AA route planner

[NorthernWave]

I was quite merrily using the AA route planner this morning and something struck me as a good idea.

How about a website that works out your waypoints for you from one place to the next and maybe depth and tide speeds too. (for the raggies)

I know I'd use it as I don't have a very special GPS plotter so it does take a fair while to plot routes.

Chris

<hr width=100% size=1>Logged Sea Miles wanted for masters. Send PM if your on south coast and want skipper or crew.

 

[Confused]

why would they want to provide that info for free ? when they can charge you for new charts each year.

there is already computer software which quotes lat/long positions,chart info, etc which is readily available, again you gotta pay for it.



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[petem]

mm, not sure if this post is wise, the raggies already think we navigate using road atlases! Problem is, would you rely on somebody elses route advice?

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[byron]

<font color=blue>I would never ever trust unconfirmed way points given by someone else be that a person or a nautical almanac. I agree it would be convenient to have routes pre-worked out but I would still need plot every waypoint on to a chart just for my own peace of mind.

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[hlb]

The almanac's have all the way points in. Would not dream of using them though. Even if I did, I'd still have to put them on the chart. So it's quicker just to put a X where I want to go to.

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue> Haydn

 

[Martin_Billings]

Taking this one step further there must be a market for the full satnav voice synthesiser experience except instead of telling you that you've taken the wrong turning at the Basingstoke roundabout and now need to go north on the A33 for 10 miles the soothing voice would tell you that you'd stuffed it up the beach again and would have to wait for the next spring tide to have any chance of getting off.

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[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[BrendanS]

Sorry to ask a really stupid question, but it's been puzzling me for some time, the oldtimers keep using confusing nautical terminology

What's a 'chart'?

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[jon_bailey]

So when I asked 'Shall I bring the chart' no wonder you replied, 'No, why do we want music?'



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[BrendanS]

I'm still none the wiser?

Charts obviously don't mean Top of the Pops when being used in nautical terms?

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[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[BrendanS]

I see, I think?

So when they're talking about putting crosses on the chart to check their position, this is nothing to do with crossing off the number of postions in the Karma Sutra they've achieved so far, as they'd be too ill to achieve any of them?

One of the possible meanings of 'chart' I'd investigated was those really old maps that old sea going types have in their coffee tables, with inscriptions such as 'here be dragons' and 'watch out, raggies ambushed us here, and gave us a broadside withe ye cannon' . Can't see what use a coffee table would be on my boat though, as the coffee always spills at 40 knts in a force 6, and it never tastes very nice anyway because of the petrol fumes from all those cans I have to carry to extend my range enough to get down from Town Quay to the 6 knt limit and back.

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[byron]

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[NorthernWave]

Incline to agree, I would want to check all the waypoints to make sure I'm not heading for the shingle. But it would be nice to have it there. I just seem to spend so much time each week plotting routes and am trying to find a way of saving time.

Chris

<hr width=100% size=1>Logged Sea Miles wanted for masters. Send PM if your on south coast and want skipper or crew.

 

[qsiv]

But that's exactly what my software does....

You specify waypoints, and identify waypoints that may be used as start/end points of any route. You then join valid pairs of waypoints together as legs. Each leg can have constraints (such as a minimum tidal rise requirement for a bar).

You then specify that you want to go from A to B - the system evaluates all combinations of legs that will get you from A to B, and evaluates the time taken per leg, bearing in mind tide and wind (even motorboats perform at different speeds dependednt on wind or waves). You are then provided with a waypoint list that you can use as a passage plan.

I can build in local weather factors (such as Needles Channel becomes rough in wind over tide, thus forcing a reduction in speed), and also factor in local wind anomalies (such as sea breeze areas, or wind shadws from high ground with winds from certain directions).

It's very different from most systems that only consider a route as a whole. It's interesting to see that under certain conditions the system will choose a route via the Needles, and at others go round the Nab.

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[BrendanS]

What software is this?

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[qsiv]

It's a system I've written. It uses a commercial charting engine for rendering charts, as I didnt feel that it would be cost effective to reinvent that particular wheel.

All the rest of it is proprietary - oh apart from the tidal part which is bought in from Proudman, and a Grib file processor.

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[BrendanS]

Are you selling it yet, or still developing it?

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[claymore]

Hmm
I lifted a waypoint out of one of those loose leafed almanacs a few years back and put it into the gps without checking it. It was for Douglas IOM. I sailed to it and arriving in thick fog at around 2 a.m. I decided to check its position on the chart as the Douglas Foghorn seemed to be right above us. The plot put us in the 3rd street back from the prom.
Since then I've worked out my own.

<hr width=100% size=1>regards
Claymore
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[hlb]

How come you spend so much time each week. Are you circumsizing England??

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue> Haydn