Ocean Navigator: Newsletter #7


Remote Position Reporting: Getting Something for Nothing


One of the most popular reasons for getting in touch with shore-based friends while out cruising is to brag about where you are. "Hey, we're in this absolutely beautiful cove watching a fantastic sunset. Somewhere on the far side of Solomon's Cay."

Occassionally, the next five or ten minutes of your scratchy analog cell phone connection are spent trying to give your landlocked friends some idea of exactly where Solomon's Cay is and where on the island you're anchored. Then, just when your call is dropped, you realize that you forgot to talk about everything else about your vacation other than exactly where you are.

For those of you with lat/long saavy friends, a few simple coordinates can relay the approptiate location information, and leave the map and chartwork as an exercise for your friends (who you insist are just as interested about locating your little paradise as you are).

For the rest of us, there's Maptech's Offshore Navigator. One of the features of this electronic charting program is its position reporting ability. Here's how it works: from within the program, you can select the "Send Position Report..." item from the "Vessel/GPS" menu. Up will pop a window asking you to fill in:
- destination email address
- subject line
- any text you'd like to add to the message
- your vessel's website (or any other website you want to refer your friends to)

After typing in the relevant information and pressing the "Send" button, you're friend(s) will get an email with location details about your boat - including lat/long as well as your ETA to the last point in your route (assuming you're following a route from within the program).

Another significant part of the email message will be an attachment, which when opened will take your friend to Maptech's web-based MapServer (http://mapserver.maptech.com/) and show a chartlet of the relevant area, with a little red boat indicating the actual position of your own vessel when you sent the message. As with any other Mapserver generated map or chart, your friend will be able to zoom in or out, and view your anchorage on a nautical chart, topographic map, aerial photo, or aeronautical chart. Keep in mind that this service only works for US locations.

As for the communications end of the process, you'll need to have access to email from your boat (or at least from your boat's laptop after you bring it onshore). You'll need to have Microsoft's Outlook or Outlook Express set to be your default email program. And you'll need to be online when you hit the "Send" button.

For the ham-enabled licensed amateur radio users, another similar option is available from within the WinLink 2000 system (www.winlink.org). The automatic position reporting system (APRS) performs a similar function, albeit without the whole electronic charting software component. The WinLin/APRS system allows you to refer your friends to a website that shows them four different scaled maps of your location.

Unlike most other communication related features -- this one carries a nice pricetag. Cost per position report using either the Maptech or the WinLink solution: $0.00. That's right -- free! Of course the catch is that you'll need a way to access your email at sea: say cellular, Globalstar, Iridium, Inmarsat, or SSB email provider for Maptech's solution; HF modem or TNC plus SSB radio and amateur license for the WinLink solution.

(All these comments refer to the new 2002 edition of Offshore Navigator version 5.0. The position reporting feature was available in earlier versions, though some of the details such as menu items and names may be different.)

- - - - -

Bill Beery wrote in regarding the last issue about analog and digital cellular service. While I didn't have very many positive things to say about digital service for mariners, Bill reminded me that it does offer better privacy, better resistance to cloning and theft of service, and better quality voice transmissions. Thanks to Bill for pointing this out, and giving digital service credit where it's due.

- Dan Piltch
dpiltch@MarineComputer.com


Return to List of Newsletters