Freeware
EvetS
Updated!
Version 0.95
Available now - Standalone speed camera detector for PC/laptop!
Can work alongside ANY mapping/direction software.

(Available soon - warning plugin for Mappoint / Autoroute / Destinator / Navigator et al.)

Updated 26 Aug 04 – freeware licence expiry removed
– startup options added, IP output for connection to your own applications, much improved calculation routines. User definable alert distances added (with 2 sound events, the .wav files can be substituted with any .wav file of the same name)

Feature requests/bug reports etc here please - no need to register to post.

Requirements: NMEA compatible GPS receiver, USB or Serial is fine – you must know which COM port it is connected to.
Click here to download latest ZIP file, extract zip and run EvetS.exe directly from the folder, .wav sounds can be substituted for any wav.

If you are having problems with missing DLL’s / runtime libraries or other errors – try downloading the full install package from here

It works with any CSV file that is in the format of Column1=Longitude, Col2=Latitude, Col3=Name (Longitude and Latitude must be decimal) –the CSV file contained within the ZIP from PocketGPS with Speed camera locations is ideal;
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/uksafetycameras.php

*Update - using the superb XPort (Click link to open new window, where you can download XPort) - this allows you to share the GPS data across a large number of applications!  e.g. connect your GPS receiver, say, on COM2 - then run XPort, assign another virtual port (say, COM5), then click 'install service, then within SpeedCam detector select COM2 and connect GPS, then hook up Mappoint/AGPS etc to COM5 - both applications receive the same GPS data and can work side-by-side, very nice - I believe 'XPort' only supports NT/2000/XP.

Still in Beta, standalone application and COM plugin for Mappoint/Autoroute, standalone application functional and 90% complete, COM plugin still needs to intercept Mappoint’s NMEA data (to avoid commport conflicts) to complete integration. (In process).
Currently available version is standalone executable, doesn’t need any other application installed to run – reads NMEA data directly from GPS device.
A Virtual COM splitter would be an excellent alternative, this would allow the standalone app to work alongside any other GPS app and share the GPS mouse - such as XPort
Report bugs/problems here.

Screenshots of 0.9 standalone, shows number of cameras within an 8000 metre radius (about 5 miles) and a countdown to the nearest camera, when a camera is 200 metres away and closing the .wav event is triggered to alert you. The text shows red when a camera is getting nearer and green as you move away from a camera. The audio event will continue to play every 3 seconds whilst the camera is less than 200 metres away (AND getting closer) until the camera is passed or you become stationary.

When the nearest camera is more than 500 metres away you’ll probably notice the distance sometimes jumps around, this is because other cameras nearby become closer as you drive along, so the monitor jumps to their position instead.

My distance calculations do not take into account elevation, mainly because my brain was starting to hurt and secondly because they aren’t hugely important, that sort of accuracy isn’t particularly important in this project! Probably takes accuracy down to around 10 to 40 metres.

To do:

Later versions will have user definable proximity range and configurable events for each stage. (eg have a single beep at 500metres range, and the voice alert at 200metres)

Custom POI marker – press a button to store current coordinates in a user file, with definable event.

Report camera marker – to either say a camera is no longer there or a new camera is there that was not alerted.

Increase sample rate by analysing other NMEA strings, currently only reading GPGGA. Should be straightforward.

Speed up calculations (I have had a thought on this that should increase calculation speed 4 fold by lowering the amount of work the distance module has to do, will implement soon)

Make CSV import more flexible (e.g. accept DMS style long/lats and different sequences)

As with all my projects of this type - Abandon project at around 95% completion due to low boredom threshold.

EvetS now supports IP connection, this way you can connect to EvetS with your own application and receive either a stream of data or just camera alerts – here is a demo VB project that shows how to interface with EvetS;
Click here to download sample code