Wishlist - Features of a "1006"

Squeaky Lobster

Squeaky Lobster

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Dash Cam
iTracker mini0806, 0906 beta
Hello All

I'm not sure if a whishlist for future miniXXXX products already exists, and if Yes where the correct subforum for this would be.

Wishlist Feature 1
I'm always thinking of this: Is it possible to get more "live" car information into the picture, like GPS Data. I think it would need another connection, from the cam to the ODB2 interface. And then overlay information like indicators (L/R), actual speed data (not just GPS which might work or not), throttle position, brake on/off, motor revs, which gear, and whatever data available through that interface. Kind of like the on-board information they blend in from an F1 car's ****pit view during the race, if you know what I mean.

From what I know the ODB2 interface is standardized and mandatory on all newer cars since a few years. I mean,there are many ODB2 readers on the market, for retrofitted head-up displays for example. I'm not sure what is possible, it sure would be a lot of work to engineer this, but I think it would be a unique selling feature on the market at the moment.

Or is it just not feasible because the camera body would grow in size because of the additional electronics needed?

I do know and acknowledge that this information, once recorded, could be used against the owner of the cam / creator of the footage in certain circumstances. But that is not the point here, same goes for date/time/gps data. So this data should be overlayed into the picture, like GPS, as a configurable option.

Wishlist Feature 2
Maybe Wishlist Feature 1 this is a trigger for a complete redesign of the hardware. Imaging (camera sensors) and main components box should be separated. Would make smaller footprint cameras to stick to the front and rear window, the size of the main components box is not so critical then it can be stored hidden somewhere.

Wishlist Feature 3
Also a wish that goes into the direction of modularity. I would like to have just a simple mount that has power pass-through, no GPS. Put GPS receiver into a separate module that can be put where reception is best. 0.5-1m cable or so.

Are my ideas stupid or are there any upvoters? :)

@Rayman.Chan, are you listening and taking notes? (y)

Regards,
Martin
 
Lukas have that OBD2 connection for some of their dashcams, but the range of vehicles that have full or partly coverage are still pretty limited last i looked.
Thats why i wish you could train your dashcam to understand what ever signals the OBD 2 port send out, this way i think all cars could get full use of the OBD 2 info.

Dashcams with a hidden main unit and camera / s on wire are here now and more will come i am sure, i have asked for some sort of port on such products so you could daisychain several boxes, with features like dashcam ( more cameras ) alarm and so on.

GPS mosue are also pretty common on many cameras, but it seem like the mini cameras like the GPS antenna in the mount, but i am sure it would be easy to change this.
I have also asked for other storage than SD card, i prefer a SSD where i can get 2X the storage space compared to SD card, this i think would go hand in hand with hidden main unit ( put USB thumb drive in socket to retrieve files )
 
Two many compatiblity problem for OBD interface,but if only for power source application,we think it will be good!
 
Squeaky Lobster said:
Wishlist Feature 2
Maybe Wishlist Feature 1 this is a trigger for a complete redesign of the hardware. Imaging (camera sensors) and main components box should be separated. Would make smaller footprint cameras to stick to the front and rear window, the size of the main components box is not so critical then it can be stored hidden somewhere.
Click to expand...

THIS! THIS! THIS! Two "0906 rear" camera's attached to a 3cm x 6cm x 8cm box (or similar) under the driver's seat would be absolutely awesome!!!
 
listening :;
 
More ideas?
 
WiFi?I think this is the future.And also, you can integrate the GPS unit in the camera case, and sell it with an mount without GPS but with the power conection on it (for example if you want to move to another car you move only the camera and attached to another 3M mounts)
 
One plus for Wifi.(or Bluetooth) - integration with Apple Car Play and the Android equivalent.
 
Well, for one it might be a more convenient platform for the UI - i.e. a 3x4 inch screen is easier to work with than a 1 inch screen. Also various commands and settings can be driven by Siri rather than fiddling with three small buttons, Possibly playback on the Carplay screen. Siri/Carplay have an API for VOIP Calling - call the owner if the PArking Guard has been triggered.
 
Squeaky Lobster said:
Hello All

Wishlist Feature 2
Maybe Wishlist Feature 1 this is a trigger for a complete redesign of the hardware. Imaging (camera sensors) and main components box should be separated. Would make smaller footprint cameras to stick to the front and rear window, the size of the main components box is not so critical then it can be stored hidden somewhere.

Are my ideas stupid or are there any upvoters? :)

@Rayman.Chan, are you listening and taking notes? (y)

Regards,
Martin
Click to expand...

The modularity and separation means other benefits - Rather than going with a SD Card for storage, being able to use a Real Drive or an SSD, in a larger "in the trunk" control unit.

Tesla were talking about open sourcing a bunch of their stuff. possibly picking up on some of the autonomous navigation telemetry along the way...???
 
Android Auto and Apple Car Play have very restricted and quite limited 3rd party app support, I can't see what you've suggested being at all possible, not saying the ideas weren't worthy, just the limitations of the platform being very restrictive
 
jokiin said:
Android Auto and Apple Car Play have very restricted and quite limited 3rd party app support, I can't see what you've suggested being at all possible, not saying the ideas weren't worthy, just the limitations of the platform being very restrictive
Click to expand...

One of the things that I have learnt over the years, is that Software engineers aren't always that innovative. While they may develop an API, they don't have great insight into what others might want to do - that being the case, throwing the suggestion at them, rather than waiting for them, might get the ball rolling.

While I think of it, while the big players may be heading in their own (or proprietary) directions, it could be worth watching some of the open source efforts - like https://github.com/ApolloAuto/apollo. or the curated list of resources at https://github.com/takeitallsource/awesome-autonomous-vehicles
 
PeterQ said:
One of the things that I have learnt over the years, is that Software engineers aren't always that innovative. While they may develop an API, they don't have great insight into what others might want to do - that being the case, throwing the suggestion at them, rather than waiting for them, might get the ball rolling.
Click to expand...

given there are hundreds of thousands of apps and a very short list of what is supported on either platform I suspect that the issue is Apple/Android rather than the third party devs, I have an Android Auto/Apple Car Play head unit and it is very limited as to what you can actually do with it, the Android stuff is not even particularly well documented, haven't checked the Apple side of it but from what I have read up on it it's also severely limited
 
Texas Mouse said:
THIS! THIS! THIS! Two "0906 rear" camera's attached to a 3cm x 6cm x 8cm box (or similar) under the driver's seat would be absolutely awesome!!!
Click to expand...
Absolutely 100% this. The front camera is too big and no matter where I put it it gets in the way. This is mainly due to the car's forward collision camera, rain sensor etc housing being so big behind the rear view mirror and the roof being quite low for a saloon. The 0906 was the most suitable out of all the cameras I looked at/tried but it's still not ideal. The rear camera size would be better although it would need the option of a CPL.
Obviously a screen is helpful when setting up but that wouldn't be possible with a tiny camera so Wi-Fi would be a must.
I would also like the option of adding on some sort of 3G module with a SIM card so I could remotely check on the car. I have a motion triggered tracker on my car. I've been shopping and got a text to say it's been triggered. I then have to go to the car to make sure it's ok. Would be great to just connect to the camera to check.

My car has room for the control box to be next to the fuses in the fuse box below the glovebox. Others would put it under a seat or elsewhere I guess so different length cable for power lead and the lead between cameras would be useful.
 
Last edited:
There is a deeper Philosophical aspect to all of this - Apart from amusement on youtube, most of us have a DashCam, in the hope that we will never use it, i.e. need it to provide evidence of the event that we were all hoping to avoid (a crash or such like). As such looking at the current functionality and the current feature set (or even slight modifications there of) is somewhat restrictive.

One of my mentors (recently retired as a Senior person at Google) instilled in me, in my early Software Engineering days - SOFF - Separation of Form and Function - make everything a) modular and b) callable.

That said, making a quantum difference in this marketplace (reasonably highly competitive) is going to entail thinking outside of the box.

So, the first suggestion is modulatory. Keep the cameras small - this also gives the potential option of other cameras (interior, left and right facing). Pulling a lot of the electronics off the windscreen to perhaps in the trunk or under the seat is also likely to reduce the other major cause of problems - heat.

In doing this, separate the components as suggested - what are the two most "annoying" aspects of a dashcam - 1. remembering to offload the data. 2) threading cables along the C-pillars, headliners etc. Wireless facilitates both, and perhaps an alarm that says "memory card is 75% full" for the former (although disconnecting the unit or pulling out the MicroSD are both a pain relative to firing up an App on phone or laptop.

One feature that does come to mind, and it's primarily Software/connectivity so may be easy to do. When I look at the DIrectory on the SD card, it's got lots of filenames that are variations of date/timestamps. How about being able to crossload one's mobilephone addressbook (which, as I recall standardize pretty much on VCF format address cards). So that entries on the SD can be switched from a filename like 20180111_081323_0029A.mov to say "Home_to_work_11_nov_18.MOV" - this can also potentially be annotated by online mapping services, although it's interesting that Google Maps thinks that there is a Commercial Gymnasium where my neighbours house is (I think the previous owner ran one, but his address for government filings was his home address - never trust the data implicitly)

But back to the original premise - how do we make the device that you hope you will never have to use, more usable - probably by using it for things that you haven't thought of, or at least haven't thought much of.
 
PeterQ said:
In doing this, separate the components as suggested - what are the two most "annoying" aspects of a dashcam - 1. remembering to offload the data. 2) threading cables along the C-pillars, headliners etc. Wireless facilitates both, and perhaps an alarm that says "memory card is 75% full" for the former (although disconnecting the unit or pulling out the MicroSD are both a pain relative to firing up an App on phone or laptop.
Click to expand...

1.Most people don't offload data
2. Cables are far more reliable, wireless technologies are not there at this time to be able to have wireless cameras in the car, really can't see that happening anytime soon

PeterQ said:
One feature that does come to mind, and it's primarily Software/connectivity so may be easy to do. When I look at the DIrectory on the SD card, it's got lots of filenames that are variations of date/timestamps. How about being able to crossload one's mobilephone addressbook (which, as I recall standardize pretty much on VCF format address cards). So that entries on the SD can be switched from a filename like 20180111_081323_0029A.mov to say "Home_to_work_11_nov_18.MOV" - this can also potentially be annotated by online mapping services, although it's interesting that Google Maps thinks that there is a Commercial Gymnasium where my neighbours house is (I think the previous owner ran one, but his address for government filings was his home address - never trust the data implicitly)
.
Click to expand...

While this is an interesting concept I can't see this happening in a consumer grade device, not sure we'd even see it in a commercial application anytime soon
 
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