[cyberhusky]

Hi

yesterday I did show at our sailing club a larger Keynote (Powerpoint) presentation concerning electronic navigation with computers and Macs in general.
After the theoretical part I did demonstrate GPSNavX and MacENC with all their flavors.
Then a friend showed MaxSea 12 and MaxSea Time Zero.
Though MaxSea is very impressive I have to say that MacEnc is only missing 3-4 parts which were already very often discussed in these forii (or is that forums?):

* a very powerful logbook which includes only data for a setup time interval
* optimal routing using GRIB, tidal data and tidal streams
* split windows, which do show the same map with routes / boat position on different maps (ENC, Raster and photographic charts)

But MaxSea and MacENC compared all together, I have to say that MacENC is very powerful, especially if one looks at the price.

MaxSea with Tidal Streams, GRIB, AIS module costs about 1800€ (1500 USD) without charts!

For that price one gets MacENC, charts, a GPS, the new mac mini with SSD HD, waterproof keyboard and 12 V 10" TFT touchscreen in one package.

People were impressed by the Mac Mini as small fast reliable computer as it doesn't draw so much power! (idle 15,8 Watt, load 28,3 Watt, 3-5 times less than a comparable PC).
more on that here http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/apple-m...g=txt;page

What I liked about MaxSea Time Zero (less expensive, but still a lot of money is the scrolling and zooming of charts, very much like Google Earth. Very very fast.

(check this video for more info http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=FR&hl=fr&v=pxi-SFiUCRc)

MaxSea Time Zero is very easy to use, only the chart and needed infos are displayed, all other menus fade away after some seconds.

Though many of our club members do use PC, I think some will buy MacENC soon. Had a long discussion with a dozen of people after the demo.

MaxSea is really very impressive, but being the leader in marine navigation, they do invent many new features.

MacENC works very reliable and one isn't catched with the failures of Windows or its virii.

But I still would like to see some improvements in MacENC:

+ the ability to save trackdata not every minute, but being able to set up another time like 20 minutes or 30 minutes so that one does have a logbook. I think an Applescript should do that.

+ in MaxSea one can click the Barbs in the GRIB data and one does get Meteo data for that specific arrow. (Aparently it's inside the GRIB data)

+ instead of colored arrows in overlayed GRIB data I would like to see color gradients between isobars
see here: http://www.maxsea.fr/TimeZero/DesktopMod...149&id=703


+ a feature I really would like to see, is the ability to setup the draught (draft?) of the boat. this way all regions below this draught could be overlayed as light red, so the one notices at once where one can't sail.

+ MaxSea shows at the tide station positions little yellow vertical animated bars, showing the actual tide height. clicking on these bars pops up a tide curve much like Mr. Tides

and I did notice that bridges or towers heights are shown in feet in MacENC. Is this information inside the charts or is it possible to have this set up in units so that they do show in meters?

BTW is there any update/upgrade of MacENC at the horizon soon ? What features will it include?

Thx.

regards,

Manou

[cyberhusky]

other ideas for MacENC

I just checking my Navigation bookmarks in Safari and did find this site http://www.scannav.com/index.html

Click below the picture on ENC S57 Phare sector 1 to 5

it shows the different sectors of a lighttower.

I think this should be easy to implement in vector charts as the information is in the charts. One could even implement the duration of the light flashes.


If you click on "Insertion écran Google-Earth" on can overlay charts from Google-Earth on ENC charts.

Or check check the other pictures, there are great GRIB and Tidal Streams integrations.

Just some ideas for an updated MacENC.

[jagasail]

Manou,
Very good! I once had Maxsea and it is a very powerful program with some features missing on MacENC - some of which I do miss. I think you've noted them above. However, you hit on a key point - "especially if one looks at the price." In that regards MacENC runs circles around everyone else. If I recall, MacENC sells for less than my last upgrade to Maxsea cost... and we've yet to be asked by Rich to pay for an upgrade. My only fear is he'll get hit by a bus.

Scot

[jagasail]

Manou,
I'm posting a followup question on the mini in the hardware section.

Scot

[AdrianX]

Manou,

Thanks for the review. I would be interested in seeing your Keynote presentation - would you care to share it?

Best,Adrian

[cyberhusky]

Hi

the original Keynote presentation was 77 MB big!

I've made a PDF file (still 5,8 MB) which will be uploaded to the site of our club http://www.glcr.lu/

Under the link documents then Navigation you will find the old version. The new one will be uploaded anytime soon.

Regards,

Manou

[FF44]

@Manou
For french language people, MacENC and GPSNavX video tutorials are available on my website : GPSNavX & MacENC . Also available in the podcasts section of iTunes Store (links in the web pages).
Hope it helps
Francis

[cyberhusky]

Thx Francis,

I've subscribed to your podcasts.

And your RSS newsfeed.

[macsolve]

I've made a PDF file (still 5,8 MB) which will be uploaded to the site of our club http://www.glcr.lu/

You can also upload your presentation to http://www.slideshare.net/ - youtube for slides...

[cyberhusky]

The PDF file (6 MB) is online at least.

Direkt link:

http://www.glcr.lu/documents/navigation_enc_2009.pdf

The older version from 2005 can be found there too:

www.glcr.lu under documents Navigation

Regards

Manou