Road Angel Question

[rjben]

I've just bought one and was hoping that anyone that uses one could answer a question for me?

When using a regularly updated road angel have you come across mobile speed traps that it has not warned about? I just want to get a feel for how good it is i.e. will it tell me about those mobile vans on the Welsh end of the M4?

Cheers,

Rob

[fergus]

rjben said:

When using a regularly updated road angel have you come across mobile speed traps that it has not warned about? I just want to get a feel for how good it is i.e. will it tell me about those mobile vans on the Welsh end of the M4?

Likewise, can anyone vouch for how Origin do this? (I've just bought a B2!) Or is it still a case of keeping your eyes peeled?

PS anyone found a need for an additional radar detector to add to the B2. Most police these days seem to use laser....

Thanks

[tootler]

I'm interested in this also because one of he reasons I haven't bought one is that I wasn't aware that mobile speed sites would be logged and registered.

The same applies to hand held radar, the Bib are very much creatures of habit and tend to have their favourite places, are these on the system?

[Beggarall]

I don't think Road Angel picks up any of the mobile devices - it gives a warning about "blackspots" which it would be reasonable to think were places where scameras would likely be placed. You can also set your own alarms but mostly this is a GPS locator which is only going to tell you about the fixed sites (Gatso, Truvelo and Specs). The laser detector might give you some warning that a death ray is being shone in your direction but I doubt you would be able to react fast enough to slow down if you were over the limit. Mine also goes off on occasion without there being anything obvious to see - but it does keep you on your toes!

[ledfoot]

The Road Angel does include DS2 mobile sites in it's database. (sensors in road that can connect to a mobile camera)

I have never come across a scamera van to test the laser alert. Lucky me I guess

[rjben]

But it talks about mobile vans etc in the instuctions (I think?)......anybody on here know for definate?

[Zod]

I get "MOBILE" alerts from my Road Angel from time to time, particularly on the M11, but I've never actually come across one.

[Tafia]

rjben said:

But it talks about mobile vans etc in the instuctions (I think?)......anybody on here know for definate?

Yeah me........

I wrote to Road Angel/ Blackspot some time ago to ask about this and they confirmed that whilst owners can log their own mobile sites, they are not shared with other owners via the database.

This seems daft; what use is a warning about a location we are already aware of?

They said it was because they could to be sure to have all the mobile sites logged and owners may think they would be warned of all mobile sites when they would not.

[rjben]

Well I'm gutted then...that's £350 down the drain. You can see Gatso's FFS! I bought the RA explicitly for mobile vans....bugger!

[fergus]

rjben said:

Well I'm gutted then...that's £350 down the drain. You can see Gatso's FFS! I bought the RA explicitly for mobile vans....bugger!

By their very nautre, MOBILE vans are just that. By the time the Origin/RA guys have been out to verify that the site is genuine, or alternatively is not being used, it would be too late for lots of people. I know MOBILE sites do tend to be fairly stationary, but both services only advertise the fact that they monitor FIXED locations.

As for personal sites - a particular user could have just flagged a particularly bad bend on a specific road, rather than an 'enforcement' site.

I've just bought mine, and am yet to use it. Hope it doesn't prove fruitless......

[rjben]

I was under the impression the re-use of sites tends to be common; this is certainly the case on the M4.

Surely it would be easy enough to scan the various sites that are documented by the police as being 'areas for consideration' each month? Couldn't we just have a download option that included unverified mobile sites? User uploaded coordinates could be reconciled to an averaged longitude and latitude, which would get ride o most duplicates….and Bob’s your uncle.

I'd rather slow down for something that isn't there, rather than accidentally speed past something that is!

[fergus]

I'm with you there! May be worth suggesting to RA & origin, so they can tailor their download software to allow 'selective downloads/filtering'....

[rjben]

Just sent this to technical@Blackspot:

Hi,

I have recently purchased a Road Angel and have been disappointed to discover that mobile camera sites are not contained within your database. I understand that you do not include these as they are difficult to verify i.e. the mobile site may not be there when you attempt to verify it. Would it be possible to include mobile sites in the road angel database? I was under the impression that the re-use of mobile sites tends to be common; this is certainly the case on the Welsh side of the M4.

Would a possible solution to this problem be to scan the various sites that are documented by the police as being 'areas for consideration' each month? To supplement this user uploaded data could be used. The uploaded coordinates could be reconciled to an averaged longitude and latitude, this would help with potential duplicates. This, along with a download option that included unverified mobile sites would ensure that a wealth of black spot knowledge would be communicated to your users.

I'd rather slow down for something that isn't there than accidentally speed past something that is!

Thanks for your time,

Regards,

Rob

[Tafia]

rjben said:

Just sent this to technical@Blackspot: Hi, I have recently purchased a Road Angel and have been disappointed to discover that mobile camera sites are not contained within your database. I understand that you do not include these as they are difficult to verify i.e. the mobile site may not be there when you attempt to verify it. Would it be possible to include mobile sites in the road angel database? I was under the impression that the re-use of mobile sites tends to be common; this is certainly the case on the Welsh side of the M4. Would a possible solution to this problem be to scan the various sites that are documented by the police as being 'areas for consideration' each month? To supplement this user uploaded data could be used. The uploaded coordinates could be reconciled to an averaged longitude and latitude, this would help with potential duplicates. This, along with a download option that included unverified mobile sites would ensure that a wealth of black spot knowledge would be communicated to your users. I'd rather slow down for something that isn't there than accidentally speed past something that is! Thanks for your time, Regards, Rob

Will you let us know their response?

Cheers

[rjben]

I certainly will.....but just looking at the packaging for the Road Angel and it definately says that it covers mobile sites? Even has a picture of a mobile van. I have a feeling that this refers to the laser dectector that it comes with.

I want to know about the van before I see it....not get confirmation that I've just been 'done'

[ledfoot]

rjben said:

I want to know about the van before I see it....not get confirmation that I've just been 'done'

Then you are already driving too fast.

There is no system that warns of all mobile devices.

I guess you can always add a garage door opener to the RA.

[rjben]

Hi Ledfoot,

yes, you are right, I'll already be driving too fast. It would appear unfortunate for myself that I consider 80 - 85mph a reasonable speed (conditions allowing) on a motorway and as such would like a way to mitigate the risk of those nasty little brown envelopes popping through the door. In other words, I'm breaking the law and would like to get away with it.


Had this reply from Blackspot this morning:

Mobile enforcement locations vary on a day to day basis. With regards
to plotting the locations and adding them to the database, this is
something we have looked into but have no plans to do so in the future.


The police do not have to publish precise locations that they are going
to be at so it is impossible to plot them. We could look at what our
customers are logging with regards to mobile locations but this would be
almost impossible to do given the amount of data that would be
generated. In addition to this, our customers appear to log virtually
everything, Trafficmaster sites, Red Light etc.

Therefore we have decided not to inlcude any mobile location.

I hope that this anwers your queries.

Regards

Technical Support

Blackspot Interactive Ltd
5 New Rookery Farm
Little London
Silverstone
Northants
NN12 8UP

[nxsynjs]

Sounds a bit of a cop out to me.

You only pass on the details to others where say 3 or more people have logged the site. If you then drive past say a traffic master site then you just press delete and it goes away.

Is there a way to manually enter in coordinates to a RA? If so setting up a list of mobile sites that people can enter should be fairly straight forward.

[rjben]

Yep, I was thinking about getting hold of a copy of their DB via a packet sniffer or HTTP target sniffer. We could then keep a seperate list of coords, distribute and append to the RA at will, hence maintaining our own repository of mobile sites.

Does anybody know anything about the RA database and client / server sync protocol?

[rjben]

Anybody? I'm sure that other RA customers would benefit from this?