Back in 2022, I discovered a critical syntax error in the files published by Cserrobi (aka Sunnyside Navi) that corrupts the original structure of speedcam.txt. In 2023, I was banned from one of the forums simply for asking questions about this error. It wasn't until 2024 that I finally tracked down the root cause and found who was responsible for spreading this technical defect. Now, with BBS Radars / LaradioBBS completely shut down, I can finally reveal the whole story. A story that actually traces all the way back to around 2004.
This semicolon at the end of the DIRECTION; header is a classic example of a "domino effect" in the world of legacy software and amateur coding. It has absolutely nothing to do with the official specifications from NNG (the developer of iGO).
The history of its appearance and spread comes down to technical illiteracy, blind copying of third-party scripts, and long-standing makeshift fixes within the Spanish community.
1. The Root Cause: The Spanish Connection (BBS Radars / LaradioBBS)
The original source of this infection is the Spanish forum La Radio BBS (also known as BBS Radars).
Many years ago, at the dawn of iGO Primo and Amigo, one of the self-taught Spanish moderators wrote a home-brewed script (most likely using PHP or Excel macros) to automatically convert official Spanish DGT road safety databases into the speedcam.txt text format for iGO.
While generating the header row in the script's code, a basic syntax error was made:
• Instead of the correct output: ...DIRTYPE,DIRECTION
• The script outputted a string where the name of the last column was accidentally merged with a statement termination character or a delimiter used inside the code itself: ...DIRTYPE,DIRECTION;
Since the LaradioBBS databases were incredibly popular in Spain, tens of thousands of people downloaded this corrupted file. The engines of older iGO 8 versions and early Primo builds were quite forgiving—they often discarded or ignored trailing garbage at the end of a line, meaning the databases still managed to work on legacy navigation systems. Nobody noticed the mistake, and the script kept generating this broken syntax for years.
2. How Robert (Cserrobi) Inherited the Defect
Robert (Cserrobi / Sunnyside Navi) is a textbook example of a "copy-paste master." He is not a programmer and does not write his own parsers from scratch.
When Robert decided to compile "his own" databases for m/lolo and Facebook groups, he didn't bother diving into NNG syntax rules. He simply took the old, pre-made Spanish script from BBS Radars as a template (or copied their parsing structure).
Furthermore, Robert managed to take this mistake to an absolute extreme. Take a look at the structure of his "masterpiece":
DIRECTION; Készítette: Cserrobi, Vitafórum:...
Instead of removing the Spanish semicolon, he assumed that ; was a perfect delimiter to jam his own advertising text directly into the technical header string!
In the iGO syntax, the ; character does indeed signify the start of a comment, but only if it occupies a separate line or is preceded by a proper separator (a comma). By pasting the text Készítette... directly against DIRECTION;, he turned a system variable name into unreadable gibberish.
3. Why Others Don't Have This, and Why It Blew Up Now
In healthy, technically advanced communities (such as the post-Soviet space, engineers always strictly audited the syntax. There, the header was always pristine: IDX,X,Y,TYPE,SPEED,DIRTYPE,DIRECTION (sometimes with a trailing comma for specific Primo builds).
Why this became a total disaster on modern Android 13/14 and NextGen systems:
1. Strict Parsers: Modern iGO NextGen and iGO Luna engines run on updated, far more rigid software compilers. When a modern navigation app encounters the header DIRECTION; Készítette:..., it chokes right on the word DIRECTION.
2. Broken Azimuths: The application fails to properly initialize the data array required for camera direction angles. For the parser, the DIRECTION column effectively becomes "non-existent" or corrupted.
3. The Result: The navigation app falls back to resetting all direction parameters to 0 (omnidirectional/circular alert). A camera that is supposed to monitor only oncoming traffic starts harassing the driver from all directions, including parallel overpasses and adjacent side streets.
Summary
The semicolon is a "genetic defect" originating from an old LaradioBBS Spanish script, which Robert blindly copied and transformed into a personal advertising banner. What was forgiven by the old iGO 8 WinCE engine 15 years ago acts as a destructive bug on modern NextGen software, turning a speed camera database into broken junk that triggers constant false alerts.
And the fact that you have only ever seen this issue coming from BBS and Robert proves it yet again: Robert simply steals their methods and file structures without having any baseline understanding of how they actually function.
Last edited by Andrey Form; Today at 10:17 AM.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
©AF_2020-26
Bookmarks