Speed camera database available for stock/aftermarket headunits +DIY

[DoomsdayJesus]

Bottom-line up front: http://www.scdb.info/ offers a metric crap-ton of speed camera/red light camera databases that work with our OEM head-unit, plus tons of aftermarket ones/standalone GPS receivers

There have been a few threads about manually entering speed cameras, redlight cameras, and other random nanny-state nonsense into your map database.

After getting an unexpected school zone speed camera ticket in the mail from the most frequently featured city of COPS in the history of the show (Lakewood, WA), I started doing some research on speed cameras and Washington State Law. It was 4 minutes before school started and there wasn't a single person walking anywhere, let alone kids.

After spending an hour plotting distances on Google Earth for contesting the ticket (turns out the camera/school zone are both illegally placed (surprise!)) and downloading my exported GPS log to prove my driving path/speed (yes you can do that and it's awesome), I stumbled into this website googling speed cam databases:

http://www.scdb.info/

It's just awesome. After some quick research, despite not having Subaru/Fujitsu Ten listed in devices, I found a compatible file.

They have databases for over 50,000 speed cameras in 60 countries that are constantly updated. They support the Garmin in the family Outback, and a one year license is about $11-12 USD, so I gave it a shot. Now I have complete and accurate databases on both devices.

For the 2013-2015 fujitsu ten head units, you'll want to download the database for the Becker Z (by Harman) model here: http://www.scdb.info/en/plugin-becker-z/

Follow the given instructions, it's super easy. The file system is pretty similar to our devices as well.


1) plug in your SD card to your laptop/card reader

2) Navigate to [SD DRIVE]:\navigation\content\speedcam

3) Delete the stock file, and replace it with the downloaded one. Do not rename it yourself. You can see the data format is all coordinates (LAT/LONG) and camera type.

4) Properly eject the SD card from your computer (don't be lazy, nobody wants a corrupted map SD card)

5) Plug back into your head unit. It should use the .txt file to make it's own database, which looks like this if you want to verify that the installation worked:


I would ignore step 9 on the website instructions. It worked perfectly fine on my headunit without doing it.

After I first plugged it in, I went and turned on all the visual/audio warnings. Then I checked out the map while parked in my garage, and was delighted to see it worked perfectly on the first try. Here's where I got my ticket!

No surprise, using the trip log, it was immediately after a right turn with no prior warning:

But enough bitching, if you tap the camera icon and hit the i button in the upper right hand corner you can check out the information for a given trap


I don't think anyone would argue our headunit is kind of slow, the menus are arduous to navigate, but this thing packs a ton of surprises and capabilities. I'm thrilled I found out how to get this one to work, and hope it saves you an me an awful lot of dough.

So give it a try and let me know how it works. This is an awesome service that this website provides, and the cost is unbelievably cheap. I can't imagine it's free to maintain this database, so I'd discourage pirating or sharing the files.

[bayank]

Wow this is awesome! I saw that feature after digging deep in the menus and it never worked, well now its obvious why because the map DB doesn't contain the traffic cams. Thanks for sharing!

[DocWalt]

Works well for me! I don't have any speed cameras or red light cameras around me, but it's nice to have for when I travel. Thanks for sharing.

[kingnba6]

Very nice! If people use their phone a lot of GPS, I would suggest the Waze app. Shows cameras and police and everything.

[Choco]

Didn't even know we can do this. Just installed and seems to work! I don't see much cameras around me, but I checked around places I know exist and I see them. Thanks!

[miosaki]

WHAT?! THIS IS A WHOLE NEW WORLD! THANK YOU!!!

I live in Los Angeles which supposedly banned traffic/red light cameras but my neighborhood still has cameras ALL OVER THE PLACE. (i guess my city privately funds the cameras)
Sometimes the cameras are so messed up it just flashes even when no one is breaking the law and I've gotten numerous tickets which i've contested and no luck.

Thank you so much for all this info! Can't wait to install!

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by kingnba6

Very nice! If people use their phone a lot of GPS, I would suggest the Waze app. Shows cameras and police and everything.

I use Waze a lot for traffic info, as well as google now, but using my phone for traffic info every day is a lot more cumbersome than using the built in system. Especially once I'm already driving.

But yeah, if I see bad traffic home from work on google now, I get it up and running. Especially on road trips through areas I don't frequent.


Also, I went to video the area I got my ticket today with a dash cam, and the nav started to beep noticeably (not as annoying as you'd think) as I approached the speed cam, and I got a display warning me with a speed limit sign. I'm impressed.

[ryoma]

The dealer enabled these options for me when I bought the car. Does anyone know if they are updated or actually useful straight from the factory? I don't have any speed cameras (that I know of) around my area, but they do have them near my school when I commute out there.

[DoomsdayJesus]

Originally Posted by ryoma

The dealer enabled these options for me when I bought the car. Does anyone know if they are updated or actually useful straight from the factory? I don't have any speed cameras (that I know of) around my area, but they do have them near my school when I commute out there.

The notification options are essentially useless without a database, and these cars don't come with one. You can set the warnings yourself by clicking on a location in your map and adding a warning point, but it's tedious unless you only have a couple to mark.

Plus, everyone drives outside of their comfort zone once in awhile, it's nice to be prepared rather than run into a trap.

[ryoma]

Do you need to have the GPS enabled and on screen in order to hear the alerts? I usually drive with just the radio screen on. Maybe I'll start putting on the nav screen instead. And I looked through the database and haven't found the red light camera listed that's near my area. it isn't that expensive though so whatever. as long as it has most of them.

[JARunning]

Just finished doing this to mine. works great and makes a great addition to the factory nav system!
Well worth the $11 usd it comes out to.


Thanks for finding and writing it up DoomsdayJesus

[krayzie]

Just followed the DIY and it now shows all the redlight cameras in Toronto. Nice!

[Marcoscrdo]

Can someone make a video on how it works on the dash? So your saying after install whenever the map gps is up it will automatically show speed cameras where im driving around me?

[DocWalt]

That's exactly what it does. You can set it up to audibly alert you to warn you as well

I'd shoot a video, but I'd have to drive into Philly as there's no speed cameras near me