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Two months after out for iPhone, Weather4D (¹), by surprising Olivier Bouyssou, arrives with a version fully optimized for iPad, with the modest release number 1.1.
This single iPhone/iPad version is therefore a simple free update for the lucky buyers of the version 1.0.
And yet, what work it took to adapt and optimize this 3D application, both iPhone screens and memory capacities 3 and 4 than those of iPads 1 and 2, known to be very different ! Read more …
In France, mariners know little, or not at all, about Transas company of Russian origin. The Transas Group is nevertheless one of the world's leading professional of navigation software . Founded in 1990 in St Petersburgh, it opens its first office in England in Southampton (UK). Application developer for maritime and aeronautical training simulators, leading ECDIS certified designer, AIS network installer, the company has provided its electronic charting systems to prestigious customers, as the Russian space station MIR in 1996. There are countless marine simulator and flight simulators equipped with Transas technology in training centers worldwide. Several major commercial harbours are also equipped with VTS (*) and VTM (*) from Transas.
With 200 million turnover, the now international group, majority run by Russians, has its headquarters in Cork, Ireland.
All this to tell you that, when the very serious Transas company decides to launch a marine charting application on the iPhone and iPad, does not hesitate to rely on a communication, let’s say… particularly impactful. See instead… Read more …
iNavX allows you to connect, since version 3.1.7 from February the 11 October 2010, to the data server AIS SiiTech which I talked about in a previous post (¹). The interest of this service remained questionable in France because of the poor coverage of our coasts. That could change.
Indeed, the number of SiiTech ground stations is increasing, the Channel coasts are now well covered, and the Atlantic coast should be gradually equipped (²).
In addition, The version 3.2.4 of iNavX comes with an improvement that makes a revival of interest for this feature : it is now available to select the origin point of AIS data from SiiTech server, or the position of the ship (that of the iPhone/iPad used), or a previously created waypoint. The reception radius being about 30 nautical miles around place of origin, this allows for a significant increase in the coverage of AIS data reception.
All navigation software offer predictions of tides, more or less long range, that cover the coasts of the whole world. Where come these predictions from ? How are they established ? What is their reliability ? These are all questions that any conscientious yachtman is entitled to ask.
SHOM predictions from frbateaux.net website
Since the introduction of this new iPad and installing the new OS on my devices (iPhone 3GS and iPad 1), I wondered about the advantages that could be derived from it by boaters, compared to previous model and system. Read more …
I cannot resist the urge to show you some pics (*) to iNavX on iPad which has just crossed the Atlantic, from Mediterranean to Martinique. The sailor has abandoned his MacBook Air, on which he uses MacENC for several years with S-57 ENC charts. It switched to an iPad 3G, featured iNavX, Navionics Gold charts and the Apple app Numbers to write his log book.
iNavX in action
Once will not hurt, I relayed the information in French from Blog Panbo which have interest for Apple mobile devices users.
All these english words mean the same principle : sharing to the community all maritime information collected by each charting software user. In other words, each boater can use its navigation application to share all information on any changes observed over charts. This can concern the markup, the erection of a new quay or the appearance of new catways in a harbour, practical information on new harbourt services, incorrect positioning of a rock or the appearance of an uncharted shoal, aso. Read more …
In a previous post about my favorites apps for iPhone, I cited two weather apps : La Chaine Météo, very good general weather application from Meteo Consult, and iSailing Weather that offers maps of sea-based weather GRIB files from British origin.
Weather France has finally added its own free app, offering its full range of forecasts, including marine weather reports in text format. Read more …
AyeTides XL
, tides prediction application of Hahn Software LLC, is available since 2 nd August on AppStore. Issue of the software AyeTides for Mac and AyeTides for iPhone, the iPad version offers a completely new user interface to take advantage of the size and definition of the screen.
With more than 12.500 tides and currents stations around the world, dont 160 stations in France, the app presents times and heights of tide level based on the US public software XTide (*) using harmonic data and tidal predictions from the National Ocean Service (NOAA). Numerous corrections have been made in order to obtain predictions with an average of less than 3% deviation from the predictions of official bodies, like the SHOM for France, and database updates are frequent and always free.
You are probably aware that the release of the new iOS4 operating system for iPhone and iPod Touch will be available today during the day, via synchronization of your (s) devices with iTunes. For the iPad, We will have to wait until the autumn.
About iNavX, Richard Ray has just written :
iOS 4 should be available tomorrow (21/06/2010). Only apps that are specifically built for iOS 4 will be able to take advantage of multitasking or toggle switching. iNavX 3.1.0 and later will support this feature.
Patience, therefore…
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[Update September 01/07/2010] iNavX 3.1.0 is available on the AppStore.