[DrGER]

As many of you know, the Google Earth (GE) image overlay for vector maps was officially "turned off" for Audi vehicles with GE client software in December 2020. Then, in late March 2021, various users reported that the GE image overlay started working again, without warning, though the official word from Audi was that the Google Earth service was no longer supported.

Fast forward to late December 2021 and we find that the GE image overlay service continues to work (mostly) in some MMI3G+ systems (like ours with 3G data from AT&T) but not in others.

In the hopes of teasing out why GE hangs on some (many?) MMI 3G+ systems, I put together a set of MMI SD card scripts to (1) capture message output from the QNX gemmi_final process to plain-text log files, (2) retrieve these log files from the MMI HDD to the SD card, and (3) restore the original GEMMI startup script and archive & delete the gemmi_final log files from the MMI HDD.

Inspection of the QNX process listing from pidin shows that the gemmi_final process is launched by shell script /mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh, which is itself a background process called by shell script /usr/bin/run_gemm.sh; this latter shell script is always executed by system process srv-starter-QNX when the MMI system is started. To capture output from the gemmi_final process, I added output redirection to the gemmi_final command line in new shell script /mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh-logger. I also enabled (1) output of ROME events (?) and (2) the connection status overlay from the gemmi_final command line arguments in this script.

More on gemmi_final command line arguments here:

MMI3GP Google Earth Command Line Arguments and Configuration File

The following command-line arguments were teased out of the QNX binary gemmi_final from the K0942_6 MMI3GP software update using strings(1) on a Linux system; arguments used in the run_gemmi.sh script are noted: -alternatebackgroundprocess Turn on/off workaround for alternate route...

www.audizine.com

Output of gemmi_final messages from startup to shutdown for our A4q looks like this:

CURL VERSION: libcurl/7.26.0 zlib/1.2.3 c-ares/1.7.3
|Information| PID:462926-TID:1 File: gemmi_final.cc; Function: main; Line: 624;
MSG: --------< Starting GEMMI Google Earth >--------
|Information| PID:462926-TID:1 File: gemmi_final.cc; Function: main; Line: 626;
MSG: g_gemmiVersion:0x08001900  8.0.25
|Information| PID:462926-TID:1 File: gemmi_final.cc; Function: main; Line: 627;
MSG: ===============================================

Running /mnt/nav/gemmi//mnt/nav/gemmi/gemmi_final, built on Feb 17 2015 at 19:14:43

[AROMA]: No socket on port 4711 start using resmgr ...
***************************************
** Communication library for GEMMI   **
** Version: REL_2.1.4 (trunk)        **
** Comment: Tested and verified with **
**          MMI3GPlus_DSI_2011_10_10 **
**          (using resmgr)           **
***************************************
GEMMI: Waiting for ROME client to start up...
GEMMI: ROME client ready.
GEMMI: Sending startup sequence...
GEMMI: Startup sequence sent.

***************************************
***                                 ***
*** Google Earth on the MMI - GEMMI ***
***        With Street View         ***
***          release build          ***
***                                 ***
***             8.0.25              ***
***                                 ***
***************************************

gemmi_final: Setting road width scale factor to 0.011600.
gemmi_final: Setting initial prefetch to 1.
gemmi_final: enabling ROME event printouts.
gemmi_final: Setting poi threshold speed to 50 km/h.
gemmi_final: Setting LOD mode to 12.
gemmi_final: Setting roadnamescale to 0.850000
gemmi_final: Setting roadnamecolor to ffd0ffff
gemmi_final: Disabling frame stats console printout.
gemmi_final: Setting min sleep time to 10.0000ms.
gemmi_final: Setting max frame rate to 12.0Hz.
gemmi_final: Setting max GE memory usage to 55MB.
gemmi_final: Setting target GE memory usage to 40MB.
gemmi_final: Setting max ping RTT to 2000.0 milliseconds.
gemmi_final: Successfully set traffic region to 0.
gemmi_final: Setting Street View Texel Density: 2.000000
gemmi_final: Connection status overlay enabled.
GEMMI: Get Hydra Client Instance
HYDRAGOOGLECLIENT_VERSION HydraGoogleClient v5.0.3
HYDRAGOOGLECLIENT_DATE 2011-07-20
Starting thread CPAttributeupdateThread
ConnectAttach = 1073741831
Starting thread CPTimeoutThread
CPTimeoutThread::run --- wait
Starting thread HydraGoogleProxyImplThread
CSPHydraGoogleProxyImpl::componentConnected
GEMMI: Setting All HYDRA Notifications: car, container, layer, RGA, ON/OFF
delte oMsgList.Data 101868ac size 0 8
INFO: Using OpenGL Context.
Created Google Earth Module version 5.2.0.6394, API version 0.9.0
INFO: EGL already initialized -- using pbuffer mode
INFO: EGL Version String: 1.3
INFO: EGL Vendor String: NVIDIA
INFO: EGL Extensions String:  EGL_create_pbuffer_from_client_buffer EGL_KHR_bind_client_buffer EGL_KHR_config_attribs EGL_KHR_image EGL_KHR_gl_texture_2D_image
EGL_KHR_gl_texture_cubemap_image EGL_KHR_vg_parent_image EGL_NV_nvma_image EGL_NV_client_api_nvma EGL_NV_system_time EGL_NV_nullwindow
/mnt/img-cache/gemmi/temp/svtn*: No such file or directory
Setting lookat to absolute
Max video mem set to 13 MB
frame 0: OnBeginLogin()
Starting to log in
On logged In online = 0
We are offline. NOT_LOGGED_ IN set
frame 28: OnEndLogin()
Max video mem set to 13 MB
Finished attempted (failed) log in, took 3.055644s
Earth is ready to draw on frame 21
frame 33: OnLayersReady()
onEvent::MsgSetLayerVisibilityRequest 3 layers visible
Offline. View good, sending RENDERER_RECOMMENDED to show the Google Earth map
onEvent::MsgSetLanguageRequest en_US
onEvent::MsgSetConnectionInformationRequest state is now 255, 2
hmiMessage::SCI - SetConnectionInformation: 255
onEvent::MsgSetMetricSystemRequest 3
onEvent::MsgSetConnectionInformationRequest state is now 2, 2
onEvent::MsgSetDayViewRequest
onEvent::MsgShowTMCMessagesRequest 1
onEvent::MsgSetViewTypeRequest 3
unexpected view type 3 defaulting to 3D
onEvent::MsgSetCarPositionRequest 400 341
onEvent::MsgSetOrientationRequest 0
onEvent::MsgSetModeRequest 1
onEvent::MsgSetZoomLevelRequest 2
onEvent::MsgViewSetVisibleRequest 0/1
onEvent::MsgViewFreezeRequest 0
hmiMessage::SCI - SetConnectionInformation: GPRS
Network up on frame 614
onEvent::MsgSetZoomLevelRequest 3
...
onEvent::MsgSetZoomLevelRequest 2
onEvent::MsgViewSetVisibleRequest 0/0
onEvent::MsgViewFreezeRequest 1
onEvent::MsgViewFreezeRequest 0
onEvent::MsgSetConnectionInformationRequest state is now 1, 2
hmiMessage::SCI - SetConnectionInformation: CONNECTING
onEvent::MsgSetConnectionInformationRequest state is now 2, 2
hmiMessage::SCI - SetConnectionInformation: GPRS
STARTING SHUTDOWN PROCESS
Shutdown Earth 1
...
Shutdown Earth 11
Before Stop Ref = 531
starting to log out
onEvent::MsgSetConnectionInformationRequest state is now 0, 2

Given that GE works properly in our A4q, the log file is somewhat interesting, but doesn't given any obvious clues as to why GE hangs for other 3G+ clients.

Here's where the community might offer some collective insights.

The first of my SD card scripts (gemmi4.zip) is here:

gemmi4.zip

drive.google.com

This script will look for the custom /mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh-logger file; if the script finds the file, no changes are made. If the script doesn't find the custom logger file, it renames the original run_gemmi.sh to run_gemmi.sh-k9426, copies the run_gemmi.sh-logger script to /mnt/nav/gemmi, and creates a (hard) link from run_gemmi.sh-logger to run_gemmi.sh. After the SD card script finishes and the SD card is removed, the MMI system must be restarted to use the new run_gemmi.sh-logger script.

The second SD card script (gemmi5.zip) is here:

gemmi5.zip

drive.google.com

This script retrieves information from the MMI system: (1) it captures the QNX process listing to the script log file run-TIMESTAMP.log; (2) the script copies any gemmi_final log files to the var folder of the SD card; and (3) copies the GoogleEarthPlus.conf file to the var folder of the SD card.

We're interested in seeing output captured in the gemmi_final log files in cases where the GE overlay tries to start but hangs.

The third SD card script (gemmi6.zip) is here:

gemmi6.zip

drive.google.com

This script restores the original /mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh shell script and moves (copies then deletes) any gemmi_final log files to the var folder of the SD card to archive. The MMI system must be restarted to use the original run_gemmi.sh shell script.

Of course, none of this will matter much when AT&T turns off its 3G data network in the next couple of months (but it's still worth investigating in case an alternate data solution becomes available, IMHO). --g

 

[DrGER]

Results of a hung gemmi_final process due to "failed authentication" from an Audizine user described here: MMI 3G+ Google Earth: Who Gets It and Why ?

 

[DrGER]

After looking at this some more, I decided to enlist the services of a couple Green Engineering Menu scripts used by /googleearth to (1) toggle gemmi_final logging on/off and (2) collect system information to an SD card, both without the need for separate SD card scripts.

The ZIP archive that contains the installer script and three new logger scripts is HERE.

The logger scripts include:

/mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh-logger
/mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getCacheStatus.sh-logger
/mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getInfoGEMMI.sh-logger

Installation enables GEMMI logging to plain-text files in /mnt/img-cache/gemmi/temp after restarting the MMI system.

GEMMI logging is toggled off/on from the GEM using the [Get GEMMI Cache Status] control:

Selecting [Get GEMMI Cache Status] runs script /mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getCacheStatus.sh; output is displayed in the GEM Console:

With GEMMI logging enabled, a plain-text log file is created in /mnt/img-cache/gemmi/temp each time the QNX OS starts the run_gemmi.sh startup script. These log files can be retrieve to a FAT32 SD card in slot 1 using [Get Info GEMMI]:

Selecting [Get Info GEMMI] launches shell script /mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getInfoGEMMI.sh; output from the script is displayed in the GEM Console:

As a bonus, my (new) run_gemmi.sh script enables the "connection status overlay", which highlights a red, yellow, or green indicator at the top center of the GE "map":

I've only seen the "red" indicator highlighted for a second or two when the GE "map" is first displayed (not long enough for a proper screenshot). --g

 

[31vici]

Hi DrGer,
very intresting post.... Thank you for this! I'm just curios as in my Audi Q5 hybrid (8R) I'm also having the MMI 3G+ System with SIM Card. GE is not working anymore, as you described since last year March here in Germnay.
There are some guys selling a script which will activate the GE service again, I think by rerouting to another server?

Regards,
Vici

 

[DrGER]

@31vici : You might be referring to this: Google Earth - Audi-MIB.bg

His solution on MMI3G+ systems is to patch the gemmi_final QNX binary to reroute Google Earth data requests through his server. I was using the patched binary for several months in 2021 until I ran the experiment to test whether our A4 could access the Google Earth service directly. Since then, we're using the original gemmi_final binary again successfully. Depending on the status of mobile data connectivity in your Q5, you might consider audi-mib's solution. --g

 

[31vici]

@31vici : You might be referring to this: Google Earth - Audi-MIB.bg

His solution on MMI3G+ systems is to patch the gemmi_final QNX binary to reroute Google Earth data requests through his server. I was using the patched binary for several months in 2021 until I ran the experiment to test whether our A4 could access the Google Earth service directly. Since then, we're using the original gemmi_final binary again successfully. Depending on the status of mobile data connectivity in your Q5, you might consider audi-mib's solution. --g

Hi DrGer,

Thank you very much for your reply. What do you mean with "Depending on the status of mobile data connectivity in your Q5"?
I do have a active SIM card in the car...

Regards

 

[DrGER]

Hi DrGer,

Thank you very much for your reply. What do you mean with "Depending on the status of mobile data connectivity in your Q5"?
I do have a active SIM card in the car...

In the U.S., AT&T is (was) the only 3G carrier the internal Cinterion 3G data modem worked with. Now that AT&T turned off its 3G data network since earlier this month, our MMI 3G+ system have no more integrated mobile data connection. You-all in Europe seem to have more choices for 3G mobile data carriers, so your active SIM may likely work for a while longer, which means the solution offered by Audi-MIB will likely work well for you. --g

 

[DrGER]

¡Hola! Muchas gracias por el gran trabajo que hacéis, mi nombre es Borja y soy de España, tengo un Audi A6 MMI3g+, ¿puedo usar el script para activar Google Earth? Se agradece que gente como tú haga este trabajo de forma gratuita. ¿El procedimiento para activar es el descrito anteriormente? Gracias de nuevo.

My script is only for testing/debugging purposes; it will not "activate" Google Earth if it's not already working. The solution offered by Audi-MIB (see post #5, above) should restore Google Earth in your 3G+ system. --g

 

[TenCC]

@DrGER , do you mean that with your external internet connection ( mobile wifi device or so) your google earth is stil active?

and you have an "old" MMI3gp with the "old" NVIDIA videocard?

i am searching for an fix to get google earth back to my MMI3gP. If the solution can be to prefill some cache on the MMI i am satisfied. Then you can prefill a few times a year the cache of your MMI and you have "offline Google earth"

I am curious if there is an cache in the MMI filled up with "images?" and if there is an sort of sql database where info about these "images"are stored.

 

[DrGER]

@TenCC : The timing of your inquiry is interesting; up until about a week or so ago, my GEMMI sessions appeared to be authenticated and on-line (green status indicator on map). Recently, the status indicator has been red, and some image data hasn't been updating as expected, so I re-enabled GEMMI session logging and will collect some more data on what's happening during GEMMI sessions in our '14 A4 MMI3G+ system.

If you have an active 3G data connection with the integrated Telit modem, you can look at my GEMMI logging patch from post #3, above, and we can compare how the GEMMI client on our 3G+ systems hand-shake with the back-end GE service.

I believe the image cache for GEMMI is stored as a (proprietary?) database in /mnt/img-cache/gemmi/cache on the HDD. I haven't poked at this yet to see what actual format it might be in. From my log dump in May:

/mnt/img-cache/gemmi/cache:
total 662599
drwxrwxrwx  2 root           1024 Jan 01 00:01 icons
drwxrwxrwx  2 root           1024 Jan 01 00:03 models
-rw-------  1 root      338724352 Jan 01 00:08 dbCache.dat
-rw-------  1 root         521490 Jan 01 00:08 dbCache.dat.index
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root              4 Jan 01 00:01 dbCache.dat.test

Note also that A5OC member congo offers a GEMMI work-around solution for our 3G+ systems with active internet data connections. Details HERE. I bought his solution in early 2021 and it worked as advertised. I stopped using it around September 2021 when I determined that GE direct was still working with our GEMMI client.

PS: I was out in our A4 looking at clearing an odd DTC due to my mucking with the GEM recently (before finding out what "PSD" is and why it's not applicable to most NAR cars), and saw that GE was showing the green status indicator, so I though I'd do a little virtual traveling and see what I might find. Finding locations in Europe in 3D map mode with NAR navigation is a little tricky, but easier in 2D mode (if one knows a little geography). Finding Paris was easy enough:

but what about the little yellow person icon in the map scale indicator ? I hadn't seen that before. So let's go over to Ile de la Cite and zoom in near Notre Dame:

and, by accident really, one more "zoom in" brings up "Street View":

OK, that's not very interesting, but we've been there and this looks familiar to me.
So, a couple more examples -- who knew that Google has "River View", too:

and bridge view (OK, really Street View, but in a cool place, though I should have gotten the view from the Mackinac Bridge, since we haven't been to the Upper Peninsula yet):

That little experiment used up about 65MB of LTE data (out of about 350MB for the month):

Still not sure when/how GE street view might be used in normal nav mode (since this is the first time I'm seeing it on our GEMMI client). --g

 

[TenCC]

@TenCC : The timing of your inquiry is interesting; up until about a week or so ago, my GEMMI sessions appeared to be authenticated and on-line (green status indicator on map). Recently, the status indicator has been red, and some image data hasn't been updating as expected, so I re-enabled GEMMI session logging and will collect some more data on what's happening during GEMMI sessions in our '14 A4 MMI3G+ system.

If you have an active 3G data connection with the integrated Telit modem, you can look at my GEMMI logging patch from post #3, above, and we can compare how the GEMMI client on our 3G+ systems hand-shake with the back-end GE service.

I believe the image cache for GEMMI is stored as a (proprietary?) database in /mnt/img-cache/gemmi/cache on the HDD. I haven't poked at this yet to see what actual format it might be in. From my log dump in May:

/mnt/img-cache/gemmi/cache:
total 662599
drwxrwxrwx  2 root           1024 Jan 01 00:01 icons
drwxrwxrwx  2 root           1024 Jan 01 00:03 models
-rw-------  1 root      338724352 Jan 01 00:08 dbCache.dat
-rw-------  1 root         521490 Jan 01 00:08 dbCache.dat.index
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root              4 Jan 01 00:01 dbCache.dat.test

Note also that A5OC member congo offers a GEMMI work-around solution for our 3G+ systems with active internet data connections. Details HERE. I bought his solution in early 2021 and it worked as advertised. I stopped using it around September 2021 when I determined that GE direct was still working with our GEMMI client.

PS: I was out in our A4 looking at clearing an odd DTC due to my mucking with the GEM recently (before finding out what "PSD" is and why it's not applicable to most NAR cars), and saw that GE was showing the green status indicator, so I though I'd do a little virtual traveling and see what I might find. Finding locations in Europe in 3D map mode with NAR navigation is a little tricky, but easier in 2D mode (if one knows a little geography). Finding Paris was easy enough:
View attachment 183862
but what about the little yellow person icon in the map scale indicator ? I hadn't seen that before. So let's go over to Ile de la Cite and zoom in near Notre Dame:
View attachment 183863
and, by accident really, one more "zoom in" brings up "Street View":
View attachment 183864
OK, that's not very interesting, but we've been there and this looks familiar to me.
So, a couple more examples -- who knew that Google has "River View", too:
View attachment 183865
and bridge view (OK, really Street View, but in a cool place, though I should have gotten the view from the Mackinac Bridge, since we haven't been to the Upper Peninsula yet):
View attachment 183866

That little experiment used up about 65MB of LTE data (out of about 350MB for the month):
View attachment 183867
Still not sure when/how GE street view might be used in normal nav mode (since this is the first time I'm seeing it on our GEMMI client). --g

i installed the script from post nr 3, how can i toggle on the gemmi logging? it stays disabled?

 

[DrGER]

The script in post nr 3 installs new replacements for 3 existing shell scripts, as noted above:

/mnt/nav/gemmi/run_gemmi.sh
/mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getCacheStatus.sh
/mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getInfoGEMMI.sh

GEMMI logging is enabled (if currently disabled) in the GEM from the /googleearth page by selecting the [Get GEMMI Cache Status] control, which runs shell script /mnt/efs-system/scripts/GEMMI/getCacheStatus.sh. Thus: GEM > googleearth > [Get GEMMI Cache Status] and MMI restart.
Inspection of the shell scripts shows that file /mnt/img-cache/gemmi/temp/gemmiloggerON is used to enable/disable GEMMI logging.

Also confirm that your internet data connection is working properly before enabling Google Earth in [NAV] > Settings.
I can test this with "Audi connect" or "Info" from the main MMI menu, then looking at the network adapter status from GEM > config > [Show Adapter Settings]:
ppp0 for the integrated 3G modem device:

or en5 for an external ethernet device:

--g

 

[DrGER]

An update to my post nr 10, above, re Google Street View in our MMI 3G+ systems: I used route guidance to get to an appointment yesterday (and had to endure the constant corrections from Frau GPS as I ignored her uninformed direction choices) to observe the behavior of Street View in a nav route context. As expected, no Street View "thumbnail" image was offered at the destination, and GEMMI logging offered a hint as to why:

onEvent::MsgStreetViewThumbnailsRequest 1
Street View checking thumbnail availability at (41.6xxxxx,-83.6yyyyy)
onEvent::MsgStreetViewThumbnailsRequest 1
Street View thumbnail busy, cannot make another request.
onEvent::MsgViewFreezeRequest 1
onEvent::MsgSetDayViewRequest
onEvent::MsgSetCarPositionRequest 494 341
onEvent::MsgSetModeRequest 1
onEvent::MsgSetZoomLevelRequest 3
onEvent::MsgViewSetVisibleRequest 0/1
onEvent::MsgViewFreezeRequest 0
Street View thumbnail unavailabile! at (41.6xxxxx,-83.6yyyyy)

It appears that the gemmi_final binary requests a Street View thumbnail image from the back-end Google service for the destination coordinates and does not receive an affirmative response ("Street View thumbnail busy, cannot make another request"), leading to the "Street View thumbnail unavailabile! (sic)" message. Ten years ago, the Street View "thumbnail" display at a route destination likely was thought to be "gee-whiz" tech -- it still is,though not essential in getting one to their intended destination.

I might add here that voice activated Google destination searches that are integrated to the MMI navigation have much more utility to me -- and that still works properly in our '14 A4 using the external LTE router, so I can live with (still) missing Street View thumbnails. --g

 

[NicklasK]

I have tried running your script since I have been experiencing problems with GEMMI for the past 3-4 years. It would sometimes hang on loading and other times after sucessfully loading it would stop refreshing GE. After losing GE back in 2020 I installed Congo's fix and have been using it ever since. I do not believe that this is related to his fix.

What I discovered using your script is that that my GEMMI frequently reports the following:

Network down on frame XXXX
Network up on frame XXXX

On a 20 min drive this will typically happen 7-8 times.

Looking at the status indicator I am assuming that this is when it changes from yellow to red. There are also periods where the status indicator stays red for a longer time, perhaps a minute, I am assuming that this is what I see here:

Network down on frame 5249
onEvent::MsgRbSelectNextSegmentRequest
onEvent::MsgRbSelectNextSegmentRequest
onEvent::MsgGetInfoForScreenPositionRequest 400 307
onEvent::MsgRbSelectNextSegmentRequest
Network up on frame 5251

Eventually after 20-30 min of driving the indicator will turn red and nothing I do can get it back online. The only way to get GE back to refreshing is to restart the MMI system using the 3-button combination.

I have never seen my MMI show a green light as it is shown on yours. Do you know what can affect the Network up/down line? And am I looking at the right thing or making wrong assumptions?
I never lose internet connection, and I can still use Audi Connect Features, Google Search and get destinations from myAudi.

The Dealer does not know why I am experiencing this problem and they suggested replacing the MMI system (Would rather not pay for that if it's a software issue), since 2020 however they say that everything is working as intended because GE is not supposed to work anymore.