SpudHack - BRZ Tool for managing alert points
 

Hey guys, the last couple of weeks I've been working on a software tool that allows management of alert points for the BRZ Limited NAV unit. I've been waiting before posting about it, but since it's now just about ready to get beta tested I wanted to gauge interest on the release of such a tool.

I call the tool SpudHack, due to that's basically what it does :D

My initial idea was to be able to upload redlight cameras & speed trap localization so that I can get warnings when driving near them, especially for areas that I don't often drive to, for trips, etc. The tool works with files on your SD card, so you just need a PC and an SD card reader to use it.



Here's the main feature set:

• Allows reading of SPUD file, in both advanced and normal modes
• Allows adding / editing alert points.
• All entries / edits are validated to ensure they are supported by the alert system.
• Allows saving back to SPUD file for usage in the NAV
• Allows import of alert point coordinates from GPX / KML formats for bulk uploads
• Allows cleaning of SPUD file to promote faster loading and reduce file size
• Allows to open any alert point into Bing Maps for validation
• Flag points that are less than 5 meters apart

(There are also some other advanced features used mostly for debugging...)

So, anyone potentially interested in something like this? Any other features that are must-haves that I'm missing?

It sounds like an interesting tool. I would try it, although we don't have speed/stop light cameras around here (thankfully).

Certainly an interesting idea. I'd be game to try it.

Cool, I may think of a public beta then in a bit.

If anything, it may be cool to have a directory with SPUD files per area that people can just download and put on their SD card to get all the cams in their area, etc.

Sounds cool.

I am really interested in what we can do with the navi firmware. Let me in on this. I been considering jumping into ripping the firmware apart, I just don't have a lot of free time lately.

Well, I've learned a lot already. There's basically some built in encryption into the SD card itself that prevents extensive hacking. I doubt I'll have enough time to go through it... if you're interested, take a look at the secondary partition on the card. Also, all the map data is probably tied to the serial number of the SD card itself, but I'm not really interested in cracking the data per say (e.g. I don't really care to crack the maps), just want to extend the usage of the unit legally as much as possible.

Updating the POI stores though should be relatively easy...

Regarding the SpudHack, everything seems to work great except that different locations generate different headers for the line entries... wrong headers means that the alert doesn't show up. The numbers seem sequential and related to zone, so it may be something similar to zip codes or other ways to break up the data across the map independently of the coordinates themselves. I haven't had any more time to look around, but hopefully I will soon. I've had success in applying known headers and applying it to other injected coordinates - this works well and I now have about 15 different alert points in there for testing. Think I'll just have to create a bunch of sample data through the unit and try to figure out what scheme is being utilized. Once that's done, it should be ready for release.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you want...