UK Speed camera detector, for any PC with GPS

Goto10 · 06-12-2004, 08:24 AM

Ideal for incar PCs or laptops, requires an NMEA GPS mouse, basically the same functionality as an Origin B2 etc, would work well with a COM port splitter too (So you can use it alongside GPS directions) - standalone app, doesn't need anything else to run besides the GPS receiver (You must know what COM port it's on)
I'm also developing it as an Autoroute/Mappoint/Navigator/Destinator plugin (SDK or otherwise) - this'll allow it to run alongside the other app without any need for COM splitters and such.
Download the Zip from this page (with more details on & screenshot), the program should be run straight from the folder, the .wav can be substituted with any wave sound you like, as long as it has the same filename.
www.turbomr2.co.uk/gps
Any feature requests or bug reports let me know, only in early phases and a MUCH improved version is almost ready, but in meantime this one is fully functional (albeit clunky), any feedback appreciated.

mp3oplecarrier · 06-12-2004, 09:21 AM

You star!

I've been looking at this for ages and tried messing around with POI imports from the speed camera database etc, I even considered changing my Garmin GPS engine for a Roadangel to get this function..

This will be well appreciated by the UK carcomp community and is well worth you overcoming that boredom threshhold! (I know what you mean by the way, I have a shed full of 'almost' hardware projects)

Well done!

no1knows · 06-12-2004, 09:37 AM

Lemme give it a go, sounds like just what i need

mp3oplecarrier · 06-12-2004, 09:46 AM

Something for your 'todo' list...

1.Resizable window
2.Keyboard shortcuts so I can access it with my nostromo keyboard
3. Auto starting the GPS (apologies if it does this already, not tried in car yet)

Dead cool though!

Goto10 · 06-12-2004, 09:52 AM

If there's interest/feedback I'll certainly push up the development!
Whilst browsing around this site I found the very nice tool called XPort - just tried it out and it works extremely well (Ran it alongside MapPoint 2004 & AGPS, all 3 could access GPS data simutaneously) - this makes it compatible with any other GPS mapping software.
I'll fiddle with the look of it once I've finished tweaking the 'workings' of it - make it a bit more discrete with option of choosing colour, minimising to tray etc - I'm working on it now, will have a neater calculation routine so requires less CPU time.

Goto10 · 06-12-2004, 09:56 AM

1. Will do, there's a mess of debug boxes just out of view, hence the reason it's not resizable at moment! I'll clean it up and hide the unecessary bits so as that it can be resized. (I'll make a neater interface too)
2. Can do, will add a shortcut list.
3. Good idea, it doesn't save any settings at the moment, I'll make it store your preferences and reload last database automatically (At the moment you have to load it every time you use it)

Quote: Originally Posted by mp3oplecarrier

Something for your 'todo' list...

1.Resizable window
2.Keyboard shortcuts so I can access it with my nostromo keyboard
3. Auto starting the GPS (apologies if it does this already, not tried in car yet)

Dead cool though!

mp3oplecarrier · 06-12-2004, 07:14 PM

I just had another thought, one of the things that makes the Roadangel etc much cooler than a radar detector is that they know how fast you are going and don't alert you when you're under the speed limit. I don't think you can do this because the database does'nt say what the limits are, but if you put a low speed limit on, say 30mph, at least it would'nt keep sounding whilst you're in a traffic jam!

Still bloody cool though!

Goto10 · 06-12-2004, 08:02 PM

Yeah I thought that too! As it stands it won't continue warning you if you stop moving, eg if you come to a standstill within range of a camera it 'knows' you're not getting any closer so the alerts stop, although if you start moving (even at 5mph)they'll fire up again - the sub 30mph option is a good plan, I'll add that - as I'm adding speed calculation I'll give option of alert in time or distance too, revision2 should be ready by Monday!

carpcnoobie · 06-13-2004, 12:35 PM

That's really cool. I know a lot of people have been looking for such a thing. Do you know of any databases for Germany? I know they sell Atlas' with speed camera listings. Wondering if there's any database with GPS co-ordinates.

jose · 06-14-2004, 02:56 AM

that'll be sweet, lookin forward to the results on that bad boy!

Confused · 06-14-2004, 03:19 AM

Hey man, awesome work

What are you programming this in? If it's VB, get in touch with me, as I'd love to implement some of this within my Destinator program (if that's OK with you!)

Garry

Ricky327 · 06-14-2004, 06:46 AM

Nice work...

I have downloaded those free database as found in some website but it seem incomplete, some are outdates and inaccurate. I guess the speedcam locations are submitted by users and collected to form the database?

Has anyone tried to rip the speedcam database out of the commercial product? such as the roadangel? An update file or something to hack or maybe opening one up and reading off the info directly from the memory. The update file maybe encypted but I doubt the info stored on the memory is encrypted though.

mutilator · 06-14-2004, 06:55 AM

i got a cd somewhere, with every cam on, ill dig it up to see how accurate it is, and if it can be ported

g_attrill · 06-14-2004, 08:13 AM

I wrote a program which harvested the scamera websites for their camera location data. I haven't run it for a while but I'll review all the websites again and see if any more of them are sharing the appropriate data. I suspect that the PocketGPS data is pretty much everything I have though.

Gareth

Goto10 · 06-14-2004, 08:34 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mutilator

i got a cd somewhere, with every cam on, ill dig it up to see how accurate it is, and if it can be ported

The coordinates are sure to be in Lat/Lon - as long as they aren't encrypted with some silly algorithm then they can be converted into DMS/decimal quite easily - I might add a multi-import function to import various data formats and just delete duplicate data (eg import various coordinate files and merge the data, deleting cameras that are within, say, 15 metres of each other)
The pocketGPS data has been as good as my Origin B2 to date, (I'm running them side by side as a test!) I might have a sniff at the data going to the B2 from the update program, if it's parsed/uncrypted before it's sent to the B2 then it should be easy to extract, if it's parsed within the B2 then it'd be a massive challenge to extract/uncrypt it!