Trapster - GPS speedtrap/red light camera database

[jhw549]

Saw this on freewarepocketpc.net almost three months ago... I installed it for a while then got rid of it... This was my review of it at the time:

A great concept, but there are MAJOR issues with the implementation. Firstly in my area (Bergen/Passaic County NJ, NY Metro Area) it triggers far too often and quite frequently on adjacent streets, making it say "Police often hide here" all too often. Secondly, under view, the text is too small to read while driving if you have your device on a windshield mount, it is not adjustable, and the text ends with a "..." if it is too long to show on one line making it difficult to figure out what area it is talking about. In my opinion it would be better if the view function were to be implemented as a map with icons for what is coming up, rather than in a text form with voices that, even at full volume on my HTC Mogul (PPC6800), are difficult at best to hear while on the road. I notice cops easily and know where they hide in my area, so for the good of the community I'm going to contribute and report when I pass by a cop, hiding spot, traffic camera, or speed camera. However, until the view function can be better implemented I find it to be near impossible to use on the road, not to mention rather annoyingly active in my area.

Hope this helps...

[devinc]

I used it on my 6800. Can't use it on my i910 because Verizon has not unlocked the GPS yet.

I liked the application and used it regularly.

The above poster critiqued the fact that he got too many alerts. Well you can set your account to filter certain alerts if you are getting too many. You can filter them both by distance and by reliability. For example, if an alert that police often hide in a spot is only posted by a single user, then it has a very low reliability. You could simply choose to ignore those.

I too at first worried about getting so many alerts. But then I simply set my filters and got it to the level I was comfortable with.

The main problems I found with the app are:

1. It uses another service to reverse engineer the street locations from the gps spot that someone reports something. Specifically what happens is that when you report something, the app finds your GPS coordinates and then tags it to the nearest cross streets. This sounds like a good idea until you report something along a main boulevard halfway between two intersections and the algorithm finds that the nearest intersection is actually two small side streets one house removed from the boulevard.

This means if there is a cop hiding on Kanan Blvd the alert might say there is a live speed trap on Denton and Eagleton. Now, that's useful if you can look on a map and see that Denton and Eagleton is right near the part of Kanan you are on, but when driving you hardly have time to call up a map.

Furthermore, if you don't know the area intimately, then you will have no idea where Denton and Eagleton are and will blindly travel down Kanan and get a ticket.

I mentioned this problem to the Trapster folks, but it seems right now they can do nothign about it. I recommended they instead force their algorithm to plot the exact street the GPS location is on and then find the nearest intersection ON THAT STREET. It seems to me you could do that pretty easily. Use the current alogrithm but have it reject any intersection not containing the street in question and move onto the next nearest and so forth.

2. I like to use it while I am using Google Maps or Live Search or even listening to music. The problem is that the voice alert can wake up passengers in the car on a long trip if they are sleeping. You can turn off the sound and instead have the warning appear as text, but they appear on a screen that takes up the whole phone screen. Much better would be an option where a little icon appears on your taskbar and maybe a soft ding sound is made alerting you to the icon. Then if you really want more details after you slow down you can drill down to the screen.

In any event, right now the app works best in areas where lots of users are using it. Since it is free, I highly recommend trying it out. The more people who use it, the better it reports.

Frankly, even though my phone doesn't have GPS, I still get the text messages from the site alerting me to the location of speed traps and I still find even the text messages useful to let me know where police like to hide.

Devin

[dannzeman]

I've been using for a few weeks and there are a lot of issues with it that could be improved. I use it while driving in areas I'm not familiar with. Its better than nothing.

[WarChild]

This is a great (LEGAL) program that allows you to tack (in live conditions) local law enforcement. Let me know what you think. Oh and its free!

http://www.trapster.com/

[stevedusa]

1. My friends who works as LAPD/LACSD uses them all the time to counter the trap-reporting.
2. It is still illegal to operate your phone/device while behind the wheel.

[WarChild]

Originally Posted by stevedusa

1. My friends who works as LAPD/LACSD uses them all the time to counter the trap-reporting.
2. It is still illegal to operate your phone/device while behind the wheel.

not in my state.

[stevedusa]

Originally Posted by ClevelandWheeler

not in my state.

I miss Florida.

[HBOOT]

phuk paying tickets, I only speed from Zero to speed limit may be 5 xtras...dazzz it

[jdesola]

So they put you in a database and sell your email address to pay for this free program or what? I want to download it but I'm always skeptical of the 'sign up free' type of thing. Any experience?

[John1]

works i love it thanks I even found you cleveland and added you to my buddies list. thanks again