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Hidden/Secret menu showing *live* GPS speed [hidden navigation menu]

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110K views 65 replies 37 participants last post by  Smokin Joe  
S
#1 · (Edited)
[EDIT: downloadable PDF instructions with images, see attached files at the bottom of my post]
Ok so I posted screen shots of the main i-drive hidden menu in another thread and we all got excited about finally having a true live GPS speed view. As those who tried found out it was only a snapshot of the speed when the page was loaded and you had to click next or previous to get it to updategrrrrrrr

I refused to be defeated so did some searching round and have now found not one but two different ways of having a live GPS speed on show
  1. via hidden navigation menu
  2. via hidden on board display [dash] menu
I even took the liberty of testing them both and compared the GPS speed they show to that shown on my Origin B2 GPS unit and they're both 100% accurate and as expected a few km/h lower than shown on the dials or in the HUD.

Here we go...

1 - Hidden Navigation Menu

It appears that there is a hidden Navigation Menu showing very similar information to the main i-drive hidden menu but this one shows live GPS speed in km/h. To access the menu follow these steps:
  1. From the main i-drive menu select the navigation screen by press the i-drive controller right (east).
  2. Once in the navigation section make sure the top sub-menu shows navigation and not information, etc then go to the bottom section and highlight "Map Indicating Direction of Travel" but don't click on it.
    Image
  3. Press the i-drive controller to the top-right (north-east) corner and hold it there for 10 seconds and then release.
  4. Rotate the i-drive controller right (clockwise) 3 clicks.
  5. Rotate the i-drive controller left (anti-clockwise) 3 clicks.
  6. Rotate the i-drive controller right (clockwise) 1 click.
  7. Rotate the i-drive controller left (anti-clockwise) 1 click.
  8. Rotate the i-drive controller right (clockwise) 1 click.
  9. Press the i-drive controller down (towards the ground).
  10. You should now see part of the hidden navigation menu
    Image


    Just push the controller to the right (east) to highlight the top sub menu where you can chose from the following sections
    1. Position (ignore the speed in here, heading, etc)
      Image
    2. GPS (the gps speed, visible sats, )
      Image
    3. Guidance (info relating to route selection)
      Image
    4. System (blank for me)
      Image
    5. Map (blank for me)
      Image
    6. Simulation (you can pull down (south) to select between a few demo options but I can't get anything to work for love not money)
      Image

      Image

      Image

      Image
There you have it, your live GPS speed is shown on the Position page and is most definitely live!
Image

Image


2 - Hidden OBD Menu
There is also a hidden menu that you can access using the trip reset button on the instrument panel but it's slightly more involved and complicated to access but I've found some very interesting things in there including:
  • live GPS speed in km/h
  • current rpm digital read out
  • current rev limit rpm's.
I shall take photos and post instructions in another thread with a link from here. (update - I think I have too much time on my hands, just taken about 100 photos of this hidden menu so may take a little longer than first expected to post them all)
 

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H
#2 ·
Amazing!!!!

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow (bed time over here).

Thanks again Scoopz. :cheers:
 
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B
#3 ·
That's great Scoopz! Thanks, I'll try later on!
 
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#4 ·
Great post Neil. Do you know if this applies to all software versions or only the newer ones?
 
B
#5 ·
Thanks again Scoopz. I just tried, press the i-drive controller to the north-east was a little tricky, but after few failures it worked just fine and I got to the hidden navigation window. It's really cool! Keep us posted about more findings.

:cheers:
 
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S
#6 · (Edited)
I'm not sure what software versions this works for but I'd guess it'd be all of them (i'm on v24) assuming you have navigation. Am I right in assuming that all M5's have navigation, I know they have it as standard here in the UK.

I've put all that into a downloadable PDF should you wish to email it to work, print it off to keep in the glovebox, etc and attached the PDF to this thread also.
From M5Board
from Scoopz.com
 

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M
#7 ·
I want to know how you found this all out? This is awesome!!
 
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S
#9 · (Edited)
M CRISIS said:
I want to know how you found this all out?
Click to expand...
I think i just searched google for "bmw hidden menu" and then pulled together information from a few places, wrote it down, sat in my car, tried it out, it worked, grabbed camera, took lots of photos, test drive, more photos, etc.

Funny though, a google search for bmw hidden menu now returns my post on this forum :grinyes:

Is it obvious my degree was in computer science and that perhaps I have too much time on my hands (girlfriend not staying here for a change)?
 
M
#11 ·
Yes this is great!
But I hope we haven't just added one more distraction to our driving!!! It's bad enough with phones, text messaging ipods etc. etc.
Stay alert everybody!!!
 
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U
#12 ·
Scoopz, Your the balls.....thanks I have to try this !!!
 
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B
#14 ·
Thanks Scoopz,

Very nice, worked as a charm first try.:cheers:

Have Computer Science background myself and love all stuff that can be hacked and/or run any form of diagnostics on.

GPS speed readout would probably be great if I could find a strech of road here in the San Francisco bay area that would give an opportunity to hit it hard.

Now we need a way to start hacking and modifying the parameters/settings ourselfs.

Good start!

BDA
 
S
#16 ·
Ok so as pointed out by pitpro over in the other thread:

POSITION page does NOT show true speed.
GPS page DOES show true speed and alternates between speed(km/h) and height(m).

I guess i was too excited when I tried it yesterday and thought they both showed true GPS speed. The speed shown on the POSITION page I don't know where it's getting that value from as it often shows higher than the HUD speed, i think it might be a speed it uses to calculate estimated time of arrival, etc.

The true GPS speed is shown on the GPS page (should have guessed that one really, sorry) I did some testing on the way to work this morning but used cruise control to keep me at a constant speed for testing purposes which i didn't do yesterday.
  • Cruise control set at___57km/h:difference from speedo
  • HUD speed shows:____57 km/h 0km/h
  • Position page shows:__60km/h +3km/h
  • GPS page shows:_____54km/h -3km/h
  • Origin B2 unit shows:__54km/h -3km/h
  • Garmin 60CSx shows:__54km/h -3km/h
If you are like me and playing round with all this stuff please please be careful and make sure you give the road your full attention at all times, I don't want to hear about any accidents caused by people fiddling with menus and options.

NOTE: Reversing will crash the hidden menu:
If you engage reverse gear whilst in the hidden navigation menu you will get the PDC image on the i-drive screen which will crash the hidden menu and you will have to go through all the steps to enter it again. I reversed and was stumped as to why my gps speed wasn't changing on the GPS page until I realized I could access anything. So if you enter the menu whilst sat on your drive then reverse off the drive you'll have to do it all over again!
 
Z
#17 ·
Thanks a lot.
Cool find :cheers:
 
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B
#22 ·
No. I played with it while driving (like everybody else I guess). I even displayed a navimap in the assist window to see if something would happen. I tried it both with and without (in the garage) GPS signal. I also put in a navi destination while standing still. Nothing seems to happen.
I would expect the arrow to move to destination in demo mode just like Tom Tom would do. The turning right and left would make the car deviate from the planned route hence recalculating a new track.
But then, no luck...
 
R
#23 ·
Scoopz! Great work. This will come in useful on my next attempt at a full speed run.
 
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H
#25 ·
Video of the hidden GPS, horrible quality, original is much better.

Hidden GPS matches with my Stinger GPS. I'll collect some data on the speedo and the GPS readings from the original. One thing is for sure, there is a time-lag in the GPS by some seconds.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4356318158279443998
 
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M
#28 ·
Sorry to drag this from the grave... BUT, I just tried it 10-12 times on my '08 and it doesn' seem to work. Anyone else with an '08 able to access this? I was able to access the other hidden menu's; just not this one:dunno:
 
D
#32 ·
tried out last night noticed my gps speed is higher than my indicated speed py 5 km from 90 km explains why i get so many speeding tickets
 
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