Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Function: Boating Navigation and Data Display
Cost: $64.99
Rating:
****
With all the electronics on board yachts these days there is a need for a quick and easy way to view this data. GBS Global Business Solutions Group has developed a slick looking app called SkippersEye that allows the yachtsman to view just about any navigation data or video source available.
Through the use of TCP/IP and WiFi networks the ships navigation system and data can be connected to your favorite IOS device. Client and server software need to be set up to take your ships navigational data from your onboard computer and wirelessly transmit it to your iPhone, iPod or iPad. Programs like Franson GPS Gate provide the TCP/IP data transfer capabilities. There are other PC and Mac navigation programs that provide a TCP/IP server. If your yachts PC is not connected to a WiFi network the app will display whatever data is available from the onboard GPS or locational services on your device. This will likely be only position, course and speed.
On most modern yachts there is a ton of navigational data that can be viewed. SkippersEye lets you create and save your own customized navigation instrument layouts. Numerous layouts can be built and saved to display your favorite data. Creating displays is as simple as tapping the displays and templates to select the data you want to display. This versatility is one of the best features about the app.
One unique feature that I have not seen before is the ability to set up and view video feeds. There are other NMEA display apps out there, but none of them have the video capabilities of SkippersEye.
Features:
- Ability to set up to four video webcam views.
- Display multiple instruments on a display.
- Show 6 instruments on an iPhone or iPod touch and 8 instruments on an iPad.
- Versatility to choose the background, text, and frame color of the data displays.
- Options to create day and night time displays.
- Monitor NMEA data.
- Supports NMEA 0183 sentences.
- Set up English or metric units for temperature, depth, speed and distance.
- Data includes, position, Speed over ground, Speed of current, Water speed, Velocity made good.
- Wind data includes, True wind angle, True wind direction, Apparent wind angle, Apparent wind speed and True wind speed.
- Navigation data includes, Heading, Bearing to waypoint, Range to waypoint, Waypoint name, Estimated time of arrival, Time to go, Course over ground, Cross track error, Arrival alarm and Log.
- Depth, Water temperature and Core Location data from your device.
As you can see, if the data is on your yacht, you can get it to your IOS device for display on the SkippersEye app. For you techies our there, it supports the following NMEA 0183 sentences:
AAM, APB, BEC, BOD, BWC, BWR, BWW, DKB, DBT, DPT, GGA, GLL, HDG, HDM, HDT, HSC, MWD, MWV, MTW, RMA, RMB, RMC, RPM, ROT, RSA, VBW, VDR, VHW, VLW, VPW, VTG, VWR, VWT, WCV, WNC, XTR, XTE, ZDA, ZFO, ZTG
Virtual Sentences:
AAL, ALTI, ALT, AWA, AWS, BRG, COG, DEPTH, ETAx, POS, RNG, SOC, SOG, STW, TMP, TTGx, TWA, TWD, TWS, UTC, VMG, WPN
Locations Services :
POSi, COGi, SOGi, HDGi, TIMi (iPad and iPhone only)
I like the options the app provides to set up and display almost any NMEA data sentence. It has some flexibility that other NMEA apps don't have. The only problem I found was the price. I might actually give it a try if it was not so expensive. I know it takes alot of work to put these apps together. Maybe their shooting for the high end market, but $65 seems a little high.
If your a cost conscious app shopper like me, NMEAremote at $11.99 might be more in your price range. Even cheaper is NMEAremote Lite at only $1.99. These apps don't display as many functions but are more reasonably priced. If you need the video feeds your going to have to go with SkippersEye.
Download one of these apps and start setting up your NMEA network.
Chris Lukassen is a busy guy. He has developed a library of apps for the nautical community. These include SeaMaps US, SeaMaps, DeckHand, SeaMaps Baltic, SeaMaps EU, Track By Mail, Holmes, Anchor Watch and World Tides.
