I recently purchased a 2012 Lexus LS 460. I looked everywhere for an answer, but can not find one. On the navigation screen, the compass can point north or in a 'heads up' position. Most people, as you know, like the heads up (moving icon always points north). However, in this 'heads up' mode, the compass does not seem to indicate what direction I am moving. The compass does change when the car changes direction, but it does not correctly show the direction the vehicle is moving. For example, if I am driving true NORTH, the compass will show NORTH. If I then start to turn righ (moving from NORTH to NORTH-EAST), the compass actually starts to move and show NORTH-WEST. So, when the compass is in 'always north' position, the icon on the navigation screen correctl shows the direction the car is moving. But, when the compass is in 'heads up' position...how can I tell what directin the car is moving?

 

i thought that's the whole idea. either you turn, or the compass turn. if you select heads up, meaning the map always shows you moving "up", then the compass has to turn to show you what direction you are going

for example if you are heading E, the compass will point to the "left", meaning that's the direction of N. and thus you can deduce you are moving E

 

It would seem to make more sense if the compass would show what direction I am moving instead of maknig me deduce that information. Perhaps if there was something, anyhthing, in the car that told me what direction I was moving. I can not find that anywhere in the LS.

 

I'm going to move this to the LS forums you might get some better exposure there, I'll leave a redirect from here for a little while.

 

I can't answer you. But as a tangential comment my father is on his 3rd LS460 in Florida. He has NAV because almost all of the cars are shipped that way, but he rarely travels outside his "knowledge zone" and doesn't really understand the NAV. Anyway, for grandpas like my father, the compass-in-the-rear-view-mirror, which exists for cars ordered without NAV, would be great. His biggest complaint is lack of that easy, in your face, compass. It appears that the display is already in the mirror too. I couldn't cost Lexus more than a dollar or two to have it active as standard in ALL LS460s. And since most of the buyers are older, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's kind of confusing, isn't it?

Let me see if I can help you.

The Navigation Map can be displayed in two different orientations. One of the orientations is called "North Up" and the other is called "Heading Up" (referring to the heading of the car).

The display mode is selected by touching the compass symbol in the upper left corner of the display which causes the display to alternate between North Up and Heading Up. When you are in the North Up mode the compass has a red "N" and points to the top of the navigation map. When you are in the Heading Up mode the compass is halftone (no red N) and the red end of the compass points to North as if the heading of the car was at the top. The mode change is not constrained by the car-in-motion.

When the display is in the North Up mode, the symbol that marks the car's position is a compass oriented with the top at North.

In the Heading Up mode the car's position/direction symbol always points to the top of the map display.

It is easier to understand if you can see the two displays as they would appear when the car is at a fixed position.





There is also a conventional "Compass Display" mode that has both North Up and Heading Up options. The car is still at the same position - unmoved. You can get to the compass display by touching the symbol that is directly above the "+" symbol in the above screen and then selecting "Compass".





I hope this helps. If you don't understand then ask a question and I will try to help you.

 

I may have had the site preferences set in a way that prevented the above pictures from being viewed. If you have some interest in this thread and were unable to see the pictures maybe they are there now.

 

I can see the well-prepared pictures now. I've read the compass section in the owner's manual but yours is far far better. Thanks for your effort.

 

I have that same bug in my LS as in your 2012 where East is incorrectly swapped with West on the small upper left Navigation compass on my 2010 LS460. The North South is correct. It becomes painfully obvious even to a skeptic and is easy to show the bug by selecting the dual screen Nav on left and larger compass at right. For example, in dual screen with my vehicle headed North-West, at right the larger Compass's red arrow correctly points to North-West, however at the same time the little Nav compass in the upper left hand corner incorrectly has the little red arrow pointing toward North-East. It is a software bug in the Nav display screen firmware where the programmer swapped East heading with West heading on only the little compass graphic at the upper left. As an engineer with a VFR pilots license it is very annoying to have any instrument display bogus direction but doesn't affect the Navigation system function negatively.
Does anyone know if a fix has been issued or is available?

 

Please post a picture so that we can better understand what you are experiencing.

You might gain some insight from this discussion: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...s-2012-ls.html

 

Thank you JMCraney- That helped. It isn't a bug after all, Problem was that the Lexus guy told me that the Upper Left hand compass looking graphic was supposed to be a compass displaying my vehicles direction when I was in Heading Up mode. But from reading your post carefully again I now realize that that upper left hand graphic functions to point toward the top (or North) of the map and not my vehicle's direction!!! So that explains why upper left compass looking graphic does not match the larger compass in the split screen mode.
Well that is a relief. Thanks again for helping me to understand :-)

 

In the Heading Up display mode the compass, near the upper corner of the display, is a compass that displays the car's heading, with the car's heading always being at the top of the compass. It is much like a Vertical Compass Card type compass display that is used in many aircraft. And in this display mode the map moves much like the terrain would move when observed from an aircraft cockpit. When you turn the car/aircraft CW you will see the compass-card/map/terrain rotate CCW relative to your fixed position at the controls.

 

The arrow in previous Lexus vehicles I have owned always pointed in the direction of travel. The 2012 does not, it points as the person who started this thread mentioned. I brought this up with the Service Department at Lexus and they tried to recalibrate this and could not. The regional service representative stated that this was a problem and they were working on a correction. However, I have owned my 2012 for two years and nothing has been done. I mention this each time I go in for service. All of the 2012's displayed this way. I checked them out on the dealers lot.
The 2010 always showed the actual direction you were travelling via the compass. I have learned to live with this and it is in the North up heading and the movement on the navigation screen shows the direction of travel. I preferred the other way of display.

 

I understand what everyone is saying, and I thank you for your replies. I like the 'always north' version of the NAV/compass, but I still think there should be something on the screen that tells me the direction I am currently heading. In other words, I'd like to see the small compass, which is in the upper left corner, to point in the direction I am heading. I don't like that it currently points to NORTH. While looking at the compass in this format, if it is pointing due left, then I can deduce I am heading due EAST. However, I'd rather the compass tell me directly that I am heading EAST.

 

I think you are saying that you prefer the North Up display mode. In that mode, the North Up mode, the small compass in the upper left corner is fixed, pointing up, to North and the map display is oriented so that North is always at the top. In the North Up display mode the "present position symbol" (that little red triangle in a circle) points the car's heading on a map that is oriented with North being at the top. When the present-position-triangle points to the right the car is headed East. I am sure you know that, I am not trying to be argumentative. In the Heading Up display mode the red end of the "needle" in the small compass symbol in the upper left corner points to North, and North on the map and the car's heading is always toward the top of that compass symbol and toward the top of the map display. Again, you seem to understand this and I think you are saying you would like to have the direction spelled out in cardinal compass points or numerical heading and I think that would be nice. What I was trying to do was help Valley101 and others understand that their cars are not defective when in the Heading Up display mode and the car is heading East, the red end of the "needle" in the little compass in the upper left corner of the display points left as it should. Valley101 has indicated that he, and some representatives of Lexus (gives you a lot of confidence in Lexus, doesn't it?), believe that when heading East, and in the Heading Up display mode, the red "needle" in the compass in the upper left corner should point to the right.

There is a Compass display in the format that you prefer that can be selected without regard to the car-in-motion inhibit and I think in the newer models a split compass/map is also selectable. Are you able to see the pictures in Post #6 above? The reason I ask is that at one time those pictures were not viewable because of the way I had my account set up.