SpeedAlert: a tool with an overlay that alerts you when overspeeding.

robdx2

surfer63 thank you, its made me send a request which I have done

Geoff_T

OK, just a quick test round the block:

Speed Limit = Correct at 30 mph
Speed = Correct, always very close to my dash speed

But, if I went at anything over 21mph the speed changed to red as if I was over the speed limit. I have the warning set to allow 10% over limit so I guess from that it is using the km/h equivalent of 30 mph (18.6) as the limit rather than the 30?

EDIT I'm talking nonsense the kmh equivalent of 30mph is 48kph so I'm not sure. Maybe it is multiplying the 30 by 0.62 unnecessarily for the overspeed test?

surfer63

Geoff_T But, if I went at anything over 21mph the speed changed to red as if I was over the speed limit

Another reason why the whole world should change to the metric system 😉

To be honest: I did not look yet at the overspeed calculation. Just at the "normal" speeds.
Anyway: to be continued.

surfer63

V2.0 Add local databases for road speed limits and speed cameras

Changelog

fix mph/kmh conversion (hopefully for the last time).
(fix) fallback should only be used (or grey sign/empty speed text) if no gps fix or speed limit was found. In 2 latest versions, fallback always ran (due to "race condition"). Also GPS fix time out was too short (when compared to Google Maps / Waze).
Add button in Debug screen to list all settings used in the program (in case of errors)
Add option for local speed limit databases. See Local DataBases. This works much faster and more reliable than an internet call, provided the road has speed tags. The databases themselves can be found here.
Add option for local speed camera databases (note: speed cameras only work with local database). See Local DataBases. The databases themselves can be found here.
Replace mp3 sounds with coded sounds to prevent latency.
Add a setting to hide/display speaker mute button in overlay (the one that can be tapped to mute/unmute).
Make camera alert toast resizable like text in overlay.

When the app doesn't show speed limits.

Some countries only have a limited number of roads tagged with speed limits in OpenStreetMap. org, whereas other countries have a big percentage of their roads covered. If the roads have no speed limit tags, the app can't show them.
Take a look at the Country Statistics with regard to number of highways and highways tagged with "max speed limit" tags.

Required permissions

Background location - The app (Android) will ask: "Allow all the time", "Allow only when using the app", "Ask every time", "Deny". You need to select "Allow all the time", as the app needs to be able to run in the background. This means it can use background location as long as the app runs (not as long as your system runs).
Overlay permission
Notification permission
Ignore Battery optimization (especially on Android 14/15/16)

For screenshots and more info see the Readme.
Full changelog.
Also take a look at the Country Statistics with regard to number of highways and highways tagged with "max speed limit" tags.

Geoff_T

surfer63

Is there a way of knowing that it has picked up the local databases?

I've copied both SpeedLimit and Camera databases over to the Android/media/xyz.hvdw.speedalert directory , and stopped/started the service, but nothing seems to have changed on the settings screen. ie there is no camera alert toast size option showing so I wondered if that means it hasn't picked up the databases?

EDIT I've answered my own question, the logs show the source as localdb:gb.

Geoff_T

surfer63

I've had a chance for a quick drive now and it seems much better with local database files. Even on GB roads there must have been speed data points that were getting missed before because it seems much more accurate now.

I haven't got any speed cameras near me so I haven't been able to test that feature yet.

Some very minor points:

The changelog mentions a setting for speed camera toast size but there doesn't seem to be one. Maybe it just mimics the main text size?

If you don't have the roadsign type display the option to not display current speed disappears. Not sure if that is deliberate?

Ideally, for the roadsign type display option I would prefer a larger overall size option. On my screen, with my old eyes, the circle and text is a liitle bit small for easy reading.

But overall it now seems to work just as well as the paid app I was using before, so a huge thank you for putting in the time and effort to get it to this point. I am especially grateful for you fixing the mph conversion issues. For someone in a km/h country that really is going above and beyond.

Geoff_T

Haven't had a chance to try this out on a drive yet, but have installed it and the local databases for GB ready.

Thanks for the speaker icon toggle. 👍

surfer63

Geoff_T The changelog mentions a setting for speed camera toast size but there doesn't seem to be one. Maybe it just mimics the main text size?

Yes, it does. I should change the description or create a new setting

If you don't have the roadsign type display the option to not display current speed disappears. Not sure if that is deliberate?

Yes, for the time being it is. Off course that can be changed.

Ideally, for the roadsign type display option I would prefer a larger overall size option. On my screen, with my old eyes, the circle and text is a liitle bit small for easy reading.

Currently there are five steps. going from smallest to default to largest. Especially on high-res displays I could add "huge" and "humongous" 😉 (Of course largest would no longer be largest). Adding a few more rescale steps is easy.

For the speed cameras: Currently there is the toast. I have also been thinking to add something visual like a temporary overlay going from green to yellow to orange to red, but that is not that simple and needs a lot of "timing" inside the app.

Geoff_T

surfer63 Currently there are five steps. going from smallest to default to largest. Especially on high-res displays I could add "huge" and "humongous" 😉 (Of course largest would no longer be largest). Adding a few more rescale steps is easy.

You could call the humongous one the Mr. Magoo setting!

rumot

Good morning,
I can confirm that local database files are much better. I have a question regarding the database. Will you be updating the database or do I need to update it myself? If so, where can I download it?

surfer63

rumot
I will update them. Once a month or once every 2 months. Roads with speed limits and static cameras hardly change.
I have a couple of scripts that run roughly 6 hours on all countries worldwide, which I can run overnight. I will write another script that will do the "grouping" like it is done now as simply sharing 350 files makes it a little chaotic.
If you want to update yourself, you can download one of the scripts from the tools folder. These scripts are python and bash scripts. This means you need to have python 3.x installed (default on linux/MacOS) and you need a shell environment (default on linux/MacOS. You can install WSL on Windows).

Currently there is a very short Readme inside the tools folder, which I need to update and complete. It is currently only a placeholder.

EDIT: I need to clean up my shell (bash) scripts. I used the basis of these bash scripts to generate complete country and roads_only maps for OsmAnd many years ago. I now hardly looked at what the help/info is saying. This needs to be adapted.
The python scripts are new and contain up-to-date help/info.
Give me one or two days to update them.

rumot

surfer63 I understand, thank you very much

RedCar

Itried the latest version and all works fine now. Little problems I noticed are a result of the quality of the databases.
Thanks for your great work.

hallotri

Ich bin durch Zufall auf die App Tempomaster gekommen. Diese App funktioniert ähnlich, nur scheint hier die Datenbank, zumindest bei mir zu Hause, besser zu funktionieren, obwohl die App auch über OSM funktioniert. Hier ist mal der Link dazu.
https://www.g-daehling.de/tempomaster_de/index.html

surfer63

hallotri

Which data from tempomaster functions better? the speed limits or the cameras, or both?

And does tempomaster use indeed databases and do you need to download them from the app?
When I try to download OSM data, as it wants me to do, it takes a very long time and then still gives an error that there is no data.

surfer63

V2.1 Download and install speed limit and camera databases from the app

Changelog

Due to a growing number of settings, the Settings screen has become pretty long and requires scrolling. Changed to CardView and grouped settings. See here a video of the Settings screen.
Create a new repository for the databases (SpeedAlert_Databases) to cleanly separate apk releases from database releases.
Settings screen in the "Speed Limit Fetching" section: Add option to download and install speed limit and camera databases.
Fix minor rounding error in main screen GPS accuracy.
Option added to "Only beep once when overspeeding".
Add chosen speed and camera database to settings (if any), so it/they can be displayed with "Show All Settings" (Debug screen).
Add two bigger scales to text sizes in the overlay. Replace textual labels (..., smaller, default, bigger, ...) to range from 60% - 180%.

When the app doesn't show speed limits.

Required permissions

Background location - The app (Android) will ask: "Allow all the time", "Allow only when using the app", "Ask every time", "Deny". You need to select "Allow all the time", as the app needs to be able to run in the background. This means it can use background location as long as the app runs (not as long as your system runs).
Overlay permission
Notification permission
Ignore Battery optimization (especially on Android 14/15/16)

For screenshots and more info see the Readme.
Full changelog.
Also take a look at the Country Statistics with regard to number of highways and highways tagged with "max speed limit" tags.

rumot

GREAT version 2.1.
Thank you so much for developing and improving the app. The database experience is fantastic.
You guys are AWESOME!
SUPER-Adding the option "Sound only once when exceeding the speed limit".

Geoff_T

Thanks very much for the latest update, especially the Mr Magoo mode I requested!!

It is much better, but even at 180% on my screen I could still do will it even bigger, maybe a Mr Magoo XXL mode.

I don't know if it is my screen settings but this is a screen shot of my main custom KWGT widget with SpeedAlert running. Ideally I would have liked it as big as the VW logo.

surfer63

Geoff_T
When looking at that VW logo, and the road sign at 180%, it is about 275% (not taking into account the "white space" around it).
It actually doesn't matter how many "steps" the slider has (transpararency 0-100% in 100 steps) or size overlay in x steps.
I will add 200%, 225%, 250%, 275%, 300%.

I don't know when, or even "if". I only had 21 downloads on V2.0. I first want to look now at downloads for V2.1 (and don't go downloading it now a 100 times 😉 ).

If the downloads are satisfactorily, I also think about changing the overlay a bit.
Google Maps does it a bit different:

When driving "legally", Gmaps only shows the speed limit (in the bottom left, but mine will still be freely movable anywhere).
When overspeeding up to 5mph or 10 kmh (Google's decision), it will also display in red the overspeeding mph/kmh
When overspeeding more than 5mph or 10kmh. it will make the background of the overlay red.

They call it the "speedalert minor" and "speedalert major".

(But it also means that GMaps determines this for you. You can't set yourself an overspeed limit in kmh/mph or percentage).

But it might be an option to use the same methodology based on the users overspeed setting, and output the beep when exceeding that limit.

Edit: I also found Yesterday that the use of the element "road" is still in OSM, possibly with speed tags.. It is already for many years deprecated, but it seems that in Germany and Eastern Europe there are still a lot of "highway"s tagged as road. In the April version of the databases I will take this into account (but not helpful for other countries).

Geoff_T

surfer63 I will add 200%, 225%, 250%, 275%, 300%.

I don't know when, or even "if". I only had 21 downloads on V2.0. I first want to look now at downloads for V2.1 (and don't go downloading it now a 100 times 😉 ).

Understood. I am incredibly grateful for what you have done so far, and realise you can't just personalise it for one person's request.

Now, I'm just off to create 99 new accounts.................................................. 😉

rumot

surfer63
When you write about Eastern Europe, you think about Russia, that's how I understand it, unless you missed something in geography lessons.

« Previous Page Next Page »