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Instead of simply sounding an alarm on the computer, wouldn't it be nice if you could get the computer to send you a text message warning you that your anchor is dragging? A bluetooth mobile telephone sat near the computer could be told to send a text to another mobile phone safely tucked in the skippers pocket while he/she enjoys a meal ashore. The message could dryly state "YOU NOW HAVE TWICE AS FAR TO ROW BACK"

DCS VHF radios don't yet have serial/USB input capabilities (that I am aware of), but in principal even these could be programmed to send a message to an MMSI number if you don't have mobile phone coverage.

Do you plan to enable messages from your software that could be used in this way?

Quentin

Hello,

Sorry for the long post...

Some of the following ideas I did already send to the prgrammer(s) of GPSNAVX. But i think elaborating ideas in forii (or is that forums?) gives greater results, as every idea is great until you have to explain it to somebody else ;-)

May I introduce myself or better my ideas about computers and sailing.
I am a new owner of an iBook 12" which did replace my old iMAC DV. But the main idea I bought this portable MAC was GPSNAVX.
Until now I always used paper charts (and still do) and my trusty old PSION 5MX pro PDA connected to my Garmin 12, which does have some great software for drawing routes on maps and playing them back afterwards (Realmaps), programming (PsiGar) waypoints to GPS (Garmin), automatically take track of the logbook (SeaPad), calculating tides for nearly any port (Ocean 5) and some others.
I know all these kind of software is available for other computers (MAC, PC) and especially PDAs (Palm, WinCE) too. But Psion 5 PDAs do have a real nice keyboard (can be used to type long texts), a complete office package (DB, Word, Excel, FAX, Email, Webbrowser, WAPbrowser) and one can go online via GSM and print logbooks, routes and maps on a portable printer via IrDA (infrared). BTW all progs can run at the same time.
Yes I know this is a MAC Forum, but this Psion PDA did never crash and can run up to 25 hours on just 2 AA batteries. Unfortunately PSION doesn`t do any consumer PDAs anymore :-(
I tried all solutions:
PDAs (Palm, WinCE, Linux) though all have great progs for navigation, none was as usable as the progs mentioned above.
And none of these devices do run any longer than 4-5 hours when a GPS is connected. And on a sailing boat as we all know, recharging accumulators isn`t easy on tour :-)
Friends did have several different laptops all running Windows (95,98,2000, NT, XP) on our trips.
Though there is really some good navigationsoftware available for Windows, all these laptops went down after 2 hours or earlier. No way to use them during a longer trip.

We used transformers to give us 220 V from 12V but when most laptoips did access the BSB maps from CDROM (it was not possible to copy the maps to the HD) the laptop needed so much power that the transformer didn`t stop its alarm.

As i do use Macs at home and work I`m used to them and when I found GPSNAVX I did right out of my mind order my iBook 12", for the same postive and negative experiences mentioned above.

I really like GPSNAVX for it`s intuitive GUI. Though I haven`t had the time to test it yet on sea, but will do si in 10 days, during our saling trip in Netherlands seas.

Last but not least here are my ideas on how to improve GPSNAVX:

1) ENC maps (S-57 specifications )but also those used by private companies for leisure sailing. Those charts can have some more features: see point 2 C-MAX maps)

2) C-MAX maps which can display 3D views, infos about ports, arial photographs, blinking lights in real color and accuracy.

3) LandSat satellite photographs of the sea regions
available here ( https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/ ) for free.
Though the landsat data file are huge (60 MB and more) the picture of a region aren`t. They do just need the middle coordinates to calibrate. As they are in wrong colors (landscapes, houses = magenta, seas are blue to black) they are very detailed.

4) I would like to have them (or other satellite or arial pictures) in GPSNAVX in a second window, where the same coordinates are used as on the map, so I can see where my boat is on the map in viewed from above.

5) The GRIB function is a great idea, which costs often extra money on other progs: but it can be improved by having the possibility to type in the URL of the desired region in weather preferences or better that GPSNAVX can download the weather GRIB infos automatically for the given region by accessing the coordinates of the GPS.
(Of course this always does mean that one has access to the internet either via WiFi (many ports do allow this already in Europe, don`t know for USA?), GSM (near coast up to 15 NM, if an external GSM antenna is put on the Ok it`s more expensive but using a prepaid SIM card in the country (EuRope) you`re sailing) or using your VHF by connecting it to a special VHF Modem connected to your USB port (GRIB files are only some KB big so no problem downloading them via VHF)

7) Having the possibilty to display the weather arrows in transparent colors so that one can still see the planned and actual route/waypoints.

8) Another function like GRIB would be to have tides info and tidal streams drawn on the MAP as Seamax and the C-MAP can do.
(I don`t know if tidal streams info is available for free like weather GRIB files, but this would do trip planning a lot easier.)

9) Another feature I would like to see is an included logbook, where one can type in all the necessary infos (water, fuel tanks half full empty etc) for a given trip. This function should automatically do a list of all waypoint or for a given time like every 30 minutes, evey hour etc.). This way one could print out a logbook page or more for every trip with the calculated miles done. (This was a great feature of the free SeaPad prog http://p.pellot.free.fr/seapad/seapadgb.htm on my Psion PDA)
The other idea behind this automatic logbook is to have after a longer trip with first and second time passengers a ready certificate which the skipper just needs to sign and handle tem over after the trip.
(Our sailing club, needs this feature very often :-))

10) A MOB icon or button with the feature to automatically recalculating the route back to the man/woman in water, with the possibility to include tidal streams data (see point 8) and wind force so that the program can calculate the offset from the initial MOB position.

11) Being able to open third party documents (HTML, PDF, doc, pictures scanned..) for a given region. Like one can select other maps from a given map it should be possible to have another mousepointer to open previously saved documents of a given region, port etc. based on coordinates from the map. This way I could pop up a window with scanned pages from books or pages I previously saved from internet or typed in infos for a harbor, port or given region I`m interested.

12) Localisation of the program to other languages. (I would be willing to do the French and German translations :-)

OK I know this is a very long post, and the features I want are probably too much and some are impossible to do right now. But I want to know what other do think about these ideas.

My idea is to have an ituitive program which can act as navigation prog and logbook without the need to start other progs. (I know I can use any word processor to do a logbook and import the exported routes/coordinates from GHPSNAVX)

I would be willing to pay 100-200 dollars for such a program.


Thx a lot.

Good wind,

Manou

Welcome to the GPSNavX forum. Use this forum to discuss GPSNavX use or questions about GPSNavX. Have an idea for a future release of GPSNavX?

Taken from press release:

James Associates is glad to announce the release of MacGPS Pro 5.7,
which provides Mac-user support for Maptech's newest BSB 5 marine charts. These new charts introduce faster
opening and improved image compression to save room on the user's
hard drive. MacGPS Pro supplies an optimal solution for the Mac sailor!

MacGPS Pro is the ultimate Macintosh software program for linking
your Mac with GPS receivers and viewing your position on a wide variety of moving digital maps and charts. It graphically generates, edits, and transfers waypoints, routes, and tracklogs. It supports NMEA 0183 input from serial port and Bluetooth receivers. It is available for $39.99 as a download; $49.99 on CDROM.

Larry James and his crew at James Associates Inc. are the developers
and publishers of the navigation program MacGPS Pro. You can get more information about MacGPS Pro by visiting our web site: http://www.MacGPSPro.com .


Thanks for your time and consideration.

Best regards,

Amy Carroll, James Associates

I have been a Mac user for about 20 years also had a 30+ year career in IT. What concerns me is that software developers for charting programmes seem to be totally fixated on BSB formated charts. I can understand this as they are:

1. readily available
2. cover an area with a very large potential user population

However there is the rest of the world to consider. I have looked for some time for Mac charting/navigation software for the Mac and there are a few reasonably good ones. The problem is that they do not support any data formats for which maintained chart data is avalable to me. Let me explain...

I sail in Australian coastal waters. The Hydrographic office has data which is in raster format (similar to the UK ARCS) format. They are starting to convert this data to S57 vector charts but the coverage is spotty at present and mainly covers the Great Barrier Reef (too many commecial vessels keep hitting the reef for politicians' comfort) and the congested shipping channels to the north of the continent. So my options come down to me buying the paper charts I need and then scanning them for registering and conversion to BSB. However there is still no maintenance for the chart data other than manual updates. I don't want to do this.

The Hydrographic office is partially responsible for this mess as they donglize their raster data so that the software needs to be licenced to use the data. I can only guess what that might cost!

So where does all this leave the recreational mariner? The digital data provided from official sources seems totally oriented towards commercial interests and I can understand that but there are a great many recreational mariners who, over time, would like to use this official data. They need to be accommodated as well (after all we are taxpayers too)!

There are commercial sources for this type of data as well C-Map, Navionics are two that come to mind but they too are not supported by any of the useful Mac based charting and navigation software that I know.

So while there is the basic application software available, there is still no reliable maintained data source available to feed these applications.

I will now climb down off my soapbox and continue sailing with my antiquated paper charts. :lol:

As a Mac user for 20 years and just starting my fourth sailing season I'm pleased to see this forum established.

After a lot of fiddling about I now have a system setup and running. Plan to use it in anger for the first time this weekend.

I'm using GPS NavX with Maptech Admiralty charts on a new IBook connected to a Garmin GPS12. While this all works it isn't ideal for practical realtime navigation at sea. The IBook battery life is not enough and the Garmin needs to be on deck.

Ideally I need to sort out a power supply for the IBook to run from my boat's power supply and I would like to be able to connect my Raymarine fixed GPS directly to the IBook.

Most impressed with GPS Nav X and the people who produce it. They have been very helpful.

In reality I suspect the system will be very useful for voyage planning and if I leave the Garmin on all trip I can download the trip data for analysis if required.

The Maptech charts are fine apart from the fact that they are out of date and there seems to be no updating facility other than buying a newer chart pack which may or may not be up to date in the first place.

Roger

I've just received an email from Rich at GPSNavX confirming that their software works with the Nasa AIS receiver (although there are a few minor issues.)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Tom MacNeil <tamacn@earthlink.net>
> Date: April 20, 2005 6:05:35 AM PDT
> To: Ray Rich <gpsnavx@mac.com>
> Subject: AIS Receiver Testing
>
> Hi Rich,
> Spent 4 days testing out the NASA AIS Receiver.
>
> For the most part I think it worked pretty well. The only problem I
> can find is missing names and calls. You had mentioned something about
> this before. This seem to be a problem, perhaps you may have a
> solution... (after talking to you I understand names are transmitted
> once every 20 min. Can we hold onto them for three cycles before
> graying them out?)
>
> The NASA receiver also puts out an extra sentence. The AIS window
> shows a yellow circle (along with the green) and I assume that is info
> that GPSNavX can't use. Since GPSNavX users will probably purchase
> this receiver in greater numbers, would it be worth looking into what
> this sentence provides?
>
> I loaded the program they sent along with it using VPC. Here is the
> info the NASA is capable of delivering.
>
>
> It would be great if we could get all the data... destination (was
> accurate up here) width and draft and maybe MMSI for DSC.
> I was able to get incredible distances from the system. All the way
> from Port Angles to Howe Sound about 70 miles (I was in the middle
> with my antenna on top of a 55 ft mast).
> I received as many as 60 contacts in a session.
>
> When you start the receiver it acquires the contacts
> immediatly...Names can take as long as 20 min to fill in. The system
> seemed to have a much harder time with the names (probably only gets
> one shot at them)
>
> Here is a typical screen shot of cruising grounds in BC canada

Welcome to the MacSailing.net forum. Please register using the link above, or via the homepage.

At the moment, the integration between the news site and forum's not perfect, but I'm working on it! In the meantime, please feel free to submit any info you have on Mac-related sailing stuff!

Thanks,

Reeferjon

I am using an earlier version of Maxsea (v7) which you can still purchase.
It's the last version compatible with Mac (OS9).
Running it on a dual boot IBook. But should work well on an older G3
Powerbook which can be cheaply obtained now.
Happily answer questions on set up.
Mapmedia charts seem to be best, I couldn't manage the configuration
with ARCS charts.
David.