Boating Software Ideas?

[mr_williams]

Howdy..

I am asking the question if anyone here would like to see a particular piece of software written which has specific use in boats/sailing.

There are 3 very good reasons why I want to do this. Firstly most of you know first hand what works and what doesnt on a boat compared to me who is just getting into it.

Secondly, I am very excited about becoming a boat owner and learning how to sail which has been a goal of mine for a very long time.

Lastly, if I write something, then I can declare it as a R&D project for my company and therefore, write off the boat I buy, along with all the upkeep and mooring fees...

Plus I might just be able to provide something that real sailors actually want.

It doesnt matter if it has already been done before, maybe you would like to see it done differently etc.. any ideas would be great. When I decide on something I will let you all know what it is and the details.

Cheers for any thoughts.


PS, I am not trying to tout up business here, I have enough commercial work for the next 3 years. If anyone in here helps me with this along the way, they will be mentioned in credits as well as recieve life time free copies of whatever goes to market.

 

[jonathankent]

One program that does everything... tides, charts, planning, etc.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now where do I get my free copy? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Seriously, I haven't used much specific sailing software, but the idea of writing off the boat and costs - just how will that work exactly? Could you actually justify buying a yacht in order to write a piece of software... I would doubt it.

 

[mr_williams]

Shouldn't be a problem as long as the Taxman can't prove I dont need the boat to ensure a quality product.

Also, If I show that the cost of hiring a boat for the development period is higher then then the total purchase cost, I am also showing a resonable effort to reduce tax reducing expenditure.

The software would need to work both inshore and offshore, so thats where the mooring fees come in...

 

[jonathankent]

[ QUOTE ]
Shouldn't be a problem as long as the Taxman can't prove I dont need the boat to ensure a quality product.

[/ QUOTE ]
Rather you than me... I wouldn't see this as being an easy task... what difference would using a piece of software on a desk be different to on a boat at sea? There are obvious things, speed of use, simplicity, etc, but they could be programmed out I would have thought.

Good luck though.

 

[tome]

Well Howdy to you too, Mr Williams

[ QUOTE ]
Lastly, if I write something, then I can declare it as a R&D project for my company and therefore, write off the boat I buy, along with all the upkeep and mooring fees...

[/ QUOTE ]

Woody001 was looking at something along these lines, you should contact him

 

[ShipsWoofy]

I would like a log which can be as automated as possible.

You can easily log the GPS at intervals and course change.

Add in the tides from a tidal plotter, I am not sure if you can negotiate with navionics gold to get this data or would need a built in tide atlas for the area.

Weather forecast data could come from a navtex source.

Prompts could force the skipper to give current weather, though this could come from the windex if nmea, the program could work out a local average. Include log data.

Now the big one, a narrative, including specials such as sightings on the way, radio log, etc.

Maybe force crew to sign on and off during watch schemes, easier to give evidence later.

Engine log, bilge log, power supplies, fuel use, makes a brew - nothing is impossible, buy as much as you require, snap on solutions. (see I am writing your advert now). Alarm, communications, dial in web-cam / black box type data from remote location.

Now the even bigger one, power consumption, either a black box solution that collects data in quiet time to be uploaded to a laptop later, or run off a pocket pc to upload later. The black box solution could contain a weather station, navtex and GPS. Plug in to the boats power and it is up and running.

Benefits, covers solas requirements, helps lazy skippers (me) to keep the log current. Single solution, low power, minimal interfacing.

Against, may make lazy skippers (me) complacent. Gonna be expensive.

 

[mr_williams]

It mostly sounds "doable"....

Do you think more users would have a pocket pc on their boat then a laptop? I know the power consumption would be a big thing for people but I am not sure how many people would have either one... (this is a research point ).. I could make a customised device using some new stuff from Microsoft coming out next year (I am a Microsoft Partner so I get it all now!) Its called Origami... low powered devices... cross between a pocket pc and a tablet pc...

I was thinking of some voice activated stuff, to minimise fidling in the night. Would a finger print scanner for the watch crew scenario be a good idea or would we stick to signature?

Another thought along these lines is that all the crew could read a disclaimer from the boat owner(s) and have to submit a fingerprint or signature to accept it?

 

[muckypup]

Yep - I would like to see a tides & moon phase calculator for symbian S60 smartphones. You can get em for windows & palm, but I can't find one for my S60r3 smartphone.

S.

 

[mr_williams]

Thanks for the suggestion..

If the takeup was great enough then it would be converted to run on symbian platform... I dont know why companies dont do it as standard as it a fairly simple thing to do in most cases...

 

[andy_wilson]

Wouldn't JAVA make more sense, then it would work on almost any mobile phone too.

 

[mr_williams]

[ QUOTE ]
Wouldn't JAVA make more sense, then it would work on almost any mobile phone too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats not guaranteed... and that is why I dont write in it... As far as mobile phones are concerned, generally if you write something in .Net compact framework for pocket pc or windows CE, it can be converted simply using the AppForge application so it will run on Symbian,Palm etc...

 

[DaveS]

One idea to consider: many of us take a laptop with us on board but do not use it in rough conditions. While I would really like a SSB weather TTY / synoptic chart system etc., a major disadvantage is that they assume that a PC is listening when they choose to output - which it probably isn't. A cheap, robust gadget - almost a memory stick - to act as a buffer for later interrogation from the PC when it's switched on would make items like that practical for a small bouncy boat.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

[ QUOTE ]
A cheap, robust gadget - almost a memory stick - to act as a buffer for later interrogation from the PC when it's switched on would make items like that practical for a small bouncy boat.

[/ QUOTE ]

What a novel idea, well done that man..

 

[Ships_Cat]

One can use a digital voice reorder and play the audio back into the PC's sound card in exactly the same way as the SSB.

Many have USB connectivity to download the file also for playback on the PC. Some also take removable memory cards (SD, Memory Stck, etc) to enable the same.

John

 

[DaveS]

I never thought of that! And I skimmed over an advert earlier today somewhere offering them cheap, but I couldn't think what I would use one for... So, Nasa SSB to recorder then recorder to PC afterwords? Sounds like an idea! Do these digital recorders "wrap round" and overwrite older data when they reach their memory limit or do they just stop?

 

[Ships_Cat]

Not sure, I would think the digital ones just stop as a tape does. I have just used the analogue recorders in the past but that for all of weatherfax, RTTY and SITOR (we leave a PC running when needed now so no longer any need for a recorder). The digital ones seem to be at least 32MBytes which represents around 70-80 typical weatherfax WAV files assuming you turn it on and off for each fax. For one that takes cards then have alot more storage.

As far as I know most with USB connectivity export at least MP3 and WAV files so should be able download and display those in your fax application (the applications I use actually came with example WAV files). But if recorder not turned off and on and you export the WAV or whatever file from it then you will end up with what your fax application will interpret as one big long map made up of maps and quiet patches - the same as if you just leave the fax application itself recording continuously from the radio rather than auto stopping and starting on the fax start and stop tones.

Can also, obviously record voice weather bulletins if wanted.

John

 

[mr_williams]

I have a digital dictaphone and it works great... set it to voice activated and it just starts and stops as you need it... you can save to multiple folders on the device as well as time sequential recordings and then, as John says, you can just connect via USB and download your files, manage your device etc...

I am writing a book at the moment (software dev related) so it is an invaluable tool...

Some awesome suggestions coming through on this thread though... keep it up lads..


Cheers

 

[tangofour]

since mr_williams opened this thread with an appeal for ideas for a software project ......

Is there a call for a hardware project that could keep me busy for the winter?

A stand alone data logger to decode and buffer FAX and weather signals without the PC present is a doddle. Could also act as a NMEA log to buffer hours of log data ( black box style )

Also thinking of a digital interface to upgrade old diesels to modern J1989 interface ( ie make your old Perkins diesel compatible with say an e20 display )

Anything else that could be of use?

 

[muckypup]

How about wireless NMEA repeater?

Plug it into the GPS/Plotter as a sender and have one or more receivers where it's difficult to feed wires to.. you could then have a laptop on the saloon table, or your navtex at the other end of the boat...

My plotter is above the helm and if I wished to interface to something on the helm say autopilot, I have to run the wires a long way...

Steve

 

[SteveGorst]

how about integrating plotter display with tidal data so that for any given time one can see the depth of water for any given position. Perhaps this could be colour coded with an overlay over the chart so that one could see at a glance whether a channel was navigable or not.