Archive for category Traps
Six Things I Bet You Don’t Know About Trapster
Every day I shuffle through Trapster support emails and new forum posts helping users with technical problem, listening to new ideas/suggestions, and answering questions. The questions range from extremely technical to very simple. And here lies the root of this blog post. I’ve found that there are many Trapster secrets. Are they really secrets? Well, no. But through the support emails and forum posts, I’ve found that we haven’t communicated with our users some of the basic in-n-out’s of Trapster. So here are a few tidbits of information about Trapster I bet you didn’t know…
1. Aged Traps
These traps are translucent in color and ONLY apply to Police Often Hide Here traps. A trap becomes “aged” after there has been no activity on the trap for three weeks. You will see four different translucent levels. The POHH trap becomes more translucent with each week.
These traps become active again if a user votes positive on the trap or a user reports the same trap in the same location. When the latter happens the aged trap automatically turns active and the new trap that was reported in the same spot counting the users vote as positive).
Translucent Steps to Becoming an Aged Trap:
A. Trap was last voted < 1 week ago
B. Trap was last voted >= 1 week ago but < 2 weeks ago
C. Trap was last voted >= 2 weeks ago but < 3 weeks ago
D. Trap was last voted < 3 weeks ago (aged trap)
Trapster Videos from Our Users
Posted by Sean in Traps, Trapster Life, iPhone on August 28th, 2009
Ahh the open road. It’s fun to get in your car and cruise. But it’s never fun to get a ticket. You might not even noticed you were speeding, or that you happen to drift over the little road reflectors that designate your lane, I like calling this “reading braille”. But there are forces out patrolling the streets looking for these mistakes. Read the rest of this entry »
How-To Understand Trap Types and Confidence Levels in Trapster
Part of getting the most out of Trapster is understanding the different trap types and confidence levels that we use on the web and in the mobile applications. We’ve created a system that uses various icons and colors to denote different trap types, ie. red light cameras, and their associated user confidence level, so that you can visually add and identify the right traps.
Given that Trapster’s application is only as good as the data that our community members (that’s you) provide us, we think its important to dissect all the different trap types. At the end of the day we want you to feel confident that you’re adding the right trap to the right location, or getting the most accurate speed trap notifications. Read the rest of this entry »
Trapster at the Where 2.0 Conference
Pete and Jay are heading to San Jose tomorrow afternoon for the Where 2.0 conference. For those who are not familiar with the conference here is a small blurb, compliments of Where 2.0’s website.
Now in its fifth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. In the O’Reilly conference tradition, Where 2.0 presents leading trends rather than chasing them.
At Where 2.0, you’ll find source mapping tools, reality mining, open standards for data and location web services, and sensors for obtaining location data. We’ll learn how the established geo industry is reacting to the first businesses making money from their grassroots geospatial projects. There’s no better place to meet the people behind the mash-ups, the people behind the platforms, and the people looking ahead to the future of geospatial. Join us at Where 2.0 to debate and discuss what’s viable now, and what’s lurking just below the radar.
Sounds like it’s right up our ally, right? Hence, sending Pete and Jay to the event to talk with industry leaders about the latest and upcoming trends. I can’t wait to hear all the great stuff they come back with. Jay said he would keep us up to date via Twitter. So be on the lookout for some Where 2.0 tweets.
If you happen to be heading to the event and want a free trapster tee find Pete and /or Jay and say “swag me” (while supplies last).
This Story Never Gets Old
Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar . One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then turned off.
Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location.
Back at the CHP Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander. The reply came back in true USMC style:
~ ~ ~
Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident.
You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down.
Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location.
Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.
The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech.
Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster.
Thank you for your concern.
Semper Fi
Originally posted by Pete Tenereillo in the Trapster forum Trapster • View topic – Top This One For A Speeding Ticket.
Why speed (cameras) kill(s)
An everyday driver’s take on the Arizona speed cameras. Church Lady, please note this is no Ricky Racer in a Corvette. This dude drives a 1989 Grand Cherokee (read: old Jeep). “We are traveling at only 65mph, the exact posted speed limit. What does the idiot in front of me, culprit #2, do? Yeah you guessed it, he slams on the brakes and does a nose dive down to 10mph under. Why?”. Coming soon to a city near you. Read the post here
