A Week in The Life of the PocketGPSWorld.com Database Admin

[MaFt]

Practically every Wednesday we update our Speed Camera database; but what happens in between these updates?

Do I simply galavant around wasting your subscription money on fast cars and cheap women like a true Yorkshireman? Do I 'eckers like (I have a battered old Rover 25 for one thing...)!

Following on from DennisN's 'A Day in The Life of a PocketGPSWorld.com Verifier' from back in November 2007 here is a rare insight into one of my average weeks maintaining and releasing the Speed Camera Database.

Click here to read the full article...

[yeramihi]

Lol... respect man.... And I was going to send you a moaning email about my application for verifier (from last newsletter) ;)
BTW: Interesting time to share your insights about it :D Got a deal with this McDonald's store or something? :P

[sn00p]

Wow. You're seriously doing that all by hand? That would drive me mental, well, at least to the point that I wrote a piece of software to help automate the process.

[The Rudd]

MaFt

You deserve a medal for the work that goes into a weekly update (and the admins as well) I never though that so much time and effort was used to do the speed cameras.

When you just upload your weekly update you take it for granted not knowing what's involved - now I do and I look on warning Gatso slow down with fresh eyes, £19.99 isn't a huge amount to pay for a year

It would be interesting to see if the other speed cams companies did the same amount of detail in doing this. though I don't think so.

Jezza aka Jerry

[DennisN]

Disappointing article - I used to look up to and admire you - I thought you just took our money and swanned around in fast cars, drinking pink champagne and stuff with a girl on each arm, when in reality you're just that hard working guy sitting in the corner at McD's. Do you ever meet up with the TomTom, Garmin et al database guys for a quick McShake?
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[SSR]

How do I become a friend or family member of PGW staff?

And will you get more fingers broken for this typo? "I mentioned earlier that at busy times I don't always get chance to accurately guess the new cameras, so how do I get around this for the new Lifetime Subscribers?"

[spook51]

I take my hat off to you for your hard work MaFt, much appreciated; not just for maintaining the PGPSW database but for doing in McDonalds - now that is dedication!

[MaFt]

Well, It's now 12 noon and I suppose I should let you all into a little secret... Only a handful of you figured it out, even DennisN and Anita were caught out too!

The whole article is, in fact, an APRIL FOOL!

Not one bit of it is true - there are a small number of little truths in there (I do a couple of hours of my work in McDonalds 1 or 2 days a week while my daughter is at the pre-school over the road) but the rest is a load of tosh. I have 10mb cable broadband at home - even out in the sticks!

Your submissions get sent directly to the Submissions Database and these are then processed via a very technical admin set up that shows all nearby submissions on a map as well as loads of details to help verify them. We don't get anywhere near 800 submissions per day either! I also spend a more realistic 2-3 hours each day on processing submissions. In general I have the weekend off too. Oh, and MikeB's submission is a Photoshop job!

M8TJT does, in fact, email me every week with a load of heading / direction updates however the email in the article is completely fabricated. I do occasionally forget to process his heading updates but he's never sent such a rude email!

We've mentioned countless times about how the database files themselves are generated 'on-the-fly' and 'tagged' with a traceable code (for anti-piracy) - i.e. I don't do any of the manual editing in a spreadsheet file. None. There IS no spreadsheet file! I.e. we DO NOT use 3rd party sites to create the different formats.

Because everything is stored on a central database and we store a lot of information we have set up a system that generates a list of the first submitters for qualifying cameras. We do not pick and choose according to subscription status as suggested in the spoof article. I wouldn't dream of guessing the number of changes each week, or the users who qualify for a lifetime subscription. We give the free subscription to all who qualify - we DO NOT pick and choose family and friends! If we did then we wouldn't be as quick to publish the names of all who qualify every single week.

All those silly things about there being no software for Mac's is all sheer nonsense too! I run Windows on my Mac for some custom software that we have as well as using DreamWeaver for web stuff. Although I do actually use OpenOffice there are Office Suites available from Apple and others.

And, finally, I don't get 'billed' for the new lifer's subs money and Rob is, in fact, short for 'Robot' not 'Robbery' as we work among cyborgs. Oh, wait, it's after midday isn't it...

Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it

MaFt

[MaFt]

and for a bit more fun, here's a couple of PM's i received today:

[BigPerk]

ME - Fooled?

Only looked at the date about 15 minutes ago, but suspect it wouldn't have made any difference actually what with my age and gullibility

Nice one MaFt, bet you spent more on coffee in GrotDonalds doing this spoof than the rest of the year's visits put together!
_________________
David
(Navigon 70 Live, Nuvi 360)

[DennisN]

[spook51]

Good one MaFt - far better than 'Was Shakespeare French?' and 'Prescription Windscreens for motorists'. I consider myself well and truly 'had' though my thanks for maintaining the database remain.

David

[MaFt]

I should also congratulate G1LIW who spotted the filename 'hint': week-life-database-admin-Fo01.php

we removed his post though cos it was classed as a spoiler

SSR also figured it out (and got removed )

MaFt

[DennisN]

[Jamesrisk]

Ha Ha, Brilliant,

I did think @ little things, like no FTP for a mac, and other Mac-esque things...

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