Trapster is an iPhone application I was really looking forward to as I think it may save me a few hundred (thousands?) dollars every year in speeding tickets… I had signed up for a Trapster account a couple weeks ago to be alerted of when the app would officially be available and I’m glad to learn that you can get it now for free from the App Store.
What is Trapster?
Trapster is a mobile application that lets you see and log the location of police speed traps directly from your iPhone (note that it also work with other mobile and GPS devices). Once installed, Trapster [iTunes Link] combines technologies such as GPS and wireless location, voice transcription, geocoding, reverse geocoding, and SMS, with a central database server. It communicates in real time, using the Internet and alerts you in real-time of any reported speed traps in your area.
How does it work?
Trapster’s police traps maps are all user-generated. When a Trapster user spots a police trap, he reports it by pressing a button on his iPhone, or calling a toll free number.
When you approach the same area running Trapster on your phone, you get an alert, and then you can confirm that the trap is indeed in that area.
Trapster learns the credibility of traps based on how many users agree. It also learns the credibility of each user, over time.
You can view a demo video here.
Great, what about my battery life?
Did you mean battery death? Since Trapster makes extensive use of your iPhone GPS, it does consume battery life at a higher than normal rate. It might be time to get this $40 car charger…
Is Trapster legal?
It must be if it made its way in the App Store. Besides, the police seem to be ok with it:
“If someone slows down because of it, it’s accomplishing the same goal of trying to get people to obey the speed limit”
Bill Johnson – Executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations
View Demo | Download App
