Scenic app experience using CarPlay on Chigee
Just came back to the UK after 8 day epic adventure in the French Pyrenees. This was my first full experience using the Scenic app after using Calimoto on previous trips. Although I did have Calimoto loaded with the same routes as a backup, I’m happy to say that I didn’t use that once, and solely used Scenic app, which performed excellently throughout the adventure. I did however note a few things that would’ve made the experience using Scenic on CarPlay even better:
- A number of local roads in France were closed due to resurfacing, something that you don’t know until you get there. As there is no road block feature in CarPlay version, which I understand is a limitation of what you can do in CarPlay. It was a bit annoying that I had to switch the bike off to access the phone app to mark the roadblock, and then switch the bike back on, for CarPlay to restart. It would be great if the phone app could stay alive whilst in CarPlay mode. Not to display as a mirror as such of the navigation, but a simpler / cut down view to access the options, that way you can make the adjustments using the full phone app functionality and leave CarPlay as the simpler interface. I think this “dual” screen was mentioned in another thread, and personally I think it would be a great addition.
- Due to the road closures, sometimes the re-routing had me backtrack the way I came, not a problem, but it’s quite difficult to distinguish between the route already travelled and the new re-routed view as the colour scheme is very similar, just shades darker. It would be great if the route already travelled is in a completely different colour to the purple navigation route.
- I know through the settings screen on the phone app you can switch between Destination and Next Stop in the “Show Distance and Time To” option. However this feature is not on CarPlay and being able to easily switch between the two would be good. Even better would be to show both on CarPlay at the same time, with Next Stop details above the Destination details in the same bottom left box. This way I can see how long to go for my next break, and how long to my final destination.
- Nice to haves:
- Ability to add stopping durations to waypoints, therefore the overall riding time is reflected more accurately. If I have three waypoints as breaks, I would love to put in 30min duration for each, and then the overall time to destination could add 1.5 hrs to the time.
- Larger POI icons on the map view to easily see, even better would be the ability to click on it and add to navigation (thinking fuel stops detour) - I understand this maybe a limitation on CarPlay interface though.
- More detail on the map while navigating. When planning a route, you can see details of road, buildings, parks, rivers, etc.., but when you navigate, a lot of this detail is not visible.
- A niche feature, and maybe not for everyone, but the ability to pause navigation in CarPlay
Overall the scenic app performed flawlessly and I used it throughout the adventure and was 100% reliable, so much confidence in the app that Calimoto has been deleted, and will be only using Scenic - keep up the great work.
With regards to number 3, I have mine set to “Alternate”. The means every few seconds the “time and distance to” field alternates between the next stop and the final destination.
Just adding to this conversation for further discussion and consideration. I've noticed that custom map themes don't appear to translate through to the CarPlay device (Chigee AIO-5). The daytime CarPlay map also doesn't seem to have a lot of contrast. The side roads are hard to distinguish from the background.
Is it also possible to make the tracking arrow something that has more contrast? The light blue against the light background is also hard to read. Some of the other apps like Rever seem to have higher contrast colors.
Not sure if this is a CarPlay issue and maybe it will be in the fall update, but wanted to point that out.
Thanks. 
