Category: Wireless & Apps
DeLorme just started shipping a new 1.5 version of the inReach satellite messenger, tracker, and distress device that works with an Apple iOS version of the Earthmate app as well as an improved Android version. I again participated in the Beta testing and, though almost all of that was ashore, I’m even more convinced that inReach is going to become a constant cruising companion on Gizmo and many other boats. It’s hard to say whether some improvements are due to the new hardware or the new apps versions or the platforms I’m using them on, but for boat use the combination of inReach 1.5 and even an iPad 1 is totally sweeeeet…
Above is Raymarine’s new RayControl app running on my iPad1 and the screen is purposely busy because I was trying to stress it. While a NMEA 2000 data simulator tells the test e7 MFD it’s going 40 knots up the Bay with one chart window Head Up in 3D and the other North Up, I could still sit in my office — 40 feet and a “deck” away — and select/display a tide station with my finger without a noticeable lag. I did manage to crash the app’s WiFi connection to the e7 once, but Ray actually recommends an iPad2 or better for best performance and get this: RayControl will give you touchscreen control of the new value-priced c-Series MFDs that don’t even have a touchscreen themselves! In short, Ray has done more than make good on its promise of a two-way app…
At first Boat Beacon may look like yet another iPad or iPhone app for viewing online AIS tracking services like ShipFinder, but in fact it’s a very new and slightly disconcerting form of AIS transponder. In other words that “Panbo BoatBeaconTest” target seen above is not the test transponder I sometimes run in the lab but simply my iPad running Boat Beacon and using its online connection to send my position, MMSI, and “boat” data to a central server where it’s also getting the regular AIS data for those various vessels in the Bay. The concept doesn’t really have a name yet — except maybe for mobile AIS or mAIS, as I’ll get to — but I think it’s going be huge, and also confusing…
If it’s heartbreaking to see a cheerful-looking Aegean crew underway in fine weather less than 24 hours before they perished — as we discussed earlier this week — isn’t it even worse to know that they sent a fart joke to friends and family by satellite messenger just a few hours before everything went wrong on North Coronado Island? Getting access (via Sailing Anarchy) to Aegean’s Spot Share Page is also how I surmised that they were using a Spot Connect rather than the familiar stand-alone orange model, which is why they could send short custom messages typed on an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. There’s more I learned…
I like receiving an “I’m OK” text message from Gizmo every day, even if she is still sitting in the middle of Wayfarer’s back lot, and I’m becoming confident that the Siren Marine Sprite I’m testing will be very useful once it and the boat are fully commissioned. I’ll be able to set security or anchor drag geofences and not only get a warning if Gizmo moves but also precise tracking messages about where she goes. And whether on board or ashore I’ll get a head’s up if the refrigeration fails or if the bilges fill, or whatever other on/off sensor I hook up. I could even control, say, the deck lights with my cell phone, which might be fun when going aboard in the dark or if I get an intruder warning…
It’s an unusual app that gets a press conference and main stream media attention, and Whale Alert certainly deserves it. It’s not just that this app might actually save the lives of some rare right whales — which would be wonderful — but it also demonstrates how mobile devices can be a critical integration tool between mariners and various governmental and nonprofit organizations, and between even a ship’s conservative electronics and the dynamic world of app development…
I hear that trying to use the Inmarsat iSatphone Pro’s low-speed but high-latency data connection can be extremely frustrating, as we partially anticipated when it became possible last winter. Meanwhile, the folks who’ve invested in broadband satellite connections tend worry a lot about extraneous programs that eat expensive megabytes. And regardless of their satcom speeds most everyone these days wants the freedom to use it with any of their computing devices. Well, it looks like Global Marine Network’s new RedPort wXa-102 WiFi router/firewall may be an elegant solution to all these issues…
I’d already gotten some details on the several interesting new products Garmin is announcing today — and was excited about sharing them — but it wasn’t until late last night that I had any inkling about Garmin’s acquisition of Interphase Technologies, a pioneer in phase array forward looking sonar (FLS). Wow! The deal means that Garmin will soon have a new and unique arrow in its quiver of MFD network sensors and that FLS for fishing and navigation will get some of the attention I think it’s always deserved. It’s not just that Garmin will market the Interphase technology better, but that the technology will no doubt be easier to use and to afford when integrated with Garmin displays. It will probably work better too…
The Raymarine e7 that’s been in the Panbo lab for a few weeks is proving itself quite able and well designed, but I’ve come across enough little glitches and omissions that I think it’s also a good test of the new Ray’s ability to push out software fixes and improvements. That chart window above, for instance, should be showing
spot soundings. Now it could be that I don’t have the chart presentation set up right, but even if that’s true, I suspect the menus involved can be improved to help a user like me. On the other hand, that screen shot is from an iPad streaming the e7 over WiFi, and that feature not only works well but continues to intrigue…
It’s still in public Beta, but Memory-Map has an Android version of its charting app. I’ve tested it with both my Verizon Incredible phone and also with the 7-inch Galaxy Tab seen above, thanks to a loan from Memory-Map developer Richard Stephen, who I profiled way back in 2005. Even then Stephens was writing good PC and PDA charting software, and the experience shows…
