Author : Francis

From 2009 independent IT trainer and consultant for boating. Translator of several navigation apps on iOS and MacOS. Professional in boating for over 30 years old, I provide training for applications and consulting and assistance for the integration of mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) on board pleasure boats.

Receive AIS data wirelessly with iNavX

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I explained, in a recent post, how to receive NMEA data from on-board instruments without using a Mac (or a PC) on board. It is now possible to do the same thing for receiving AIS data with an iPad or iPhone.

Digital Yacht has developed a new AIS receiver for use with Apple mobile devices. iAIS, is its name, transmits navigation data received from ships via WiFi to dedicated applications on iPhone or iPad via the TCP/IP protocol. Featured with AIS dual-channel A and B receiver, it also allows compatible applications access to NMEA data from on-board instruments. Read more …

Navionics Mobile and Community Sharing

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Once will not hurt, I relayed the information in French from Blog Panbo which have interest for Apple mobile devices users.

Community Sharing

  • User Generated Content (User-generated content)
  • Social Mapping or Social Charting (Social Mapping)
  • Crowd Sourcing (Crowd sourcing)

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, etc,. Read more …

GRIB files in GPSNavX and MacENC

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The menu Weather report in these two applications allows you to request a GRIB weather forecast file and then view it on the open map. The function Request GRIB send a request to the server Saildocs.com returning to the mailbox file requested. You can then get the file in attachment and store it to the location of your choice (²).

The function Show GRIB will then allow you to view the file on the map and scroll through the forecasts. You can usefully refer to MacENC Video Tutorial No. 3 on the website.

Here is a short technical summary of the weather module integrated in these two apps. Read more …

Reading : "The castaways on Tromelin Island" by Irene Frain

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At the end of summer, I let the sea novel thriller to tell you about a novel, Published in 2009 published by Michel LAFON, Based on recently updated historical facts (*).

This book recounts the tragic journey of the French ship "L'Utile", a 800 barrels carrying a clandestine cargo of Malagasy slaves bound for the Ile de France, today Mauritius. The boat ran aground in 1761 on a tiny block of coral lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Devastated by storms : the island of Tromelin. Some 160 Slaves abandoned on this desert island by the white crew, 8 survivors were only discovered, 15 years after the shipwreck, by the corvette "La Dauphine" commanded by Ensign De Tromelin (whose name was given to the island). Read more …

Marine weather on iPhone

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Météo FranceIn 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 – World tides with iPad

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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.

Read more …