Mike_Wazawski

It MAY interest some to know that, following my first post which was met with more or less resistance depending on the loyalty to Skoda vs, how technology works, or should work... I found the quickest, easiest and most reversible way to update the MAPS is JUST to copy the maps of choice, in my case, the UK, ONLY to the original SD card from the unzipped file downloaded from the site. The damage caused to my sat nav from the different ways the post codes are handled or stored from the original to the updated system (The original needed a space in the post code and the new system falls over at the space so you go from a sat nav full of locations to a sat nav full of "errors"), was just too much and comments like "Mine works fine", are unhelpful to ignorant. If ALL you need are map updates, then the maps folder has all you need. The rest of the data on the card just seems to be there for historic reasons, laziness, or the lack of understanding by Skoda employees charged to update a system they don't understand. That sites like This exist with the blind leading the blind with not one Qualified Skoda employee with actual computer literacy or programming skills shows the low regard Skoda consider after care leaving the support of technical systems to armchair experts. That NO skoda agent will update your sat nav demanding you do it, shows a cavalier attitude or at least prior knowledge that the harm the updates can do. My local agent flatly refused to do it though as I don't (now) trust them to sit the right way on a toilet, I take my VRS to a local garage who seems to know far more about my VRS than the local agent does who can't do a thing to my car unless there is a fault code for it... If your downloaded update does harm to your sat nav you can bet your life that Skoda will wash their hands of it as YOU did the damage, and those here who tell you that their system updated with no issue will be falling over themselves to tell you as much, as if that fixes anything..... The space a comprehensive "How To" PDF would take up on an already bloated SD card would be insignificant and a lot more helpful than the owners manual. It would also have the advantage of being "current", but, that requires someone to take ownership of the issues and that isn't about t happen. IF I offend those who genuinely try to offer help and support, I sincerely apologise. To the "google it", "Mine worked fine" and "You're doing it wrong" brigade, I most certainly do not.

Thanks "Jaco2k". I have sent a contact form to HERE to see if they are involved with this issue.

Thanks Jaco2k. An internet link or some form of address would be useful.

Hey Zaphod (love the extra head ) On my system, the amundsen, I HAVE to enter the space, (another example of inept programming). Good luck.

Just tried LE12 8AG in my unit, noting that I can NOT enter the post code WITHOUT the space and it accepts it meaning that I am offer the last "G" as an option. I have noted today, that the little plan view of the car that selects the vehicle as the focus (if you scroll away from the car location), has been removed by the update; you now have to toggle the compass option to perform the same function. That's a neat trick for "just" a map update. I CAN confirm the new maps (using the old SD card) actually work as a local route that used to ask me to turn into a farmers access to a ploughed field. has been resolved. I do find the "mine's OK so you must be at fault" attitude found here reminiscent of some work I did at Microsoft in Reading UK. At all costs, deny the issue, claim the user is in error and the problem will go away. So sad. It reduces the value of such forums. Clearly, no one here has knowledge of what an XML file is and what it does and how these are used to affect the system. And for completeness, unless those who update successfully report to this forum, or directly to KevC_Derby, the comment " Loads of people have updated with no problem " is fatuous as I can see many many posts with similar sat nav misery across the VAG group. What we need is a Skoda Engineer (A member of the IEEE not just his/her job title), comment with some system intimate details explaining why some updates work and why some clearly don't. It's too easy to blame the user. Trust me. Microsoft's corporate policy is to never admit an issue until it's resolved. I know, I am a MSCE, and a member of the IEEE, I also use my real name, not a pseudonym like most forum trolls.

yes, "rustynuts". That's how I see it. Following a full update, I found changes to the way post codes are handled following, I assumed, changes made via the new configuration XML files in the update. I may be wrong in this..I have been wrong before.. The forced changes effectively removed most of my locations entered by postcode to I could no longer navigate to them, seeing "Check Address" on the screen. Entering the post again, without the separating space (Following the update, the option to include spaces was removed also), restored the location to one that could be navigated to. Reverting to the original maps once again, rejected that address and I had to enter a space again. So, I restored the original card data and simply overwrote the map data from the update to the SD card. The mapping data appears to be only located in the path maps/00/sds Without intimate knowledge of how the data interacts, I cannot be 100% certain the changes are valid because there is the possibility that the map on the SD card is loaded into the sat nav as required and the system is clever enough to spot an issue and NOT load the 'new' map data but stupid enough not to tell me it's using an old stored version. Important details such as this are clearly not available to me but having a system think it's in one state when it's in another is not an unknown experience for me. The routes I have checked on screen seem fine but there are no new road layouts en route so I can't be sure the 'new' mapos have stuck. I hope I would find a map version on screen somewhere but my actions may well have not copied a file, located elsewhere, that offers this, so I would still be uncertain of the map version even if I saw it on screen. It all depends how "Embedded" the version data is. like the images of the album cover in the media player; the jpg is embedded in the MP3 file. I am 100% certain that an old location 3 miles away has indeed been replaced by one 15 miles distant that share the same road name but wildly different post codes. I note, however, some post codes I used to be able to enter do not seem valid any longer as I mentioned in an earlier post. I remain suspicious of the system and until a "qualified" skoda person tells me otherwise, I will still have doubts. I will point out that a "qualified" skoda mechanic (at my dealership) told me with a straight face that bump starting a car turns the engine over backwards and when I told him he was blatantly wrong, he got quite aggressive with me. The service manager, overhearing the exchange just walked away, so that gives you an idea of my regard for technicians as opposed to qualified "Engineers", a title I am happy to have earned for myself.

Thanks "trundlenut". I was becoming convinced I was jinxed. You would think that skoda would perhaps use chosen customers for some testing. I get several requests a week to review products on Amazon (if I want the free stuff), but large corporates are so arrogant in their assumptions that they and only they can 'know' anything. As the sat nav is completely under skoda control, they should be able to guarantee performance as the user, unlike windows, say, cannot install other 'bits' to mess with the system. My system is still not right following sight of the full update, even reverting to the original card. I am now using the supplied SD card but with new map data (not the root folder maps). One location 3 miles away has been replaced by another location 15 miles away, with the same road name "School lane" with wildly different post codes. How does that work ? This was a "Store current location" entry. So I now have a sat nav with many many addresses that I am now not 100% sure they point to the right location in space. Good job I don't drive abroad. My sister in law's address tells me to "Check address" (This was a post code entry), but the post code is now not accepted as the last character is not shown in the display. I need to enter a "J" but it's greyed out. Why me... I COULD use the target option to point to the location on the map but, for some reason, when I use that feature, the cross hairs start somewhere in Scotland and zooming in on a location from orbit over the UK is not easy.

OK SWboy, I am getting frustrated and losing my sense of humour. Not with you but the whole process. e) I am using the original SD card data BUT I have only overwritten the map data in maps/00/sds and that seems to have given my post code entry WITH spaces back. There may not be any executable code on the SD card but the new map SD data contains configuration XML files that are not present in the original. Considering the cycle time of making small changes to the card, I will rest knowing that I have updated maps (apart from the new layout on the A14/M6) and I will let the subject rest. A really painful experience. No wonder my main dealer won't touch sat nav updates. Best wishes and thanks for the chat.

Well, that's interesting. Reverting to the old maps has indeed fixed the post code issue so, what can I deduce from this? Let me run this up the pole and see who agrees with me. 1) There is, I suggest, some or all of the operating software on the original SD card. (else the original MAPS has a software folder). I suspect this is in 00/cfg 2) A MAP update DOES include a crafty software update that overwrites some part of the software within the unit.. or.... it might be a change of configuration rather than a operating system tweak. The question I need to ask and try out, is whether JUST copying over, say, the map database in 00/sds will be satisfactory in an attempt to avoid post code misery. I note that there is an address configuration XML file in maps\00\cfg\mapcfg\SKODA\input. The ORIGINAL SD card ONLY contains data in the sds (maps) and sds folders. As I am only interested in the map data, I shall (because I like proper answers) just copy the updated maps over and hope that there is not an internal checksum done on the data and see if I can update just the maps without the 'software'. watch this space.

I take your point Rustynuts but if after a MAP up-date, the operating system decides that spaces are not required, the option to add a space is removed, and the entering a destination process has subtly changed, then yes... it would appear that the map update includes a crafty firmware update. When I have the time, I can restore the old maps just to prove to me and thee that a software update has been piggy backed on the map update but that still doesn't fix the problem. The software, once tweaked, cannot be untweaked because the code to do that cannot exist on the original card unless the entire operating system code is stored in a hidden partition on the card, so it IS worth a try.....

Thanks "SWboy". The post codes are not stored on the card. How can they be? The post codes can ONLY be stored within the body of the unit and the firmware update, that decodes the post codes has been changed yet no attempt to 'normalise' any existing codes to the new format has taken place, simple emphasises the ineptitude of the update authors. Using the old map database will not cure anything.

I COULD, "Rustynuts", but, unfortunately, the MAPS are not the issue. What has happened is that, a software update of the system has somehow occurred that has changed the way post codes are used, and the old maps will make no difference as I assume, there is no "Revert to previous firmware" as this would require storage in the hardware as the original SD card can have no knowledge of what is about to happen in the future. No, unless something strange has happened to my and ONLY my sat nav, this is an issue that needs skoda to hold their hands up and fix the problem in my opinion.

When the car costs 25,000 quid, you don't expect to have to suffer because the programmers don't have the software tested properly. I had my own testers who, preferably, had never used my kit before and they got NO manual, just to see how intuitive the kit was. If I had tested this update, I'd have spotted this gaff in seconds... as I did. I must have an update you guys don't have as you all seem happy with your updates, to date. How do we light a fire under skoda about this ??

It wouldn't be so bad IF there was an option to edit or export the post codes and then re import them without the space.. This is what annoys me with modern kit. There's no one with half a brain asking "What if....." Even more annoying is that, once entered, you cannot see the post code you just entered. As the option to include a space in the post code is removed from the System, someone MUST have to take some responsibility. No doubt, Skoda will be silent in this regard.. Typical corporate tactics... let the user groups and forums do their work for them....

Well, that was what I feared... What a complete balls up. The MAPS are fine but now, ALL my stored destinations say "check Address" because ALL my destinations that I set as a post code have, as the old system required, a SPACE between the groups, so, B49 5HN which DID work, now doesn't so I need to find the post codes of ALL my destinations now and input new postcodes without the space. So B495HN is now valid when previously, it wasn't. Destinations stored as "Store current position" still work. That's 2 locations I can leave alone.. Whoopee. When inputting the post code, the "Space" option is removed. It seems like I have updated the operating system as well as the maps. One local route, 3 miles before, is now a 15 mile loop... WTF !!! What a complete and utter, utter, utter, waste of time. In any text string, you can selectively ignore spaces. This is almost as bad as a microsoft update that breaks your computer. What numpty at Skoda though THIS was a good idea?