Macmillan Reeds Almanac.

[poter]

<This is the exact concept that Boathow.com used. Their pilotage notes with their own basic charts and even photographs of entrances and leading lines were excellent>

I for one never new about them .... Marketing? & what were they charging?

I suggest that IPC would not have that problem they already have a a wide circulation with there mags & online subscription.

You buy an almanac? A mac reed channel is aroung £30
and the idea was you only buy what you are interested in.
I can't really see a downside it would only be a question of say Yachting/PBO putting the info from their computers onto a web server. I get both mags at around £7 a month so I would not want to pay more than that, but say for argument £50 a year to get web based pilotage notes plus any other maitanence info.from PBO I think would be a bargin.
Any UKHO tidal information could also be put on the web site and their royalty paid.
I am sure it could be sorted.
poter


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[BrendanS]

Marketing was pretty good. Kept seeing it everywhere, and was extensively linked to on the web. They commissioned several webcams around the UK coast showing live and historic sea conditions which were immensely popular and a huge draw to the site.

Can't remember cost, about £15 per annum I think


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[poter]

hmmmm! well ok!! A shame that they went to the wall

But lets be positive, do you go for the ideas above Brendan.. I note you are also involved with IT, is there a way for IPC to get their information onto the web and make some dosh by selling it to us?


poter.

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[BrendanS]

Well I liked the Boathow idea.I was their first member. I thought it was a real shame that it went to the wall.

Where boathow probably went wrong was in having to spend a fortune to get the original material. (PM me your email address and I'll send you some of the Pilot guides they put together.) whereas IPC already have a huge amount of the information and infrastructure to make it work.

There does seem to be cultural thing about for paying for services on the internet, even when people happily pay for the same content in 'real life'. The biggest issue that I can see is that the real benefit of a hardcopy of an almanac on the boat is that it's where when needed and plans suddenly change - which doesn't apply to internet content or cd unless you have a laptop and internet connection. Even if I paid for the internet version, I suspect I'd still want hardcopy on the boat for emergencies (phone numbers, pilotage into strange harbours etc)

Overall a good idea though

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[kimhollamby]

Owning info

Some truth to what you say about info ownership being a big plus although in many cases copyright is purchased on a limited basis (UKHO permission for the pull-out charts for example) so it can get messy.

Also some of the real golden nuggets were written at a time when we could never have foreseen the electronic media age and archiving policies have varied from mag to mag, so there is a repurposing requirement that can occasionally be solved by clever working practices, coded solutions and so on but often requires sheer hard graft if an effective online version is to be created. No-one is sat on their thumbs here waiting for this project so that in turn means allocating resource and a substantial amount of it if we are to do a serious job that meets requirements. Plus of course anything older than, say six months, really needs to be revisited for accuracy.

None of this is a no, but they are all factors that would need to be considered. Keep the ideas rolling in...I am reading them.

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[BrendanS]

Re: Owning info

Personally, under no illusions as to complexity of task of accessing archived material, repurposing and then maintaining electronic versions - I sell enterprise level content management/portal/commerce software and advise customers on practises.As you say, would require significant manpower/resources.

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[BrendanS]

Pete,

You've seen the Pilot guides now. What are your thoughts, bearing in mind my comments about a mish mash of styles, and everything looking similar. Brands and styling and all that kind of thing.

<hr width=100% size=1>For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three

 

[qsiv]

The technology is easy, licensing the content potentially more complex. There is also the slight issue of being unable to access the network, just as you need it ...

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[charles_reed]

A definite drawback - I'd see one downloading and printing the parts one needs or even carrying it on the laptop as a CD or DVD.

I carry quite a few reference "books" in the laptop as *.pfd files which are well compressed and take up very little room.

With regard to light characteristics, tidal curves, large-scale charts; all the latest generation chartplotter cartography boast these so the need for the "Pilot" is far less.

Of course you may be influenced by the disclaimer on start-up of all plotter programmes - forced on the manufacturers by various government monopolies determined to protect those same monopolies...

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