[SpokenHands]

It is a licensing fee from the map copyright owners, not BMW specifically as I was given to understand when I took this up with BMW UK.

In the UK, this is a £150 charge but an annual update is not always needed - in most cases you won't notice any significant changes unless there have been several new road projects in your area.

More noticeable was the recent software update (not Bluetooth / media) yo the central car computer that has sharpened the rendering of map colours, added new start and closing animated sequences when you are using sat nav guidance, and have added additional icons and features to the screen and dashboard itself.