Boat Beacon - AIS Marine Navigation

[Magaz97]

Has anyone downloaded and tried this IPhone App?

Active AIS (Coastal waters only) on an Iphone for $10...apparently.

Dont know how reliable it is, or worthwhile, but for those without AIS, it could be worth a punt. Any thoughts?

 

[Giblets]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=313621&highlight=beacon

 

[maxi]

Looked at it, but as it is not direct ship-to-ship, the data is historical, therefore not much use in a dynamic close quarters situation.

Main use would be, I guess, for interest of ship watchers ashore, or possibly Somali pirates.

 

[snooks]

There can be around a 5 minute delay, it zaps your battery power unless you remember to switch it off. Your position is only displayed to other boat beacon users or on the web, not to other shipping via VHF

 

[goelectric]

Boat Beacon on test

Hi

I am the creator of Boat Beacon based in Wales- so be warned - my opinions may be biased

We have tested Boat Beacon in the Bristol channel, the Solent ( in mist ), North Sea over night, and on Lake Erie in the US and found its collision detection to be spot on - no false alarms, better info (more ships and more info on the ships) than a Raymarine AIS receiver and 3 real collision situations to deal with.

The majority of the data (over 25,000 ships) is directly supplied from live raw AIS data feeds from shore stations. Only time stamped data is used and Boat Beacon only displays upto-date ship positions. It interpolates positions between updates and fades out old data after a period of two missed updates from the ship (NB AIS transmission is not continuous, the rate depends on speed of ship and can be as much as 3 minutes between updates).

It should never be the sole navigation aid to be relied
on but for the price it's a bargain! Close to 2000 users
are now using it World Wide.

There is an interesting independent review and discussion about Boat Beacon and the mAIS concept here :-http://www.panbo.com/archives/2012/05/boat_beacon_marinetraffic_mais_yipee_or_yike_.html

http://boatbeaconapp.com

 

[Cookee]

Hi

We have tested Boat Beacon in the Bristol channel, the Solent ( in mist ), North Sea over night, and on Lake Erie in the US and found its collision detection to be spot on - no false alarms, better info (more ships and more info on the ships) than a Raymarine AIS receiver and 3 real collision situations to deal with.

I refer to the replies above - you are clearly biased towards this app (commercial connection?) - It cannot replace a tranceiver as it doesn't transmit anything at all - nobody knows you're there! In addition it would have to be very quick with a very good 3G connection to come anywhere near a real AIS system - bring it down to Devon and my boat and put it against my Raymarine AIS and we'll see how good it is!

Edit - I see it is your app! http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300857

 

[snooks]

We have tested Boat Beacon in the Bristol channel, the Solent ( in mist ), North Sea over night, and on Lake Erie in the US and found its collision detection to be spot on

I had a photo the Cowes ferry passing my position at Shepherds, but boatbeacon put it just entering Cowes.

It also munches though battery power like a hungry child in a sweet shop

ps Always best to say your when you're connected to a product

 

[PaulGooch]

We have tested Boat Beacon

Of course you have, it's your app. Not stating so won't will you many friends.

and found its collision detection to be spot on - no false alarms, better info (more ships and more info on the ships) than a Raymarine AIS receiver and 3 real collision situations to deal with.

Better than a real, live AIS system ? C'mon, get real.

The majority of the data (over 25,000 ships) is directly supplied from live raw AIS data feeds from shore stations. Only time stamped data is used and Boat Beacon only displays upto-date ship positions. It interpolates positions between updates and fades out old data after a period of two missed updates from the ship (NB AIS transmission is not continuous, the rate depends on speed of ship and can be as much as 3 minutes between updates).

What absolute garbage.

AIS data is updated every 3 minutes whilst at anchor. The majority of data, certainly anything that could be used for safety or collision avoidance, is transmitted every 2 to 10 seconds, depending on the vessels speed.

Live data has to be transmitted to a shore station, then to somewhere like "Marine Traffic", then it makes it way to the iPhone/iPad. To claim that this is better than a Raymarine AIS and is suitable for collision avoidance is outrageous.

IMO.

 

[lw395]

The only value of this sort of thing is to open people's eyes to what AIS can do for you.
I can't see it being worth 10 dollars though, there is plenty of free AIS data on the web.

Where AIS really helps in my experience is further offshore, where you would be foolish to rely on mobile phone data.

 

[goelectric]

Of course you have, it's your app. Not stating so won't will you many friends.

Apologies - to set the record straight - I am the creator of Boat Beacon based in Wales - so be warned - my opinions may be biased - in my defense I made this app in my spare time out of a hobby pursuit - I don't expect I will ever be able to retire on the proceeds!

Better than a real, live AIS system ? C'mon, get real.

What absolute garbage.

AIS data is updated every 3 minutes whilst at anchor. The majority of data, certainly anything that could be used for safety or collision avoidance, is transmitted every 2 to 10 seconds, depending on the vessels speed.

Live data has to be transmitted to a shore station, then to somewhere like "Marine Traffic", then it makes it way to the iPhone/iPad. To claim that this is better than a Raymarine AIS and is suitable for collision avoidance is outrageous.

IMO.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone. I am not claiming this is a substitute for a real AIS system and would certainly never recommend it being solely relied on for Navigation or collision avoidance. I hope it is an aid and also might be fun to use for sailing in groups or races. My original reason for making it was so my wife could keep an eye on me when I am sailing Single Handed.

Internet based AIS certainly has limitations as I point out in the article I wrote but it does have some advantages e.g. its horizon can be significantly greater than that of a VHF AIS receiver on-board a boat, it accesses a stored ship database so it can provide more Ship Details (e.g. name, type, length, destination,eta etc.) more quickly than an AIS receiver which may take upto 5 minutes to receive the detailed AIS information from a boat and its better than nothing if you don't have an AIS receiver on board.

The majority of the data is via direct live udp feeds from Shore stations and received in real time. The transmission and processing delay over the internet is in the milliseconds. Most of the ships I have encountered have reported within the last minute. The data that comes via other services is time stamped and is filtered (faded out) if it is old or out of date.

 

[Cookee]

Apart from claiming overinflated claims you quote a "Real" AIS is worth thousands of dollars - more bullcarp I'm afraid: Raymarine AIS 650 for under £700

These Apps will NEVER compete with the real thing via VHF!

 

[lw395]

It should not be relied on at all, never mind 'solely'.

 

[goelectric]

Apart from claiming overinflated claims you quote a "Real" AIS is worth thousands of dollars - more bullcarp I'm afraid: Raymarine AIS 650 for under £700

These Apps will NEVER compete with the real thing via VHF!

It is not meant to compete - can't quite see how anyone would see a $10 app competing against a $1000 device - and £700 is $1100 at today's exchange rate !

 

[Cookee]

It is not meant to compete - can't quite see how anyone would see a $10 app competing against a $1000 device - and £700 is $1100 at today's exchange rate !

That certainly seemed to be the idea of your "Article". £1,100 certainly isn't "Thousands" is it?

Once again I believe that this App is of no use on a boat other than as a toy. You will never convince me of anything else I'm afraid and anyone who believes otherwise after reading all of this will believe anything!

 

[goelectric]

That certainly seemed to be the idea of your "Article". £1,100 certainly isn't "Thousands" is it?

Once again I believe that this App is of no use on a boat other than as a toy. You will never convince me of anything else I'm afraid and anyone who believes otherwise after reading all of this will believe anything!

For the record - my article says "The Ship AIS units cost thousands of dollars"
and indeed A Class Transponders that are required for Ships by the IMO do cost several thousand dollars. The unit you refer to is Class B , it is still in the thousands of dollars , just not several thousand dollars

I am sorry you believe the app is of no use and I understand that there is little point in trying to convince you otherwise.

Hopefully some folks on the forum wont be completely put off by your beliefs and may try it out before commenting and sharing their feedback.

 

[snooks]

For the record - my article says "The Ship AIS units cost thousands of dollars"
and indeed A Class Transponders that are required for Ships by the IMO do cost several thousand dollars.

And they still won't see a your "AIS" transmissions from boatbeacon

A bit misleading to write:
"The tag line for Boat Beacon is "See and be seen on your boat in Coastal Sea areas with 60 mile Collision Avoidance using just your iPhone or iPad. Lets you keep a watch on boats near you and others keep a watch on you using Boat Beacon and Global AIS systems.""

Doncha think?

Yes, it has collision avoidance, which seems to work, but it means you should have your phone plugged into a 12v power supply whenever you are sailing (not that handy). Even then Boatbeacon only alerts other people using internet based AIS systems to your whereabouts - which commercial shipping doesn't use.

It doesn't matter how brightly you paint your boat, unless someone looks out of the window you won't be seen

 

[Cookee]

For the record - my article says "The Ship AIS units cost thousands of dollars"
and indeed A Class Transponders that are required for Ships by the IMO do cost several thousand dollars. The unit you refer to is Class B , it is still in the thousands of dollars , just not several thousand dollars

I am sorry you believe the app is of no use and I understand that there is little point in trying to convince you otherwise.

Hopefully some folks on the forum wont be completely put off by your beliefs and may try it out before commenting and sharing their feedback.

So you think that your App is comparable to a Class A unit that commercial shipping has to fit? You're even more deluded than I thought you were!

 

[Rivers & creeks]

If you'd claimed that Boatbeacon was an interesting app that allowed someone to put their toe in the AIS water so to speak, try it out and see if it's worth buying the real kit, then you'd have a lot more credibility and probably a lot of good press. Suggesting it's useful for anything more than simulating AIS is disingenuous.

 

[goelectric]

Real user feedback - not claims

Hmmmm , I am obviously not fully conversant with expected protocol in this forum - or the strongly expressed opinions of other more experienced members - hopefully I can only get better.

I was only hoping, like you say, that folks may be interested in trying Boat Beacon out and hopefully have a constructive debate about the pro's and cons of Internet based AIS - an enhancement to safety at sea rather than a mainstream Safety tool.

My claims are not un-substantiated or really claims - more observations - they are based on independent users feedback - and I was probably as surprised as many in this thread appear to be with some of it - for instance:-
this is the feedback from lake Erie:-

“We did an interesting experiment yesterday while helping a friend bring his 42' sailboat through the south passage of Lake Erie. On board: Ship Finder Iphone app. a Raymarine AIS driven by E80 MFD and the Boat Beacon. The results within a 40 mi range were: the Ship Finder app had the least number of targets (2) Raymarine AIS had 4 and Boat Beacon had at least 6. Interesting. Additionally the Boat Beacon had more detail on the targets such as Ship names etc. The only rationale for the mid performance of Raymarine AIS could be that some of the targets were on the other side of Kelly's Island.”

and a sailor in Germany:-

And an independent tester on the Solent:-

“It was fairly foggy with low vis so app was very useful. All worked well, the alarm was activated in good time and no false alarms as I saw it. Only had three alarms to deal with..............I can see a new game emerging where one has to induce the collision alarm!”

I hope I haven't completely blown the opportunity to foster a serious debate, but I am preparing to duck the "slings and arrows" in some safe haven.

 

[Cookee]

I think you're missing the point here - nobody can see you!