theoretically that should work as well.

Thanks. I'm experimenting with both. OSM seems to allow users to edit directly, Mapbox allows users to "suggest" revisions and say that they'll reply if the revision is accepted. It'll be interesting to see if either produces results.

 

[godfodder0901]

Thanks. I'm experimenting with both. OSM seems to allow users to edit directly, Mapbox allows users to "suggest" revisions and say that they'll reply if the revision is accepted. It'll be interesting to see if either produces results.

OSM has not, yet.

 

[lostpacket]

I'm planning to add pictures of my cat as a point of interest.

You're welcome.

 

[AdamUCF]

I think there's also some usage of Telenav going on for POIs. I think Telenav is actually what does the charger routing based upon network traffic I've been able to intercept and the products that Telenav offers for OEMs.

 

[opnwide]

I'm not sure if Rivian is choosing when to change the underlying data, or if that is all on MapBox. The map in my R1T is woefully out of date. It shows businesses that haven't existed for over 5 years. Checking https://www.openstreetmap.org/ shows the correct information.

It'd be nice if we could get some clarification on map info, as well as planned update cadence.

CommodoreA, I know from being on this forum for the past few years and following your posts, you have been a staunch supporter of CarPlay, taken some heat, and now that you have your truck, (congrats btw) I’d like to give you another opportunity to comment that you were correct all along. Granted, I don’t have my R1S yet, but after reading these experiences with Rivian navigation, I feel like I’m on a dial up modem, running windows 95, waiting for AOL to connect. Am I wrong? I’m curious your feelings now that it’s actually in your hands.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

CommodoreA, I know from being on this forum for the past few years and following your posts, you have been a staunch supporter of CarPlay, taken some heat, and now that you have your truck, (congrats btw) I’d like to give you another opportunity to comment that you were correct all along. Granted, I don’t have my R1S yet, but after reading these experiences with Rivian navigation, I feel like I’m on a dial up modem, running windows 95, waiting for AOL to connect. Am I wrong? I’m curious your feelings now that it’s actually in your hands.

I’m trying very hard to embrace the “Rivian” way and immerse myself.

The nav looks nice, visually; functionally, it’s definitely a “minimum-viable product”.

I can’t find many addresses/businesses I search for. The route often takes me to within a block of the location, but rarely to the correct driveway or parking lot. Perhaps when Rivian described the R1T as an “adventure” vehicle they were talking about the adventure of finding your destination? It will get you to the general area — but you have to play detective to find it from there.

You can save “favorite” addresses, but you can’t give them a name. Wtf?

The nav does show your estimated SoC% when calculating a route (nice) but it doesn’t show you the info while on a route. I wish it would leave it up as a continuously-updating estimate.

The nav offers multiple routes when first searching for an address…. But doesn’t seem to let you see alternate routes when navigating. I want a button to view alternate routes, at any time.

I miss the “share ETA“ feature from both Apple Maps and Google Maps. It was nice being able to set a route and share the route and timing with my wife or friend when coordinating meeting somewhere.

I haven’t played with this too much, but when I needed a DCFC prior to installing my home EVSE, I didn’t see a good/easy way to pick a charger and navigate to it in the Rivian nav. If you route to a far away destination the nav will plan charging stops, but tapping on a charger in the map didn't seem to let me pick one to navigate to. I ended up looking one up in PlugShare and entering the address into the nav, manually. Rivian needs to enhance their smartphone app to let me push addresses to the truck.

Alexa is frustrating. it randomly starts listening and softens the music, even though no one summoned it. Disabling the wake word helps. The vocabulary is quite limited. “Take me home” in my Volvo would load my home address into nav, but Alexa doesn’t understand. I find the quality/fidelity of the Alexa voice to be poor, as well. Siri sounds “HD” by comparison And Alexa sounds like a static-filled landline telephone call.

I had a ton of issues with getting Alexa to control music. It kept wanting to use Amazon Music and kept asking me to pay for a subscription. The fix was not obvious, but TL;DR you must have a paid Spotify Premium subscription to use Alexa, even though the subscription isn’t needed to use the touch interface. It’s annoying to be forced to pay for a second music subscription. Beyond the extra cost, I also lose my playlists and integration with other devices. Sound quality of Spotify seems low, too. It’s better than XM, but it definitely falls short of Apple Music and even Spotify through my Volvo (which also offers native Spotify app, but doesn’t FORCE it on you)

The phone voice call interface is good. Simple, but functional. Visually pleasing. Sound quality is good.

The complete absence of text messaging integration is annoying. This needs to be addressed OTA, soon!

My honest opinion of the nav/infotainment is that it needs a lot of work. Visually it looks good. Performance-wise it is reasonably snappy. It has potential. Rivian just needs to put the dev hours into building out the feature set.

I do miss CarPlay. I don’t think I will always need it; I am willing to do things the ”Rivian Way(tm)”. But currently, there is no ”way” to do a lot of things with Rivian. So what is the conclusion? Well, it’s complicated, and people can easily twist my words to fit their own bias. The gist is:

Is CarPlay required? No.
Is Rivian better than CarPlay? Not even close, right now.
If Rivian puts forth the effort, can they make me okay with not having CarPlay? Yes.

Most of my concerns CAN be addressed with OTA updates. Time will tell if Rivian chooses to do so. I hope they do. I hope it doesn’t take long.

What I think Rivian needs to do, soon:

• Update map data so it’s “current” and accurate.
• Allow naming favorites.
• Ability to “send to truck” address from Rivian app.
• Ability to navigate to a charger as a destination.
• Ability to add “waypoints” on route and search for POI along a route (bonus for ability to do this from Rivian app)
• Improve Alexa voice quality.
• Improve Alexa vocabulary (open garage, navigate to named favorite, more natural language)
• Enable Apple Music Alexa skill.
• Native Apple Music app in infotainment.
• Text message integration (show text message on display, read aloud, dictate reply, send new message by voice)
• Auto-tilt-down side mirrors on shift-to-reverse (seriously, how was this missed?)

 

[NashvilleR1S]

Wow I just browsed through mapbox...the 3 places I visit the most often are not on there. Restaurants that closed 3 years ago are still there...thats rough.

 

[opnwide]

I’m trying very hard to embrace the “Rivian” way and immerse myself.

The nav looks nice, visually; functionally, it’s definitely a “minimum-viable product”.

I can’t find many addresses/businesses I search for. The route often takes me to within a block of the location, but rarely to the correct driveway or parking lot. Perhaps when Rivian described the R1T as an “adventure” vehicle they were talking about the adventure of finding your destination? It will get you to the general area — but you have to play detective to find it from there.

You can save “favorite” addresses, but you can’t give them a name. Wtf?

The nav does show your estimated SoC% when calculating a route (nice) but it doesn’t show you the info while on a route. I wish it would leave it up as a continuously-updating estimate.

The nav offers multiple routes when first searching for an address…. But doesn’t seem to let you see alternate routes when navigating. I want a button to view alternate routes, at any time.

I miss the “share ETA“ feature from both Apple Maps and Google Maps. It was nice being able to set a route and share the route and timing with my wife or friend when coordinating meeting somewhere.

I haven’t played with this too much, but when I needed a DCFC prior to installing my home EVSE, I didn’t see a good/easy way to pick a charger and navigate to it in the Rivian nav. If you route to a far away destination the nav will plan charging stops, but tapping on a charger in the map didn't seem to let me pick one to navigate to. I ended up looking one up in PlugShare and entering the address into the nav, manually. Rivian needs to enhance their smartphone app to let me push addresses to the truck.

Alexa is frustrating. it randomly starts listening and softens the music, even though no one summoned it. Disabling the wake word helps. The vocabulary is quite limited. “Take me home” in my Volvo would load my home address into nav, but Alexa doesn’t understand. I find the quality/fidelity of the Alexa voice to be poor, as well. Siri sounds “HD” by comparison And Alexa sounds like a static-filled landline telephone call.

I had a ton of issues with getting Alexa to control music. It kept wanting to use Amazon Music and kept asking me to pay for a subscription. The fix was not obvious, but TL;DR you must have a paid Spotify Premium subscription to use Alexa, even though the subscription isn’t needed to use the touch interface. It’s annoying to be forced to pay for a second music subscription. Beyond the extra cost, I also lose my playlists and integration with other devices. Sound quality of Spotify seems low, too. It’s better than XM, but it definitely falls short of Apple Music and even Spotify through my Volvo (which also offers native Spotify app, but doesn’t FORCE it on you)

The phone voice call interface is good. Simple, but functional. Visually pleasing. Sound quality is good.

The complete absence of text messaging integration is annoying. This needs to be addressed OTA, soon!

My honest opinion of the nav/infotainment is that it needs a lot of work. Visually it looks good. Performance-wise it is reasonably snappy. It has potential. Rivian just needs to put the dev hours into building out the feature set.

I do miss CarPlay. I don’t think I will always need it; I am willing to do things the ”Rivian Way(tm)”. But currently, there is no ”way” to do a lot of things with Rivian. So what is the conclusion? Well, it’s complicated, and people can easily twist my words to fit their own bias. The gist is:

Is CarPlay required? No.
Is Rivian better than CarPlay? Not even close, right now.
If Rivian puts forth the effort, can they make me okay with not having CarPlay? Yes.

Most of my concerns CAN be addressed with OTA updates. Time will tell if Rivian chooses to do so. I hope they do. I hope it doesn’t take long.

What I think Rivian needs to do, soon:

• Update map data so it’s “current” and accurate.
• Allow naming favorites.
• Ability to “send to truck” address from Rivian app.
• Ability to navigate to a charger as a destination.
• Ability to add “waypoints” on route and search for POI along a route (bonus for ability to do this from Rivian app)
• Improve Alexa voice quality.
• Improve Alexa vocabulary (open garage, navigate to named favorite, more natural language)
• Enable Apple Music Alexa skill.
• Native Apple Music app in infotainment.
• Text message integration (show text message on display, read aloud, dictate reply, send new message by voice)
• Auto-tilt-down side mirrors on shift-to-reverse (seriously, how was this missed?)

Great write-up and insights Commodore. Hopefully some improvements get implemented, CarPlay or not.

 

[SeaGeo]

The nav does show your estimated SoC% when calculating a route (nice) but it doesn’t show you the info while on a route. I wish it would leave it up as a continuously-updating estimate.

The nav offers multiple routes when first searching for an address…. But doesn’t seem to let you see alternate routes when navigating. I want a button to view alternate routes, at any time.

I miss the “share ETA“ feature from both Apple Maps and Google Maps. It was nice being able to set a route and share the route and timing with my wife or friend when coordinating meeting somewhere.

Totally agree. The other issue is the anticipated SOC% doesn't seem to *update* as you're going. Over a 1,000 mile road trip for me this last weekend it was pretty damn spot on (if not slightly conservative), but wasn't adjusting on the fly. Which was a bit.... disconcerting.

You can nav to a charger by selecting it and navigating directly to it. What the nav doesn't do (as far as I can tell) is let you selectively remove chargers that you don't want to charge at, or prioritize specific networks. I've also run into some issues with it thinking I can't get somewhere because of a lack of chargers, yet if I navigate say.... 15 miles closer it says it can arrive at that location with about 50 miles of charge remaining. It also tried to tell me it didn't think I'd get home this weekend with something when I was at 11% SOC and about half a mile from my house.

Overall I agree with your improvements, though I haven't had any of the issues with Alexa that you did. So that's a little confusing.

Have you adjusted your spotify streaming quality to high?

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