Welcome to next generation navigation from Digital Yacht
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When we updated our Android Apps listing last month, we were given some advanced information that SailRacer the popular tactical yacht racing app, was soon to be getting a major upgrade to support navigational charts. True to their word, this week new Android and iOS versions of SailRacer will be released that allow users to overlay all of their race marks, layline and wind information on a navigational chart.
Of particular interest is the new chart upload feature that allows you to scan or take a photo of a paper chart of the race location and to then quickly align the chart with your precise race marks using the powerful “map center” feature. Traditionally SailRacer has plotted the racing marks on a blank track plotter type screen, but now with the addition of nautical charts, a whole new layer of essential local geographical detail is available to give you the edge in your tactical decision making.
The new Apps will be available from the Google Play or the Apple App Store later this week or you can visit http://www.sailracer.net to learn more. An interesting video to show how you upload your own charts to Sail Racer can be seen here.
Both apps are compatible with Digital Yacht’s wireless NMEA servers.
It was great to meet JC and Ric from RaceGeek yesterday at the Southampton Boat Show. Tucked away on stand J328, behind the Furuno Stand, this was their first time at Southampton and they were showing off their brand new D10 Mast display for racing yachts. What makes this new product of particular interest to Digital Yacht, is that the team at RaceGeek have made their D10 display Signal K compatible, making it the perfect display for connecting to our own iKommunicate.
Whether you are an out and out yacht racer or just a cruising yachtsman who likes to sail in the most efficient and effective way, a clear mast display like the D10 is an important tool and connected to our iKommunicate, providing NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data via the new open source Signal K data format, it is a winning combination.
For more information on the D10 mast display please visit http://racegeek.ie/
The Southampton Boatshow runs from 16-25th September and Digital Yacht will be exhibiting on stand J346 in the heart of the electronics area together with our reseller Cactus
We’ve our biggest ever selection of award winning AIS products with amazing deals – Class B transponders complete with all antennas for under £400 including VAT and a FREE AIS Lifeguard MOB alarm with our best selling AIT3000 Nucleus Class A AIS – that’s a saving of over £250
Plus there’s a great deal on our new WL70R hi power wifi system for reliable internet access afloat
There will also be new products too – like iKommunicate, our new next generation interface for ANY marine electronics system now commercially available following a successful Kickstarter crowd funded development project. Start connecting your boat to the internet of things and get easy access to NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data thanks to the new Signal K open interfacing standard – you can find out more at http://www.ikommunicate.com
Finally we’ve some interesting instrument developments with our new wireless wind system, WindSense making its debut at the show and here’s a sneak peek of another development – instrument data on your Kindle. These low cost, high bright sunlight readable displays make a great read for any boater – and now with your real time boat data too! Find out more at the show…
Remember – Stand J346 – we look forward to seeing you there.
The Digital Yacht team
This morning we released a new firmware update and SD Card image for our successful iKommunicate product. One of the improvements in this update was NMEA2000 optimisation to pass the Certification Testing that all NMEA2000 certified products need to complete.
We really wanted to have iKommunicate certified in time for the 2016 NMEA Conference later this month in Naples FL (20-22 September), as it will be exactly one year since we showed our “Proof of Concept” at last year’s conference. We have come a long way, since then, with a successful Kickstarter funding campaign, over 1000 units shipped and now our fourth software revision.
iKommunicate really is the perfect accessory for any boat with an NMEA network onboard. Whether connected to a Raymarine, Garmin, Simrad, Furuno, etc. system, iKommunicate will convert the NMEA2000 or NMEA0183 data and make it accessible in your web browser, or mobile App. Already compatible with the most popular navigation software; MaxSea, RosePoint, Nobeltec, OpenCPN, etc. and mobile Apps; iNavX, iSailor, TimeZero, etc. via TCP/UDP data connection, iKommunicate will also power the next generation of Signal K apps; NMEARemote, ActiveCapt, OceanIX, etc.
Developers interested in supporting Signal K, should have a look at our iKommunicate SDK, to which we have now added some new example apps, with fully documented source code, to help you get up and running as quickly as possible.
Today Zapf Software, the developer of the very popular NMEA Remote App for Apple iOS devices, released an update that significantly improves support for our iKommunicate Signal K gateway.
As well as natively supporting the Signal K delta messages over a wireless high speed websocket connection, NMEA Remote now lists iKommunicate as one of the data sources. Select iKommunicate from the list, click enable and then the magic of Apple’s Bonjour Discovery service, finds iKommunicate on your network, connects to it automatically and starts displaying the data on a series of configurable digital and analogue displays.
NMEA Remote will not only display traditional instrument and GPS data, it will also display Engine data from one or more engines, assuming you have them connected to iKommunicate via the NMEA2000 network.
To show just how easy it is to setup NMEA Remote with iKommunicate, we have produced a short video which you can view by clicking here.
After a successful Kickstarter Campaign, iKommunicate is now available through our normal distribution and is priced at $299.95 USD, £220 GBP or €315 EURO (excluding local Taxes) and more information can be found at http://ikommunicate.com while NMEA Remote is available from the Apple App Store.
Getting a good long range Wi-Fi connection in a marina can be a challenge, particularly if you have not used the equipment for a while and cannot remember the steps involved.
To try and help make this a little easier, Digital Yacht have created a set of “How To” videos that explain how to connect to the two main types of wireless hotspots that you will come across on your travels; the “Open” captive portal type hotspot favoured by most marinas these days and the “encrypted” password protected hotspot that most bars and restaurants still operate.
At the same time we also created a third video that covers the important process of securing your boat’s wireless, by changing the default wireless network name and password, so that only the people you want to connect, can join your network.
We recommend watching them in the order shown below and simply click on the link to take you to the video on our YouTube channel…
IMPORTANT NOTE
After Apple changed the way their auto login feature of iOS and Safari behaved earlier this year, we now recommend installing the free Google Chrome web browser for maximum compatibility when connecting to hotspots, on your iPad or iPhone and this is also true on Windows PCs as Internet Explorer does not always seem to trigger the re-direct to the marina’s welcome/login page.
We have just updated our “Best Marine Apps for Android” list to include the some important new Apps now available on Android devices. The actual number of apps has only slightly increased since our last update, iRegatta a popular racing app has been withdrawn from the Play Store, while the popular Transas iSailor App is now available on Android. Featuring the same Transas charts that you find on many commercial ships and a host of powerful features, iSailor is definitely an app to consider for any Android user.
Another very important new entrant on the list, is the Android version of the hugely popular OpenCPN app. OpenCPN was developed by the open source community and is the most popular navigation program for Windows, LINUX and Macs. Now this new Android App, is set to become equally popular on Tablets and Phones, although it does need a fairly powerful processor and an SD Card slot is also useful to make it easier to load the charts on. For more information visit http://bigdumboat.com/aocpn/forum
Our “Best Marine Apps” list focuses on navigational apps that can be used with our wireless NMEA and AIS products and as long as the App you are interested in has a tick in the “External NMEA” column then it will work with our wireless NMEA products. With nine wireless NMEA products in our range, it can sometimes be confusing for customers, as to which product they need, so we have just published a comparison sheet to make it easier to choose the best product for your application, click here to read it.
We are fairly confident that we have captured most of the popular apps currently available. However, if you are a user or developer of a good marine navigation app for Android that is not on our list, please let us know and we will get you on the list at the next update.
If you are interested in Digital Yacht’s popular AISView app for Android devices, you can learn more about it by clicking here.
To download a PDF copy of this new updated list of Marine Apps for Android devices, please click here Android Apps V1_05.
