120 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
WhateveryourPC,hardware, software,officeapplication
or macroissues,SimonHandby isheretohelp
Send yourproblemstohelp@computers hopper.co.uk
I’ve had myVolkswagen Tiguanformore
than ayear,and we’re aboutto use it on a
family driving holidaytoF rance.Int he UK,
we tend to use either Android Autoor
Apple CarPlayton avigate, but we’re
concerned that doing so on holidaywill
blast through our data allowance and land
us with big roaming charges. Instead, we’ll
use the car’s satnav, the mapsforwhich
needed an update.
Unfortunately,when attemptingto
refresh them,Iseem to have broken the
system.IdownloadedVolkswagen’s
DiscoverCare software,which didn’t seem
to offer the same Europe-wide mapping
that’s already on the system: instead,Ihad
to choose from map bundles with partial
coverage.The software backed up the
satnav’s SD card data, but then itfailed
when copying the new data
on to the card. Although
there seemsto be data on
it, the car says that it can’t
find the maps.
We’re le ftwithout
satnav, and Idon’t want
to paythe dealershipfor
an up- to-dateSDc ard.
Is there any wayto
recover it manually?
Paul Scott
We also encountered
problems tryingto updatea
ŚW navigation system with
AiscoverCare.Fortunately,
the map data is stored in a
simple file structure and it’s
easy to updatethe SA card
without the program’s help.
Śisittinyurl.com/382helpfile1,
navigat etot he correct
model, year and navigation
systemforyour car ,then
scroll downto find theavailable map data
bundles. Click the Aownload buttonfor
European country bundle ̋, which appearsto
containanear-completemap of Europe.
While the huge updateis
downloading, move the
current contentsof the SA
card to afolder on your PC.
And while that’s ongoing,
open anew browser tab,
visitwww.7-zip.organd
download and install
the 64-bit versionof the
Ͷ-Ƃip archival software.
When the satnavdata
has downloadedto your
computer,run Ͷ-Ƃip,
navigat etothe downloaded
file and click onceto select
it. Click Extract, then
specifyanew folder to
contain the extracted files. When this
process has finished, open thefolder to
which you extracted the archive and manually
copythe extracted data onto the SA card:
Inneedof directions
make sure that the Ûapsfolder is in the root
of the SA card. ònce the copyisc omplete,
slide the card lockto prevent the map data
being erased and re-insert the SA card in the
car’s slot. The system should now recognise
the updated map data.
As an aside,you ma ybea ble to avoid big
downloads inFrance by using Google Ûaps’
oəine mapsfeature.Start Ûaps on an
Android phone,tap the menu button in the
search box, select òəine maps, then choose
Select your own map.Pinch the screento
zoom out, position the area boxto include
the region you’re visiting, then tap Aownload.
If you can’t get the whole area in the box
ȸify ou’re drivingto the Southof France,for
exampleȸyou can repeat the processto
map the entire area you need. Notethat
while this will save on map downloads, Ûaps
will still needto use some dataforroute
finding and live traffic information.
⬆Google Maps lets you download
multipleoffline maps, eachof which
can coverawide area
⬆Volkswagen’s DiscoverCare oughtto make map updates easy,but we experienced
failures writingto the SD card
