Nautical Apps for Apple Watch

Sailors and boating enthusiasts now have nautical apps on Apple Watch

Wales, UK – Pocket Mariner has launched Apple Watch versions of its popular nautical apps, Boat Beacon, SeaNav and Boat Watch. These apps put powerful real-time navigation and boat tracking maps on the wrists of sailors and boating enthusiasts. With the Apple Watch being splash-proof and water-resistant, it makes a great companion device for boaters when combined with the new apps by Pocket Mariner.

“Fast access to key information and tools has been our philosophy when designing the new Apple Watch versions of our nautical apps,” said Steve Bennett CEO of Pocket Mariner. “Our goal is for boaters and boating enthusiasts to be able to quickly access information directly on the watch without fumbling for their phones.”

Boat Beacon

Boat Beacon is an app that allows sailors to monitor other boat positions, receive alerts for potential collisions and share their own position via internet AIS.

Boat Beacon for Apple Watch adds a wrist view of the user’s boat position, collision alerts and a handy set of navigation and boating tools. Boat Beacon on Apple Watch has five top-level screens: A Map screen, showing the user’s boat position and those of nearby boats; a Navigation screen showing speed and course, and which offers an emergency “Man Over Board” button; a Race Timer screen; a Compass screen; and a final screen which operates as a useful mini-flashlight, with day and night modes.

SeaNav

SeaNav is Pocket Mariner’s popular marine navigation and charting app. The new Apple Watch screens in SeaNav include waypoint navigation tools, compass, AIS and collision avoidance and a race timer.

SeaNav uses the latest Digital Vector charts, providing a wealth of benefits and advantages over raster charts. The app provides details, distance and bearings of buoys, lights, bridges, depth contours, depth soundings, rocks, anchorage areas, and NOAA weather buoys. Other useful information available in SeaNav includes tides, moon and sun times and weather.

When at sea, SeaNav provides features for navigating the course. The app alerts sailors when they’ve reached each waypoint, plus provides auto-routing to the next waypoint. SeaNav also keeps sailors safe at sea by providing collision alerts.

Boat Watch

Boat Watch, a leading “ship tracking” app, allows users to follow movements of ships and vessels anywhere in the world. The app has grown increasingly popular with people visiting coastal or river ports, who have friends or family at sea, or who rely on catching a ferry or boat as part of their daily routine. Boat Watch has been enhanced with an Apple Watch map display showing boat movements in real-time.

On the Apple Watch, Boat Watch will display a list of boats they are following, and users can tap for details on the boats with a full color photograph. The map region matches the parallel maps in the Boat Watch iOS app, so that users can follow boats either locally or anywhere of interest around the world. Users can also follow a list of favorite boats, and check on their watch where they are.

Having access to this information instantly on their wrist will make it very easy and convenient for a user to see if their ferry is on schedule or where a loved one’s cruise ship currently is. Users have the option to receive alerts on their watch when their tracked boat arrives or departs port.

All of Pocket Mariner’s nautical apps with free Apple Watch support are available now for download on the App Store.

For more information, visit PocketMariner.com.

 

Row around Singapore Island (RASI), Mission to Seafarers and Boat Beacon AIS tracking

Pocket Mariner are very pleased to be sponsoring the  Row around Singapore Island  in aid of the Mission to Seafarers .

A group of 40 enthusiasts from the maritime and insurance community in Singapore have come together, to undertake a 24 hour endurance sea challenge, all in aid of the global maritime welfare charity, The Mission to Seafarers.

Mission Row Around Singapore Island (RASI), will see two teams in ocean-going rowing boats attempt the 140km journey, taking on the seas and shipping lanes (not to mention two live military firing ranges) to complete a non-stop circumnavigation of the island of Singapore. The event itself will be held during the 50th anniversary year of Singapore’s independence and will also coincide with Singapore Maritime Week on the 22nd / 23rd April, 2015.

Pocket Mariner have provided their Boat Beacon app to both teams so they can share their position and speed during the event and everyone will be able to follow their progress on our live group tracking web view service.

http://boatbeaconapp.com/portwatch/missionrasi.html. If you would like to add the view to your own web page you can use the following iFrame:-

<iframe src=”http://boatbeaconapp.com/portwatch/groupwatch.php?group=MISSIONRASI&drawtools=1&embed=1&groupgetotherships=0″></iframe>

 

If you are organising an event or a race and are interested in having live tracking available please contact us :- support@pocketmariner.com

Watermark Round Britain Voyage Summer 2015 and Boat Beacon AIS

Watermark is a Beneteau First 33.7 Cruiser/ Racer  currently on a round Britain voyage.  She is using Boat Beacon to share her position over internet AIS with friends and family on Boat Watch and our new live iframe “embed” web page that lets you add a map showing your boat’s location to other web pages (e.g. a blog). Use the following as a template, you can set the width and height to fit your page

“<iframe style=”border:none;height:600px;width:1800px;” src=”http://boatbeaconapp.com/see/MMSI?embed=1″></iframe>”

Where MMSI is your boat’s MMSI number (as set in Boat Beacon). If you don’t have an MMSI, we can provide you with an internet AIS one, or you can use your Boat Beacon identity instead starting with BB (see the bottom of My Boat Details in Boat Beacon to find your Boat Beacon id). If you don’t have  blog or web site you can also give out a web link to your web page on our site – e.g. http://boatbeaconapp.com/see/MMSI

We wish Malcolm and Watermark a safe and very enjoyable circumnavigation and look forward to following their progress. Here is his current postion :-

 

Apple Watch – Pocket Mariner apps

We have been working hard to ensure Apple Watch versions of all our marine apps are ready for you as soon as you get your new Apple Watch. Boat Beacon, our signature app, now gives you collision alerts directly on your wrist with CPA time and distance information and a map overview. Check your next waypoint wherever you are on your boat with a compass view, cross track error (XTE), distance and ETA on our SeaNav watch app.  Spot nearby boats, track your ferry or a boat of interest and get arrival and departure alerts with our Boat Watch app on Apple Watch.

 

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SeaNav and Boat Beacon Navigation view

 

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SeaNav Waypoint face.

 

 

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Boat Beacon and SeaNav Compass view

 

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Boat Watch, Boat Beacon and SeaNav map AIS view

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As ever – ship photos to help you identify it.

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And the great news ….. the watch apps are all free upgrades to our existing apps 🙂

Melbourne to Port Fairy Ocean Yacht Race

Pocket Mariner are pleased to be sponsoring the  ORCV’s (The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria) Melbourne to Port Fairy Ocean Yacht Race this Easter. We are providing complimentary copies of our Boat Beacon app to all the entrants and race officials so they can track the fleet over the 135 mile race.

You can view and see the tracks for all the boats live here

http://boatbeaconapp.com/group/ORCV 2015 PORT FAIRY

We have also set up 5 Artificial Aids to Navigation for the start and finish of the race, marking Drapers Reef at the start line, ORCV Virtual Buoy, Point Lonsdale Light, Corsair Rock  and Nunn buoy at the finish line.

The AtoN’s are visible in Boat Beacon and our Boat Watch apps.

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You can read more about the AtoNs for the race on the ORCV web site here:-

http://www.orcv.org.au/index.php/port-fairy/4413-boat-beacon-ais-smartphone-tablet-app-aids-to-navigation

New AIS Aerial in the Caribbean on St Barts

Our latest AIS aerial  on St Barthelemy in the Caribbean has just gone live. If only I could go out and test it! Thanks to Emmanuel at Jicky Marine Service

http://boatbeaconapp.com/station/7017

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Our AIS aerial on top of Jicky Marine Service’s office.

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Jicky Marine’s office from the other side of the Harbour

 

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Plan of Gustavia  looking from the land side out to sea (North is bottom right) showing the office location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SeaNav now has official Canadian Marine charts

SeaNav now has official Canadian charts available provided  by the Canadian Hydrographic service (CHS) covering the whole of the Canadian coast and main inland waters. Includes the Northern parts of the Great lakes, St Lawrence River and Seaway, Vancouver and lots lots more. Before now this complete set of Canadian digital marine charts would have set you back a few thousand dollars. Now you can get them all via a $29.99 ( 34.99 CAD) In App Purchase (IAP) in both  our SeaNav US and SeaNav HD   apps for iPhone and iPad.

Here is a map showing the chart coverage (outlines in red). You can also check the coverage in our app before you purchase . The Canadian charts will be outlined in blue and marked with CA.

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Here is a screenshot of the new charts covering Vancouver – loads more detail when you zoom in 🙂

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Hoegh Osaka – replay of grounding in 2 and 3D

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We used our AIS Fleetwatch service  to replay the final moments before the Hoegh Osaka was deliberately grounded on Bramble Bank in Southampton. You can watch the speeded up replay on 2D and 3D here http://youtu.be/5fW_LRDWUPo . Interestingly our replay correctly shows the ship heading onto the bank in a Northerly direction before she grounds. Other replays incorrectly show her moving sideways onto the bank. It may be that the gyros failed on the ship just before she started listing badly resulting in the list and an incorrect ship’s heading being sent.

 

New AIS Aerial at Davidstow Airfield, Cornwall

As part of the ongoing work to improve our global AIS coverage we have installed a new AIS aerial to provide better real time coverage for the seas around Cornwall in the UK.  There is a disused airfield at Davidstow. It was Coastal Command’s highest airfield in the UK at 300m (1000′) above sea level; a perfect place to get a long range view of the surrounding sea,  to the North, West and South of Cornwall.  We used a Digital Yacht AIS Net base station for the AIS receiver with a Shakespeare 6db AIS tuned aerial. There is no internet connection at the museum so we used a Huawei E3551 3G dongle and the excellent EE 3/4G data service to backhaul the AIS data to our servers.  You can check the live coverage from the new aerial here:-  http://boatbeaconapp.com/station/5353

Here is my son installing the aerial on the tower at the airfield.

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The DY AIS receiver hooked up at the base of the aerial.

 

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and live ships –  10,000 square miles of coverage including two major ports at Falmouth and Plymouth 🙂

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Many thanks to Steve at Davidstow Airfield and Cornwall at War Museum who is kindly letting us use his tower to mount the aerial on  (giving us another 12m (40′) of elevation 🙂 . The museum is very well worth visiting if you are in the area and even if you are not.

AISWatch – Live AIS monitoring with geofences and instant history replay

Pocket Mariner’s AISWatch service automatically monitors vessel movements and AIS SARTs in real-time using easily customisable geofences with audible and visual alerts. All AIS data is recorded and our industry first AISWatch instant replay service allows operators to retrieve data and instantly review events for incident analysis, marketing and training purposes. The AISWatch system is cloud  based with easily accessible web views to display the live AIS positions and geofence states over chart or satellite maps. The same web view is also used to replay AIS scenarios from the stored AIS data.

AISWatch’s state of the art and cost effective port, ship, fleet and asset management services and apps including our industry first cloud based “Instant history playback” are used by Offshore platforms, Ports, Harbour Authorities, Fleet Managers, Marine Services companies and Shipping Agents. Our customer roster includes Portsmouth International Port , Bristol Port Company Avonmouth, NautiskTransas, James Fisher, E.ON, Scottish Power Renewables, RWE Innogy,   SevenCs, Solis Marine  and  nauticAi. We also provide our AIS Watch service to Search and Rescue organisations like the RNLI , SARA and the AVCG which they use for tracking and training purposes.

More details on the AISWatch service are provided below. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions please contact us at  business@pocketmariner.com or phone +44 1291 689202.

avonmouthAISWatch in use at Bristol Port Company operations centre. Showing 3D live AIS views.

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AISWatch Live view lets you monitor the current situation and geofence status on a live chart web view. Real-time ship positions and AIS targets with tracks, information and photos. 2D and 3D views available. Hydrographic office charts  with customisable chart overlays and objects ( cables, pipelines, station etc.)

AISWatch Geofences allow you to easily create and edit real-time visual and audible alerts for area entry, exit , crossing , status (arrivals and departures), SART MOB, AtoN Off Position  etc.. using a simple and easy to use visual web based map view.

AISWatch Playback allows you to replay all shipping movements in your area instantly from any time in the past to assist with event investigation, resource utilisation, market research, training etc. Playback can be run at normal time or faster and supports forward and backward time “Scrubbing” allowing you to view an hours data in seconds to quickly determine the event you are looking for. Our live and historical AIS feeds can be also used to power other navigation systems such as those on Portable Pilot Units (PPUs) and other monitoring equipment.

Our professional services team can rapidly provide customised and tailored solutions for specific requirements and purposes.

You can try our history playback service in action here in 2D – boatbeaconapp.com/aisdemo – use the slider at the bottom left to move backwards and forwards in time and press the play button to play forwards. You can also see our 3D playback in action with this replay of the Hoegh Osaka grounding in 2015 – double click on a ship to fly in close up and then use your mouse to change the zoom (scroll) and viewpoint.

Pocket Mariner also provide global real time AIS monitoring and surveillance for ships far out of reach of shore based AIS systems using our innovative  Internet over Satellite AIS (iSAIS) service. with 98% global coverage (using Inmarsat services).

1. Live view

Real-time ship positions with tracks, information and photos. 2D and 3D views available. Hydrographic office charts  with customisable chart overlays and objects ( cables, pipelines, station etc.)

AISWatch monitors and records live ship positions via our local and global AIS services and when an event is triggered, forwards an alert via email and optionally SMS. The alert email includes details on the alert including maps of the alert area and ships around the ship’s current position. These maps can also be viewed via the web interface in 2D and our 3D service.

Our real time AIS feeds can also be used to power network aware AIS marine applications and systems such as  our own SeaNav AIS Marine Charts and Navigation apps and third party systems like Portable Pilot Units (e.g. Transas’s Pilot Pro and  SevenCs Orca G2 pilot. ).

2. Geofences

Geofences let you configure alerts for all ships (Zone Alerts) or your specific fleet of ships and AtoN’s (Fleet Alerts).  Fleet alerts are not confined to your zone of interest. They can be set anywhere in the world subject to our system having live coverage of the region. Many different alerts are available from entering or leaving an area, crossing a line, arrival and departure (status), anchor watch, proximity, collision, SART, AtoN off position etc.  Mobile Geofences can also be attached to moving ships and objects. When an alert fires an email/SMS is sent to all the alert addresses containing details for the event including a map of what and where triggered the event and a  second map showing the ship’s current position.

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You can create and edit the fences using this management screen or using our interactive map. Just click on the view fences button top left on either the Fleet Alerts or Port Alerts screens.

Tap View fences near the top left to view you currently configured fences on the chart. You can also edit existing fences by tapping on them and create new fences using the drawing tools. Rectangular, circular and polygon geofences are all supported (see example green fence areas below).

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In the detail view for an alert you can also see the geofence alert position on a map to help you identify and set it.

As well as sending alerts to email addresses all Alerts are recorded in the searchable Events table. Tap on an event and see a map showing where and when it happened. Alternatively you can use the Ships tab to see details on the most recent events for a ship. Tap on an event to see a map of where it fired and the geofence area that it triggered.

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3. Instant History replay – playing back ship movements and events

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AISWatch records all the time stamped AIS data for your port or area of interest second by second. The data is securely stored in our highly available (99.995%) and redundant cloud based computing platform for as long as you want from months to years or forever. You can retrieve ship movements from any day and time in your AISWatch past instantly at the click of a mouse button using a calendar picker and then replay them on our web map view and via dedicated internet ports to other AIS apps like our iOS and Mac SeaNav chart plotter with ENC vector charts and other marine navigation apps like on of our partners SevenCs’ Orca G2 Pilot (PC display with Vector charts).

When the AIS playback is running it also outputs the recorded AIS data stream over a dedicated TCP port so that you can connect other apps and devices to view it. The playback also has our unique enhanced Type 5 AIS messages added so the static data for ships show immediately a ship appears rather than waiting for the static AIS messages to be re-sent (which can take up to  6 minutes to receive).

Fast scrubbing playback view (see live demo here http://boatbeaconapp.com/fleetwatchdemo)

On the fast scrubbing view you can use the slide at the bottom left to scroll back and forth through the whole period. You can also press play to playback from the current scrubbing position.

External app (SeaNav) driven from AISWatch Playback using the TCP connection.

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Output from the playbacks can also be captured to video for viewing again independently of the AISWatch service. We recommend using the excellent and free VLC app on PC’s to capture the video or Apple’s free QuickTime app to record the screen on Macs.

You can see an example of a short video recording (1.5 minutes) replaying the arrival and docking of the Normandie ferry at Portsmouth International Port here :- Watch now

If you have any questions or for further information please contact us via business@pocketmariner.com or phone +44 1291 689202.