android photography

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch iOS 6.1
Function: AIS vessel tracking and details
Rating:****
Cost: Free, $2.99 in app purchase for boat details

Boat Watch is another great app developed by the Electric Pocket Ltd. group.  Steve Bennet and his company have developed other great apps including, SeaNav, Boat Beacon and Compass Eye.  I have reviewed all of these apps in this blog over the last few years. I guess I have been giving them so much press because they create some pretty cool and useful apps for mariners!

Features:

• Display Boats and Ships via real-time AIS
• See the Name, Type and Destination of each vessel
• Map, satellite or hybrid display options
• Metric or imperial units
• Set any boat as your favorite to automatically track it on the map
• Search to find boats and locations
• Share boats on Facebook, Twitter or by email
• Optional one-time in-app purchase to upgrade
• Get alerts when your favorite boat arrives or departs
• Full boat information – speed, course, country, etc.

The ships displayed are being tracked through land based AIS receiving stations. This data is then uploaded to the Internet for display. There are many of these receiving stations around the world so the coverage is pretty good for the major ports.

AIS stands for Automatic Identification System.  Large ocean going vessels are required to broadcast AIS data for collision prevention purposes.  Many recreational vessels are also installing AIS so they can see ship traffic and be seen by other larger vessels. 

The app has a menu bar across the bottom. The Binoculars icon on the far left is used to keep track of your favorite vessel. To mark a favorite select a ship and tap the star located to the left of the vessel name.  The Location icon, second from the left brings your current GPS position to the center of the map.  The Search icon allows a search for a specific ships name, MMSI or location. The Arrow icon creates an email or text with a link to the Boat Watch app.  The last Info icon on the right contains settings for units, maps and vessel display options.  The display can be change between a map, satellite or a hybrid display.

At first look, I thought the Boat Watch app was not that much different than the Boat Beacon app.  While it has some of the same capabilities, Boat Watch only provides AIS ship position data and a few details about the vessel.  An in-app purchase for $2.99 will allow you to get the detailed information about the vessel.  This data includes boat name, type, destination, speed, course, country and more. The app has the ability to make a vessel a favorite which will automatically track it on the map.  Additional push alerts are provided when your favorite boat arrives or departs.

If your vessel is quipped with AIS, Boat Watch would be fun for your friends and family to have to keep track of you on your travels.  It will provide them your position and alert them when you reach your next port.  The only drawback that I can see is that many ports do not have land based AIS receivers yet.

Most European ports use AIS extensively and have many buoys and lights marked as AIS targets.  The image above shows the Southampton entrance and buoys shown as AIS targets.

AIS is becoming more popular and new land based receivers are added each day. It is only a matter of time before all major ports in the world are covered.

This one is a no brainer, pick it up for free and keep it in your marine apps folder. The next time your out yachting or on a cruise, pull it out and see what vessels are in your area. You might be surprised how useful it can be.  Be sure to check out the Pocket Mariner website and their other apps.

~~~ Sail On~~~  /)

Mark

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch iOS 5.0 or greater
Function: NOAA GPS Charting and Tracking
Rating: ***
Cost: 0.99 basic, $11.99/year for full version

Skipper is the latest addition to the many NOAA Marine charting apps already in the App Store.  The Gaia GPS app developers, known for their hiking and topo map apps have put together an equally useful charting and GPS tracking app for the marine environment.

There are numerous apps that will display the NOAA raster charts, but Skipper goes way beyond that with waypoints, routes, tracking, instruments, tides, weather forecasts, NEXRAD radar and Active Captain POI.  The app attempts to do many things, some better than others.

Features:

• Seamless mosaic NOAA charts stored on your device
• NOAA raster charts for all of the US charts is less than 2 GB
• Overlay charts on base maps, including MapBox cloudless aerial, OpenStreetMap road maps, or USGS topos
• Waypoints
• Routes
• Tracking
• Route and Track Export
• Skipper syncs your waypoints, routes, tracks, and photos between your devices, and backs up to the cloud
• Multiple devices can be synced with your cloud data.
• ActiveCaptain Points of Interest information about marinas, anchorages, hazards, and local knowledge
• Weather & Tides
• Offline tide graphs and charts, past, present, and future
• Online weather data from Weather Underground
• NEXRAD overlays, with animation, time stamps, and controls
• Wind, temperature, other vital stats
• Current conditions, hourly, and daily forecasts

Charts:

Skipper provide a very nice quilted display of the NOAA raster charts. The transition from one chart to another is seamless. The raster charts are the scans of the familiar paper looking charts NOAA provides free for the US Coastal waters, the Great Lakes, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

I am a big fan of vector chart but the raster charts provide very useful detailed information which can be used for navigation in coastal waters.

The US raster charts for the US can all be downloaded for offline use while only using 2GB of storage.

Select the Layers icon in the top left of the main chart display. This menu includes a variety of settings for chart downloads, layers and brightness settings. Right at the top of the Layers menu is a brightness slider which increases or decreases the overlay of the NOAA charts. The base map can be selected from Global Imager satellite, OpenStreeMaps, and US topographic maps.

Charts can be downloaded for offline use with the Download Charts selection.  This bring up a map showing the available charts for download. Select or deselect the tiled region you want to download with a tap of your finger and select Done.

At the bottom of the layers menu are more settings for the Radar overlay brightness, show waypoints and latitude and longitude grid overlays.

Waypoints:

Adding a waypoint is done through the instruments display.  Tap the Mark Waypoint selection to Drop a Pin, Drop a Pin near Me or Take a picture.

If you select Drop a Pin, a waypoint pin marker is placed at the center of the screen. A nice little edit window pops up and shows the Name, degrees, minutes and seconds of the waypoint. All of these can be changed by tapping and typing in the desired values. Select the Save option to add the waypoint to your list of waypoints.

Selecting Save and Guide and the waypoints is saved and the distance and heading to that point from your present position is shown at the bottom of the screen guiding you to that point.

To edit, select the waypoint from the list and select the pencil icon in the upper right of the waypoint screen.  You can also tap a waypoint on the chart and select the wrench icon which also brings up the edit window. Options are provided for adding some notes, show on map, email or taking a picture which is linked to that waypoint.

In most apps the waypoints are used to build routes.  That is not the case with Skipper. You have to build you route waypoints separately.  It would be nice if there was a way of building a route that could include points from the waypoint list. 

I had an issue when I deleted a waypoint. The point was deleted from my list of waypoints but it continued to be displayed on the chart.  This appears to be a bug that will hopefully be addressed in the next release.

Routes:
Bring up the Main menu by tapping the arrow on the left center of the screen. Select Route from the menu at the bottom of the screen. The list of your current routes will be displayed. These can be sorted by Date, Name or Distance with selections at the top.

Creating a Route is as easy as tapping your finger on the screen to create the path of your route.

Routes are made visible by selecting the ON button next to the route. Multiple routes can be displayed at the same time.  I personally find this confusing and only like to view the route that I am navigating.  It may be useful for planning purposes to show multiple routes.

To create a new Route, tap the Add button at the top right of the Route Menu. Begin adding your waypoints for your route by tapping your finger on the chart. Notice the new waypoint is added to the list in the top right of the screen. When you are finished adding points select Save, this will add your new Route to the Route list.

Selecting a Route brings up Distance and heading to the first point in the Route. You have options to Add notes, Show on map, Guide me, Export, Driving directions and download maps for track. Delete the whole route with the button at the bottom.

I am not sure why the Driving Directions option is listed on a marine app.  It may be useful if you are trying to navigate by car to the closest marine store.

To edit the route tap the pencil icon in the top right of the active route.  I would prefer the word EDIT rather than a pencil icon. It took me a while to figure out what the pencil icon meant and that it was selectable.

Selecting the Edit button also allows you to delete waypoints in your route.

Tracking:

The Tracking option is located in the instruments menu. Selecting the Record Track option brings up the tracking display.  Simply selecting the Start button initiates the recording. The track will continue to be recorded until the End button is selected.

The Show more Stats bar brings up additional trip information about the track.  A speed profile graph is also recorded along with average and maximum speed values, distance and time.

Saved tracks can be played back on the chart. In this example I took a quick walk and recorded my track on my iPhone. When I returned home the tracks synched to the Skipper website and then to my iPad.  The Skipper Cloud is another cool option that set this app apart from the rest.

Cloud Support:

Many of us are familiar with the various cloud services that have become available in recent years. DropBox, Apple iCloud, Amazon and many others offer free storage of your pictures, movies and files.  Skipper, I believe is the first app to incorporate an automatic cloud back up of your maps, routes, waypoints and tracks.  With your data in the cloud it can automatically be synched between all your mobile devices.  So, you no longer have the problem of trying to keep your devices synched with the same data. Skipper does it for you automatically when you connect to the Internet.  Make sure to have the Synch/Backup Data button turned on in the Skipper Account Settings menu.

Your same Skipper log in and password also provides access to your data on the Skipper Cloud website.

Instruments:

The full line of instruments runs across the bottom of the screen on the iPad version.  The iPhone version has some data under the Trip selection.

Tap and hold you finger on any of the readings and the options for the instrument settings appear as spinner wheels. You can select between coordinates, course, distance, sunset/sunrise, total time, stopped time, moving time, current speed, moving speed, average speed, pace, altitude and ascent.

You have the option to decide which values are displayed where among the eight different displays.

I really like the flexibility to organize the data where I want it, very nicely done! There appears to be no way to get my boats NMEA instrument data to the app over WIFI. This would allow display of additional on board data including depth, wind, speed and heading. Developers take note!

Weather and Tides:

The app has incorporated some robust weather features.  A cell or Internet connection is required to access the real time weather data.  The data is sourced from Weather Underground. The NEXRAD radar is very useful to see approaching storms in near real time.

The control box in the lower right side of the scree allows you to animate the radar image.

Additional weather data can be accessed by tapping the menu arrow on the left center of the screen. Menu options for Instruments, Weather, Routes and Settings appear.

Select the Weather option at the bottom of the screen to show wind direction, wind speed, temperature, humidity, visibility, 5 day forecasts and tides are from the nearest weather station. When you pan around on the chart the weather and tide data changes to the area that you have centered on the chart.  Skipper has incorporated some powerful weather tools that all coastal cruisers will find useful.

Active Captain Points of Interest:

The Active Captain points of interest have found their way onto many apps in the marine charting business.  Active Captain provides this service for free to app developers to promote the use and provide value to it's users. The unique thing about this is that many of these points are crowd sourced by people like you and me.  The information provided goes through a validation process to make sure some mean spirited people are not submitting garbage data.

Skipper provides the Active Captain database within the app. You will need an Active Captain log in and password to activate the database in the Settings menu.  Once the data is downloaded it can be use offline.

Subscription Price:

You can buy the app for just 99 cents and give it a try. The basic charts and satellite imagery are available for use.  Pay $11.99/year to unlock the full functionality of the app. This includes offline charts, Active Captain, cloud backup, real time weather and tides.

The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current subscription. Your iTunes account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. Your payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase.

Auto renewal can be turned off via the main Settings at: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4098

Final Thoughts:

Skipper has incorporated a lot of the required features to make it a first class marine app.  The charts, waypoint, routes and tracks are very functional, but work a little differently from some other marine apps.

I had a few issues with the app crashing when I selected Add Base Maps and when I deleted a track on the iPad version.

The menu systems on the iPhone and iPad versions are different.  I found it hard to locate some of the features on both devices.  I would be nicer if both apps had the same menus to keep things easy. 

The weather and tides section was impressive along with the NEXRAD radar overlay.  It is nice to have it incorporated within the app rather than being forced to go to a separate app for weather.

Apart from a few problems which I am sure will be resolved with future updates, I could see myself using this app a lot while coastal cruising.  The price is reasonable but some might gripe about paying $11.99 each year.  I look forward to future updates and enhancements as this app matures.

~~~ Sail On ~~ /)
Mark

Hi guys. It's been a very long time since I've posted anything on this blog. Main reason being that the Galaxy S2 is now over 2 years old, and things like the S3, Note 2 and S4 have all taken over the spotlight!

My 2 year contract with Vodacom expires on 31 August, and then I'm moving over to CellC - main reason for that, the reception in my house is so poor with Vodacom, that I can hardly make and receive calls at all. Complaining numerous times, directly to Vodacom as well as on Hello Peter didn't yield any results at all. I even suggested maybe installing a signal booster in my house at my own expense, but nothing helps with them.

So, CellC has some great deals on handsets, so even if their reception is just as bad at my house, at least I'll be getting more and paying less. The lesser of two evils if you will...

Anyway, with only a couple of days remaining with my S2, I was greeted with the Software Update notification this morning. Yes, it appears that Android Jelly Bean 4.1 has finally been released in South Africa for the Samsung Galaxy S2.

I really enjoyed ICS on my phone, made such a huge difference over Gingerbread. Only gripe I had though, was the Swype keyboard kept malfunctioning, and I kinda got used to it, so that was a bummer. Had to buy all kinds of 3rd party keyboards, but nothing stuck in the end :(

Jelly Bean is now installing as I type this post. Will see what a difference that makes.

Also, since I won't be having my S2 for much longer since I'm upgrading in a few weeks, this is now my final post on this blog.

Thank you all for visiting and reading my ramblings. Maybe I'll do something similar with whatever handset I'm getting next!

If you haven't already, please follow me on Twitter - I promise I'm not one of those people who tweets every 5 seconds!

Cheers!

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android Devices too!
Function: Real time sailboat tracking and playback
Rating: ****
Cost: Free for one week trial, $3.00 for 3 months tracking.

Jon Bilger and his Predict Wind team have been busy and have recently introduced an update to the Tracker App for the sailboat racing crowd. 

The Tracker App is designed to record the GPS tracks of all entries in a sailboat race. The participants and spectators can then see their progress and tracks on a Google map in real time.  Each participant must have the app running on their Android or iPhone.  The app records the track position data and sends it via the cell connection back to the Predict Wind Tracker site.

The data can then be viewed in real time or after the fact using the app or website.

This app can be used for other activities in addition to sailing. If your a biker, hiker, runner or kayaker and want to record your track it will do that too. So it is not just limited to sailing.

The app provides the contestants and spectators a fun and easy way to track and participate in the action.

Features:

• Record the track of your sailboat in personal tracking mode
• Record tracks of all sailors in a sailboat race
• Races can be set up in Division, Heats and Classes
• Spectators can view tracks of all boat in a race
• Search for specific boats by name
• Replay a race to improve your strategy and tactics
• Race committee boats can track boat in real time.
• You can also setup your own personal tracking, and share a web link with friends to watch your progress in real time.
• Google Maps tracking
• Event organizers can monitor the progress of race participants

To view a sample race please go to this test link http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/race/nzmyc. It appears to be a race in New Zealand.  To get your yacht club registered simply email the company at support@predictwind.com. They do require that you have a Yacht Club website so you can promote the use of the Tracker and Predict Wind apps.

The Tracker app has a free one week trial to record your GPS tracking data. After the trial period you can make an in-app purchase which will cost you $3.  This provides you unlimited tracking in any race for a 3 months period. 


Racers Instructions:

The app is very easy to use. All you have to do is make a few selections within the app and your on the way to recording your track. Open up the app and first select your Yacht Club, Race, and Division. Then enter the name of your Boat. The race and division data should be provided by your race officials.

The Race and Divisions are set up by the yacht club race administrator on the Predict Wind Tracker website.  Multiple divisions, heats and races can be set up for a regatta. Various other timing settings and track record update rates are set here too.

On the day of the race all you have to do is take your phone with you on the boat.  Prior to the start of the race make sure you have the correct race and division selected and then turn "Tracking On".

Track recording takes a lot of battery power so make sure your battery is fully charged.  To conserve battery life make sure to turn off both WiFi and Bluetooth. Turn off any other apps that may be running in the background by tapping the home button twice and holding your finger on an app icon until it starts wiggling. Select the - sign on the app to turn them off.

The data usage for the App is approximately 1 MB for a race day.  Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Once the race it done make sure to turn Tracking OFF.

For more detailed instructions please visit www.predictwind.com/tracker

Spectator Instructions:

The unique thing about this app is that it gets spectators involved in the racing action.  Although sailboat racing can be about as boring as watching golf, this is one way to make it a little more fun. Viewing of all race data is free to the spectators. Open the App and select your Yacht Club and Race.

Click on the button "View Tracking" to see the race data.  On the map view select the proper Division to see all the tracks in real-time.  The slider at the bottom of the screen can be used to replay the race or move to any point in the race.
A handy search box is supplied to find the position and track of a friends boat or locate their most recent track update.

This app can only help improve the interest in sailing.  Spectators can now feel like they are part of the racing
action. They now have the ability to watch and track the positions and progress of all boats in real time.


Personal Tracking:

If your not in a race but just want to record your GPS tracking data you can do this with personal tracking. In the Yacht Club selection select the Personal Tracking option. This will allow your to record your tracks if your out for just an afternoon sail.

In the View Tracking map screen you can then select the Share option on the top menu bar to view a link of your recorded track. One feature that would be nice is the ability to automatically email or post this link to Facebook or Twitter. Perhaps this could be added in future updates

The Tracker app seems to work great.  I have used it a few time while out sailing and it is easy to use. Just make a few selections, turn it on and forget it until you return.  You can then view your tracks within the app or on a PC through your Predict Wind account.

I am the Commodore of  our local yacht club and will be testing this with some of our sailors in future races.  I am excited about getting spectators involved in watching the race action in real time or after the fact.

The Predict Wind Tracker app is truly unique. It is well worth the $3 buck to have the ability to track your self and others without some costly and sophisticated GPS tracking hardware.

~~~~ Sail On ~~~ /)  
Mark

Application: Android Tablets
Function: NOAA Marine Chart displays and GPS tracking
Rating: **
Cost: Free



Android tablet user listen up! For years now I have received many emails and comments on my blog requesting Android apps for marine charting and GPS tracking.  Well our Federal Government has finally put our tax dollars to good use and created an app to do just that.

The app, MyNOAACharts is available in the Google Play Store for FREE and you know how much I like free apps. 

This is listed as a Beta test just for this summer. The Beta test is scheduled to end on Labor Day which is September 2, 2013.  NOAA is looking for feedback on the product and they want to hear from users like you. So if you like the app, hate the app or have any comments or suggestions for features or additions let your voice be heard!

Features:

• 1200 NOAA nautical charts
• Update downloaded charts
• 5000 pages of NOAA Coast Pilot Books
• Geotagged Coast Pilot Data
• GPS real time tracking
• SOG
• COG
• Measuring tool

The app is only available on Android tablets at this time. If there is enough interest they will expand the app to other devices and include  all NOAA charts and the 5000 pages of pilot chart data.

Pilot Charts can be downloaded and viewed within the app also. If you have never see pilot charts they are a very detailed narrative of the areas marine features.

They provide a wealth of supplemental navigation information for the NOAA charts.  The app geo references the pilot chart data to the charts.

Topics which are covered in the Pilot Charts include environmental factors of weather, climate, ice conditions, tides, water levels, currents, prominent coastal features and landmarks.

Specific information on vertical clearances, wharf descriptions, small-craft facilities, hazards, dredged channels and depths are also provided. Navigation services and regulations are also identified including pilotage, towing, anchorages, routes and traffic separation schemes, environmental protection, and other Federal laws.

The NOAA charts appear to be the raster version of the charts. These are the familiar paper looking charts that can be downloaded from NOAA for free.

There are many other charting app on the market that charge you to view the NOAA raster charts.  The raster charts are nice but I am a bigger fan of vector charts. If we want vector charts that is one comment we need to pass on to NOAA folks so future developments an include vector charts.

I do not own an Android tablet so I was not able to run through all the features.  I know there a ton of Android users out there, so download this app and let NOAA hear your comments.  Provide all your comment to NOAA and show your support for the continued development of this app on Android and iOS tablets and phones.

~~~ Sail On ~~~ /)
Mark

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch iOS 4.2 or later
Function: Weather Forecasts, Tracking and Routing
Rating: *****
Cost: App is free, $4.99 to $18.99 for forecasts

PredictWind is an app that is a follow up to the already great wind forecast and weather routing website, www.predictwind.com.  They claim to be the worlds leader in wind forecasting and weather routing.  I have to say that they do have an impressive list of sailboat racers to back them up. 
The director of the company is Jon Bilger who has a very strong sailing resume himself. His experience as weather manager for the winning Americas Cup Alinghi syndicate spawned the idea of offering this high resolution wind forecast data to sailors around the world.

In June 2008 the company's first wind forecast product was released. The iOS PredictWind app was later released and updated to version 1.2.5 in June of 2012. They also have an Android version in the Google Play store if that is your flavor.

The high resolution wind modeling software provides 8 kilometer resolution for most of the coastal areas of  North America / Canada / Mexico / Caribbean,  Europe ,  Australia ,  New Zealand /South Pacific ,  Asia , South America,  Middle East / India , South Africa , Hawaii and  Alaska.

To get started all you have to do is create an account with Predict Wind with a user name and password. Once that is done you can start to add forecast areas by selecting Add Location in the top right of the main screen.  Here you can search for and select from the many points available around the world or select a point in your immediate area.  The free version only allows a one day forecast for one location.  If you upgrade to the paid version you get up to five days of forecasts for up to 6 points and access to the web based forecast and tracking tools also.

The main screen of the app is divided into nine different selections giving you the ability to look at the wind forecasts is a variety of ways. Additional selections are available for Tables, Graphs, Maps, Contours, Observations, Alerts, Routing, Trip Planning and Tracking.

Features:

• Cell phone, tablet and web based forecasts, tracking and routing
• Wind forecast for 520 forecast areas and 22,000 point around the world.
• PWG/PWC and GFS/CMC models
• Rain, cloud and temperature forecasts
• Sea temperature forecasts
• 8 kilometer and 1 kilometer wind data resolution.
• Models are created every 12 hours and available twice daily.
• Tabular and graphical wind forecasts displays
• Real time wind observations
• Customizable Alert page
• Setting for English and Metric
• GPS Tracking map lets your family and friends track your position.
• Trip Planner shows the best day for departure
• Weather Routing shows the fastest route with the forecast conditions
• Highest resolution on the web.
• Zooming feature on high resolution forecast maps 

Tables:

The Tables format show the forecast data in a tabular format. Both the PWC and PWG models are shown to see how they compare to each other.

Wind speed, direction and wave height are displayed. Other data includes wave direction, temperatures, rainfall and cloud cover.

Wind direction can be displayed as arrows or in a compass direction format.  Simply tap the Show Arrows button in the top right of the screen.

Graphs:

The Graphs selection allows you to display the forecast data in a graphical format. Wind Speed and Direction, Rainfall and Cloud Cover, Temperature and Pressure, and Height, Direction and Period of the waves are displayed on x/y axis.

Selections for one day or five days can be made by toggling the button in the top right of the screen. Both PWC and PWG models are again shown for comparison.

Multiple Graphs for different forecast locations can be added to the chart by selecting the forecast areas at the top of the graph.  This will give you an indication of the overall wind forecast for multiple locations along your trip.

In this chart we see Wind Speed in the top chart and panning down we can see the Wind direction in the lower chart.


Forecast Wind Maps:

The Maps display has options to show the forecast winds for a one and five day time period for a local, regional, offshore and a global view.

The wind arrows are color coded to depict the different wind speeds and directions. These are much like a GRIB wind file that we are use to seeing.

The slider bar at the bottom scrolls through the forecast and the time is shown in the top middle of the screen.  The user can tap the circle on the slider bar and move it left or right to select the earlier or later forecast times.

Either of the PWG or PWC wind forecast models can be shown by selecting the button in the top right of the display.  This feature is handy to see how the two models compare. They usually correlate very well.

Contours:

The Contour map displays are another way of depicting the differences of the forecast data.  Here we see wind speed for the Tortola, BVI area with different colors depicting the various forecast wind speeds.

The slider bar at the bottom is available to view the forecast time as desired.

The Show PWC button in the top right toggles the display between the two forecast models to see the difference in forecast data.

Observations:

The Observations tab bring up a map display of the real time wind speeds in the selected area.  The wind in the Caribbean appears to be pretty light at this time.

Tapping the Gear Icon in the lower right of the screen brings up options to select Wind Speed, Direction and Wind average times of  1, 5 and 15 minutes.

The Slider Bar at the bottom of the display allows you to slide back in time and see what the wind has been doing for the last 6 or 48 hours.

Tapping the Chart Button in the lower right of the screen brings up a nice display showing the wind speed and direction for the various reporting points in the area.

If I had been zoomed into a specific area on the chart it would have displayed fewer reporting points and made the chart easier to view.

This Chart is kind of busy because it is displaying so may locations.



Alerts:

Alerts can be customized and set up to create notifications when a forecasted variable reaches a selectable maximum or minimum value.  If the forecast reaches your selected value you will be notified via your phone or tablet with a notification.

Alerts can be set up per location and per forecast value up to five day in advance.  This would work great for a kite boarder or wind surfer who want to be alerted to a specific wind speed at various locations.  Simply put in your desired wind speed and PredictWind will notify you if it is forecasted to blow at that speed at that location.  If your a sailor it could alert you to a possible high wind forecast in your area giving you a heads up on the future conditions.

Routing:

The Routing option is where this app really starts to shine.  It is great having all of this weather data but how do I apply it to my trip in the coming days or week. The app takes all this forecast data and with a few inputs from the user as to where you are going and when, it then produces an optimized weather routing for your trip.

It can be modified for power or sailboats and can also take into account the polar diagram values of your sailboat too.  Select Fastest Time to make it to your destination the quickest or Comfort to avoid sailing upwind.

As an example, I created a quick routed from the east coast to Bermuda and onto the British Virgin Islands.  This is a popular Caribbean 1500 route that many take every fall. Waypoints can be added or deleted from your route with buttons on the top right of the screen. 

Start by selecting the forecast model and start time for your trip. The route can be optimized by selecting if you are a sailing or motoring vessel. Next hit the GO button and your route will be calculated for you.

It has predicted if I leave this afternoon that the 1500 mile trip will take about 8-9 days depending on which model you use. The two different red and blue lines are for the two different weather models.

Simply scroll down on this screen to show the tabular data produced from the calculations. Data includes wind speed, direction, angle, SOG, COG and time for your entire trip.  In addition, it provides a summary, route coordinates, swell and current data along the route. This is truly the most advanced weather routing app that I have seen for an iOS device.

It would be nice if there was a way to save and export the route to another charting app or chart plotter so it could follow this optimized weather route. That could possibly be an addition in a future release.

Trip:

The trip page is another powerful tool that will help you with your weather routing.  It is most useful for determining the best weather window to depart on your selected route in the next few days. It works in conjunction with the Route that you selected for your trip. Once you select a Route, that same route shows up on the Trip page.

Use the search box to search for and set the green start arrow and red destination arrow if needed.  It is recommended not to use waypoints because that will not allow the program to calculate the optimum route. Select the power or sail options under the Boat Polar button to customize the trip to your vessel. With the route selected, hit the GO button and it will calculate the departure conditions for the next 4 days and determine what the optimum path will be.

Scrolling down below the map will show additional data about the trip. The app calculates the max, min and average wind speeds, % time sailing upwind, downwind and reaching, and % time wind blows at certain wind speeds.

One feature that would be a nice addition to the Route and Trip functions is the option to save the trip and route calculations for later reference. This would allow running various trips with different start and stop times.  With the weather forecast data changing every 12 hours these saved files may become irrelevant very quickly. 

Tracking:

The Tracking section utilizes the GPS of your phone or tablet and records the path that you have traveled. If you are using your cell phone or tablet 3G connection your tracking information will be sent back to the PredictWind website. Your friends and family can login and view your tracking progress.

GPS tracking is enabled under the Account button in the top left corner of the app's main screen.  Select Enable or Disable GPS tracking here. Recorded tracks can be deleted at the bottom of the Tracking display.  Saving more than one track would be a nice additional feature in a future release.

Final Thoughts:

The app is nicely designed and very intuitive to use.  After a few minutes I was viewing forecast and setting up alerts with no problem at all.  I like that it provides both forecast models and allows you to easily view both of the data side by side to compare the two.  I am very impressed with user interface and thought that the Routing, Trip and Tracking features were an added bonus to an already great forecast app.

If your planning a long distance cruise or just going out for the day, the PredictWind App is worth adding to your smart phone or tablet.  It puts much needed real time and forecast weather data at your fingertips along with some powerful weather routing features. PredictWind is now my "goto" app for wind and weather forecasts and it has found a permanent place on my iPhone.

~~~ Sail On ~~~ /)
Mark