Question? What apps are you using for navigating?

Discussion in 'General Computing' started by vasher, Sep 7, 2011.

  1. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    They have new gloves that work with touch screens now. Or, if you are a sailor, your line handling gloves do not have anything covering your finger tips.
     
  2. michael pierzga
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Touch screens are goofy. So many finger prints to clean off plus you get a stiff neck and a sore shoulder reaching over the chart table , eye poking the beast. Mouse driven displays are a joy..fast, precise, left click, right click.
     
  3. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    You won't find many antiques like that in the future. Better buy your mouse now.
     
  4. michael pierzga
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Yes...its a drama.
     
  5. FMS
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    FMS Senior Member

    Three days after posting this, an advertisement appeared on TV tonight for the AT&T Element waterproof tablet. The waterproof Pantech Element has an 8" screen and android OS. It's waterproof to 30 feet. The price is $249.
    http://ces.cnet.com/8301-33378_1-57355528/waterproof-tablet-drops-into-at-t-this-month/
    http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/pantechelement.jsp?fbid=Z_ZcutYHDGa
     
  6. FMS
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    FMS Senior Member

    On open boats, a mouse is not an option. Movement with the tiny joystick or buttons on small chart plotters can be slow and cumbersome.
     
  7. michael pierzga
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Ive had a mouse in the cockpit for near 20 years. It a rubberized joystick with left right click rubberized buttons controlling a drop down menu chart plotter . No problem . Its so reliable that I forget the manufacturer. CanStar in Germany I think.
     
  8. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

  9. FMS
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    FMS Senior Member

    This is what I would label a joystick not a mouse, I think.
    I cannot locate CanStar with google.
     
  10. michael pierzga
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    I'm painting outside this week. Ill look for a manufactures label when i remove. So many of the marine electronic manufactures are small scale , get gobbled up by bigger fish and change names. The system is indeed a CanStar3000 and was serviced by Navico agents .
     
  11. Minusadegree
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    Minusadegree Junior Member

    OpenCpn (free) works on windows, mac and linux. If you have an older pc, remove the hardrive and cd rom drive, throw linux on a usb stick with opencpn and get another 30 minutes or more out of your battery in case your inverter fails.
    In addition to the price that I like, it shows both tide data and ebb and flood times, direction along with predicted speed of current.
    The usb bu-253 gps antenna seems to work wherever you leave it, in fact I sometimes to forget to plug it in because it's so hassle free.
    Opencpn talks to autopilots and ais...

    The gps72 only shows navigational aides only, but goes all day on 2 aa batteries, but will not talk to an autopilot.
    The gps76, when I went through the C&D canal, showed me a full 1/2 mile inland and at Block Island, it showed myself to be anchored on the mainland. The lat and lon in both cases were accurate, just not the internal map... I no longer have that gps.

    I bought navionics for my htc thunderbolt... Awesome reference tool, but don't leave without a power cord, can't see the screen outside well enough and I actually found it easier to navigate with my ole trusty gps72. So I'm waiting for a phone call this summer to go pull Mr Stupidity off the rocks using their phone. Those jobs are welcomed paychecks.

    I just bought an ipad2 about a month ago, much easier to see outside but keep it away from your compass; the pad has magnets in it. So I'm following this thread with interest before I purchase nav software for it :)
     
  12. Stumble
    Joined: Oct 2008
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    Stumble Senior Member

    For the iPad I use iNavX. It is a tad expensive, but you can set up a wifi router for NEMA data, and iNavX can collect it all and display everything. It also acts as a sender, so you can control all the systems from the iPad. This also allows any computer to access the data if you want it too.

    If you already have a computer tied into your nav stuff, you can use pretty much any VNC app to log into that computer from the iPad and have it act as a wireless display. This is a little clunky since it takes a lot of bandwidth, but works great as well.

    On the cheap, grab MotionX. It is around $3, and is not full featured, but like iNavX comes with free charts from NOAA, and allows free updates of those charts forever (or untill NOAA) stops giving them away for free.
     
  13. Minusadegree
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    Minusadegree Junior Member

    InavX is looking really nice, although I doubt I'll be using all of the features anyday soon, i think I might just buy it and call it a day.

    I like my paper charts, but the luggage gets heavy.
     
  14. FMS
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    FMS Senior Member

    Thank you Michael.

    I find the arrow buttons and mini-integrated joystick on small chartplotters cumbersome.

    Being able to touch center, scroll, or zoom on an area by touching is something I would like to try compared to the integrated controls on <10" <$1000 chartplotters.
     

  15. Minusadegree
    Joined: Jan 2012
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    Minusadegree Junior Member

    Well I bought the ipad2 basic 16g which means it does not have a built in gps, so I bought the xgps150 which is a bluetooth device that charges from usb and then I bought the motionx app..

    I noticed that the app works from on an online source but you can download the charts or maps (whatever suits your needs from them) that the the app states it's downloading noaa experimental charts and not for use for navigating. Now I know that anything electronic comes with that saying, however, what charts is it downloading from noaa? How do I make it show feet instead of fathoms?

    Anywho, the xgps150 refuses to turn back on again and the company is closed on weekends. Sigh.

    Forward looking, it is nice to be able to zoom in and out by pinching and move onwards by swiping in the direction you want to look at. Wet fingers don't mess mess up the trackpad and theres no mouse to lose into the bildge

    Figured I'd let people know my experience.
    Cheers
     
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