GPS . ......on a tablet

[GHA]

Further from the "who needs instruments when you have the man page for strftime(3)" department...

I wrote a script to create RMC sentences with my current GPS location and feed them to Navionics as above. I gave myself a COG of 270 and SOG of 0.1kn.

With location services available to Navionics on the ipad, the icon remained pointing north.
Turning off Navionics access to location services in the ipad setting bingo! pointer flips to the west.
Keeping COG at 270 but changing SOG to 0.0...pointer heads north again.

Similar in opencpn, at least with nmea RMC. Seems to take a few messages to get hold of the heading but will point the way of cog with 0.1Kn sog. But swith opencpn to receiving just signalk data it will point towards cog with sog zero.

Loads faster fiddling in signalk of course does all the TCP routing & NMEA checksum for you , just fiddle with the numbers

 

[GrantD]

I have a GNS 2000 but there are cheaper ones that will work just as well.
I sail a Moody31 called Sabre. My previous boat was a Snapdragon called Merlin. Naming a boat after another boat is not ideal!

What next a Beneteau called Westerly?

 

[Bilgediver]

Good stuff thanks

I'm finding Navionics very useful for rehearsing the route in my head and anticipating issues. There are so many wrecks ?

Drawing less than a metre helps I think ?

Grant if you want to see evidence of personal additions to the Navionics chart then go to the area around South Queensferry between the bridges on the south side. Zoom in slowly and as you approach you will find many markers put there by various people if you put the cursor over some then you will see details telling you they are temporary. This facility is also very handy for buoy laying for events. all you need is a phone or tablet to get to the respective locations.

 

[GrantD]

Grant if you want to see evidence of personal additions to the Navionics chart then go to the area around South Queensferry between the bridges on the south side. Zoom in slowly and as you approach you will find many markers put there by various people if you put the cursor over some then you will see details telling you they are temporary. This facility is also very handy for buoy laying for events. all you need is a phone or tablet to get to the respective locations.

Thanks I will take a look

 

[[163233]]

I had a Google Nexus 10 that did have a compass but navionics (the app) only showed me my COG heading from the GPS track. It's true that you can't steer to it very easily if you're in dense fog without a compass, but fortunately I do also have a compass or two.

I've now got a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1, which has the annoying habit of overheating quite easily (we're regularly hitting 30-odd here). Does anyone know of some kind of shock proof cover that will give it sufficient air?

The tab A has no compass and works as well as the Nexus did, but with a better charging arrangement.

 

[hangingtree]

I've been also using GPS on my Android phone, but actually the location was always so badly indicated so that you weren't even able to use it as a GPS track. That's why I basically don't use it anymore (I've had the problem in cities as well which kind of annoying because Google Maps is not working properly...) I don't know if it's my GPS/phone itself that makes it so inaccurate or if it's the app itself or something else....
JBJJag27, pretty much every devices overheats easily when putting a cover on it. You better look for something that prevents your tablet from overheating in any case...Cover won't be a good solution in my opinion....

 

[[163233]]

I don't know if it's my GPS/phone itself that makes it so inaccurate or if it's the app itself or something else....

Tablets and phones all seem to get a good location. My stuff is all Samsung made, but I doubt that makes much difference. What phone is it?

JBJJag27, pretty much every devices overheats easily when putting a cover on it. You better look for something that prevents your tablet from overheating in any case...Cover won't be a good solution in my opinion....

Well the Nexus never did, but maybe that's why it's died, it was a touch long in the tooth.

It'd be nice to at least give it bumpers, boats are unforgiving to electronics.

 

[bluerm166]

I had a Google Nexus 10 that did have a compass but navionics (the app) only showed me my COG heading from the GPS track. It's true that you can't steer to it very easily if you're in dense fog without a compass, but fortunately I do also have a compass or two.

I've now got a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1, which has the annoying habit of overheating quite easily (we're regularly hitting 30-odd here). Does anyone know of some kind of shock proof cover that will give it sufficient air?

The tab A has no compass and works as well as the Nexus did, but with a better charging arrangement.

Fix it under the hood for nav purposes so that shockprotection is not required and shade is provided.I use one similar to this ,adapted to take the weight at full extension.AboveTEK Aluminum Clamp Mount iPad/iPhone Holder, 360° Swivel Flexible Arm Tablet/Phone Stand (White) - TS-398W Beware of the numerous copies,which arrive if you order from China.

 

[differentroads]

Samsung Galaxy Tab A10 running Navionics here too. Has served me well from UK to the Balearics.
10'' screen is quite important to assess the big picture. I've got Navionics on a 7'' Hudl and my phone to compare with.
Mine is in a waterproof Otterbox which cost nearly as much as the tablet! I glued a fitting on the back to slide onto a mount on the nav table and at the helm.
Overheating and poor daylight visibility are the major downsides at the helm. But I find a screen at the helm a real distraction and rarely needed, so can live with the downsides. I've also got COG, SOG, CTS to a waypoint on a cockpit display from my autohelm and standalone GPS set, which helps of course.
Its a pain inputting waypoints twice, once in Navionics, once into the GPS. But it helps fix them in my mind for a passage. Sometimes I plot the waypoints on the paper chart too, when they are likely to be permanent

 

[differentroads]

I don't know if you (OP, not the people who know Navionics algorythms!) but you buy Navionics once and use it on all your devices: phones (2 on my boat), tablets (3 on my boat) and any other same-system devices. Yor waypoints, routes, etc then synch between those devices when they go online

 

[GrantD]

I don't know if you (OP, not the people who know Navionics algorythms!) but you buy Navionics once and use it on all your devices: phones (2 on my boat), tablets (3 on my boat) and any other same-system devices. Yor waypoints, routes, etc then synch between those devices when they go online

I did not know it synched

Cool

Thanks

 

[differentroads]

I did not know it synched

Cool

Thanks

Yeah, your £35 goes a long way!

Although I strongly advise as big a tablet screen as you can get, I actually frequently slip my phone out of my pocket to check progress more frequently than look at the tablet. I check especially frequently where the red course projection line is going, so I know where currents and leeway are pushing us and what adjustment to make to CTS.
On one difficult crossing of the Dover Strait all my nav was on my phone screen (singlehanded in my previous 7m Snapdragon. F5 wind over tide, ferocious weather helm, 12 hours glued to the tiller, my phone screen and handbearing compass to dodge the ships. Loved it when I got into Ramsgate eventually!)

 

[GrantD]

Yeah, your £35 goes a long way!

Although I strongly advise as big a tablet screen as you can get, I actually frequently slip my phone out of my pocket to check progress more frequently than look at the tablet. I check especially frequently where the red course projection line is going, so I know where currents and leeway are pushing us and what adjustment to make to CTS.
On one difficult crossing of the Dover Strait all my nav was on my phone screen (singlehanded in my previous 7m Snapdragon. F5 wind over tide, ferocious weather helm, 12 hours glued to the tiller, my phone screen and handbearing compass to dodge the ships. Loved it when I got into Ramsgate eventually!)

Sounds great ?

 

[KompetentKrew]

Have just spent the day setting up a Samsung Tab S5e. ? ? ?

It ships with loads of Samsung bloatware, but it's a truly lovely device now I've installed LineageOS (this took me hours, and was stressful - at one point I thought I'd bricked it).

The Tab 5Se is a more premium tablet (higher resolution, more RAM etc) than the A10, very slim and light, and its screen is apparently slightly better / brighter (AMOLED?) than that of the comparably-priced Tab S6 Lite (google "Samsung S5e vs S6 Lite" for lots of explanations). The screen should be more daylight viewable. I played videos on another Samsung Tab in the store, can't remember if it was the A10 or the S6 Lite, and the S5e's speaker is clearly better, if you might care to watch movies on it. All these are 10" tablets - the A10 has good "hi def" resolution, and the S5e and S6 Lite are ridiculously high resolution (plus, I assume, more RAM and a faster CPU).

The chart plotter's remote app works lovely with it ?? - it just seems clearer and brighter than it was on the late Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017 model). Big bucks though - I don't know what came over me.

 

[hangingtree]

Tablets and phones all seem to get a good location. My stuff is all Samsung made, but I doubt that makes much difference. What phone is it?


Well the Nexus never did, but maybe that's why it's died, it was a touch long in the tooth.

It'd be nice to at least give it bumpers, boats are unforgiving to electronics.

Hi JBJag27, usually GPS on tablets and phones do work properly, but in my case it’s not really accurate. It’s also a Samsung phone, but I doubt it’s the phone itself, but more the GPS signal or perhaps the mobile phone network? I used to switch my GPS signal to GPS only (without mobile phone network and WIFI network) and it worked more or less accurately. Maybe it starts to get inaccurate when there is no other signal than the GPS and you’ve put your settings on mobile phone + Wifi network?!

And yes, a bumper could help, but won’t prevent your phone from overheating… rather the opposite is the case

 

[[163233]]

Hi JBJag27, usually GPS on tablets and phones do work properly, but in my case it’s not really accurate. It’s also a Samsung phone, but I doubt it’s the phone itself, but more the GPS signal or perhaps the mobile phone network? I used to switch my GPS signal to GPS only (without mobile phone network and WIFI network) and it worked more or less accurately. Maybe it starts to get inaccurate when there is no other signal than the GPS and you’ve put your settings on mobile phone + Wifi network?!

And yes, a bumper could help, but won’t prevent your phone from overheating… rather the opposite is the case

My tablet doesn't have a phone connection, but yes, turn off the wifi assisted location thing..

 

[hangingtree]

I've been watching this for a few days now to see if the setting wifi assisted location really leads to a worse or less accurate GPS...I've already noticed that it's more accurate if only GPS is on...the problem is that the settings are changed automatically (probably with every restart of the smartphone...) - which is pretty annoying, of course. At least I have found out how to adapt the GPS settings and I have managed to improve the GPS signal...it is not optimal yet, but at least it is better.

 

[Laser310]

These apps typically get your heading by comparing your current GPS position with where you were a few moments ago. So they can't draw a heading line if you're stationary.

while i can't comment on any particular app...

GPS receivers do not obtain either COG or SOG by comparing a current position fix with a previous fix

both COG and SOG are obtained from the Doppler Shift of the carrier frequency

Now, you mentioned Heading - maybe you mean COG.., or maybe the app is reporting COG as Heading.., but i think it's unlikely that an app is taking successive fixes and calculating either heading or COG from them - there would be no reason to add this code to the app.., as the GPS chip is already reporting COG - obtained from the Doppler Shift

 

[RJJ]

call me old-fashioned but I like having the chart in "north-up" orientation...like a chart.

A compass is a useful tool to know where you are heading.

 

[Laser310]

call me old-fashioned but I like having the chart in "north-up" orientation...like a chart.

A compass is a useful tool to know where you are heading.

It's annoying that some apps that use raster charts do not have a true north up display option for charts