Camera Database for iPhone GPS?

macbloke · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 25, 2008 Posts: 1

Stumbled on this link:

http://www.sjgdigital.com/navigx-touch/wishlist/speed-camera-database/

Looks promising even if it is a little vague. Will they? Won't they?

macbloke

01101000_01101001 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:21 pm Post subject:

I have just installed this on the iphone it seems to do the job
www.trapster.com

bedbug · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject:

The app store is awash with POI solutions. Trapster is currently very flaky, although a fix is currently being reviewed by Apple; until it is released DO NOT try zooming the map display to a more useable resolution - if you do you'll have to reset your iPhone and delete the application and reinstall.

There are a suite of applications called iRadar for Australia, Canada, Europe & USA, priced at £14.99. The developer 'intergoldex IIc' have a published website address that doesn't exist and a support email that doesn't work, and it's therefore impossible to find out where they get their data! Their first submission, which doesn't identify the relevant region (so is it therefore global? yet cheaper than the region specific versions!) has developer notes in French, yet states the application language is only English. Until further information is available, I'm quite suspicious.

Then there are the, ahem, very useful apps, designed for the specific location of single POI category types, eg. the nearest public lavatory, coffee outlet etc. These tend to demonstrate a very serious limitation of Apple's App Store - you have to study carefully to determine if they serve your country/region of interest. Seeing as location awareness is such a strong feature of the iPhone/iPod touch, they really need to introduce a categorisation method relating to geographical relevance! Come on Apple! Do watch out, there are a lot of solutions that will work in one country only.

Also there are the 'where am I' type applications, which cross reference the current GPS position with online directories of various services. The problem with these is they are often both country specific (again) in data source terms, and the sources are often highly variable in terms of quality and how up to date they are. 'Vicinity' is my chosen app in this category, as it has proven useful both in the UK and US. I believe there is justification for this category of app outside of a true navigation solution, as they often provide a source of additional information for browsing, rather than just being a travelling aid.

The problem with most of these location-aware apps is that they dilute the available contributions being made to camera/POI databases, and therefore pose a (perhaps minor) threat to the quality of the PGPSW speed camera database that I have come to trust through experience. Also, none of these provide Navigation services, which many of us want on the iPhone 3G. As/when/if this arrives, the speed camera & other POI database applications will become largely useless as the iPhone won't allow 3rd party background apps, so you must choose to run one at a time only (which presumably would be the Navigation app). It's a shame that a Navigation solution hasn't been available before all these other developments; it would have been great to have had an 'open' Navigation app with APIs and database format requirements that were extensible to encourage third party enhancements (something PGPWS would have welcomed, I'm sure).

Ultimately, this is the fault of the Navigation solution manufacturers not filling the needs of potential customers, and these other developers going at it from a different (and in my opinion, not terribly helpful) direction.

Just browse the Navigation category of the iTunes app store to see what's there (increasing daily). Most of the location solutions would much better serve users from within a Navigation solution, no?
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iPhone 4/4S (iOS 5.1.1); TomTom Western Europe (1.10)/USA & Canada (1.10); CoPilot for iPhone (8), UK mapping, Mac OS 10.8/XP Pro/Win7; Tongue firmly in cheek!

Darren · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

Well said and all valid points. We're currently investigating options in this area both working with developers and in-house. Whilst a navigation application is still the ultimate, for many who perhaps already have a nav system or simply want speed cam alerts, a standalone, reliable app that has the backing of a trusted data supplier is something we are aiming for.

The only caveat is that the iPhone isn't ideal as it will suspend the active app if switched to another task. Still the market is vast and everyone is clamouring for a piece of the cake, ultimately the dross will be weeded out but the Appstore has much work needed in order to make locating apps and sorting the wheat from the chaff much easier!
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Darren Griffin

bedbug · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject:

01101000_01101001 · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:42 pm Post subject:

I have been using http://camsahoy.com/ for a week or so and its good, It uses the http://www.scdb.info/en database and only costs 59p

Darren · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:04 am Post subject:

SCDB!

, that'll be the outfit who claimed to have surveyed the entire UK in a few weeks!

We've compared their data and certainly in the UK you'd be advised not to place any reliance on it whatsoever. Also zero verification.

On a more positive note, we're working very hard in this area but we're keen to launch with the right product and one that is bug free so we're not rushing in.
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Darren Griffin

bedbug · Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:13 am Post subject:

I echo Darren's observation...

I was all set to write a review of Cams Ahoy!, but to be honest I've found it so unreliable and flawed that it doesn't justify the effort and I can only conclude, 'avoid with a bargepole'!

I took a familiar 65 mile journey using surface B & A roads directly south from Oxford to Southampton (well, as directly south as possible), and of the 10 or so PGPSW mobile locations (two of which I have personally validated, both several times), not once did Cams Ahoy! react to a known regular location. I only got one, apparently random response from the application when travelling down the A34, with no rhyme or reason for it 'detecting' a camera. But then, the application can only identify a camera in close proximity regardless of route (as much a platform issue as a fault in the application), so I would expect plenty of false alarms (as I had found, for example, travelling down a dual carriageway past surface roads; if I don't set up my TomTom alerts correctly, the same thing can happen, but at least the camera's speed detection value informs me whether I need to give it further consideration).

But much more worrying than the false alarms is the failure to respond to known locations.

Furthermore, the application is bland in the extreme, taking no account of speed, not identifying the camera's location (only one's proximity to it - not even 'distance from' or similar) and providing no information regarding what type of camera might be present or what the speed limit is... in other words, if there were no alternatives, this would be better than nothing, but as there are alternatives, and in my humble opinion, they're all better, I can't really advise anyone else wasting their money, even if it is only 59p. I guess you have to ask what do you expect for 59p?! Well, perhaps no better an application than Cams Ahoy!, but you certainly expect more from a dependable camera alert system, and that's going to cost more than 59p!

At present, the application provides no mechanism for registering updated camera information (although the developer recommends emailing the database owners - a 3rd party), and there's no clear update path to keep the database valid (nor can I see the incentive to keep the database up to date if a user only pays a one-off fee of 59p!). I can't even find a way to confirm when Cams Ahoy!'s database was compiled, to check on the age of its data.

I do acknowledge that this is the first release of Cams Ahoy! and it may well evolve - and if it does, I'll be back to gush about how good it is - but until it does evolve, and into something dependable and more useful, save your money.

If it looks too good to be true (59p!), then it probably is!
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iPhone 4/4S (iOS 5.1.1); TomTom Western Europe (1.10)/USA & Canada (1.10); CoPilot for iPhone (8), UK mapping, Mac OS 10.8/XP Pro/Win7; Tongue firmly in cheek!

sneeks · Lifetime Member Joined: Feb 17, 2006 Posts: 99

Have you tried the Cams Ahoy update? Apparently they have added most of the features you notes as been missing. For only 59p I may well download and test it for myself.

01101000_01101001 · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:49 pm Post subject:

yes the update is great.

dizzydalek · Lifetime Member Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 27

Hi,
I downloaded this to give it a try on a run to Heathrow and back from Sheffield today and on the whole it's not bad. I set it to only alert me if I was, by its criteria, speeding. Otherwise shut up.
It successfully picked up the gatso and specs cameras around north Sheffield and on the M1/M25.
There were a few instances round London where it warned me of a 30mph camera within 'range' but not on the road I was on, but tomtom does this too if you untick the 'warn only if poi is on route' box.
As with all these things the proof will be in how often the db is updated, but for 59p you can't go far wrong. The interface is nice and clear and it seems ok, but it's all down to the database which I don't imagine will be as complete or as regularly updated as 'our' one.
Iain

dizzydalek · Lifetime Member Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 27

whatever happened to the PGPSW iPhone POI app that you inted at ? I seem to recall a sceen shot......
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MaFt · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:49 pm Post subject:

it's still being worked on - few bugs being hunted down still!

MaFt

dizzydalek · Lifetime Member Joined: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 27

Hi,

Yeah, found the other thread on it.

Hurry up or I'll get that USB inforad thing ;) Using Cams Ahoy now and it's mostly OK, but the database is waaaayyy out of date.

Iain

Darren · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 9:54 am Post subject:

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