FYI: Low cost GPS solution

[Shane]

....When some of the soon to be released GPS dongles come out for the iPod I'll pick one up for live moving maps.....

Duane,

What more can you tell about these GPS dongles? Do you have your iPod tied into your onboard system via wi-fi? This area starts to get really fuzzy for me, so I'm not even sure it can be done. We've got a Lowrance LMS525 that I keep meaning try to figure out how to tie in my iBook to via serial/USB adaptor (for now I just use the iBook for planning at home, but would be nice to plug it into the system for transferring routing plans, breadcrumb trails, etc.). I was just going to pick up a little USB/GPS puck for the iBook, but if I had one for the iPod Touch, do you think the iPod would transmit that (GPS) data over wifi to the laptop?

This really picqued my interest and might get me to explore this (the iPod) option a little further. Although my wife's phone is definitely due for replacing, we really only need the most basic of phones and I really can't justify the extra $1000 luxury tax for an iPhone ($30/month data pkg x 36 mth contract). TIA

Regards,
Shane

[red_sky_at_night]

What about service? We plan to get up to the Apostle Islands soon. I have been told some people rely on their cell phones rather that VHF, also that service gets poorer the further you are from Bayfield, which is the reason for having it in the first place.

As Duane mentioned earlier, you don't need service for the GPS chart plotting as all of the charts are loaded onto the iphone/ipod touch

[red_sky_at_night]

I was just going to pick up a little USB/GPS puck for the iBook, but if I had one for the iPod Touch, do you think the iPod would transmit that (GPS) data over wifi to the laptop?

Shane, I highly doubt that you would ever be able to stream GPS data from an ipod touch connected to a dongle to your laptop via wi-fi. I did a quick search and there is not even a jailbroken iphone application to do that, which would be much more likely (stream the internal iphone GPS data over wi-fi).

Although my wife's phone is definitely due for replacing, we really only need the most basic of phones and I really can't justify the extra $1000 luxury tax for an iPhone ($30/month data pkg x 36 mth contract)

You can get the iphone (which is really a small full-fledged computer) without any data plan if you choose, but why? The $30 data plan in Canada gives you 6GB of data per month, which is more than you would ever likely need, unless you plan to tether your iphone to your laptop for roaming internet (in the US I believe you get unlimited data for $30). I do this so I can work on the ferry (or my boat -- when it gets here!) and it works great, very fast on the 3G network. Tethering to your laptop is as easy as plugging in the USB cable and pressing a button on your iphone.

When you buy an iphone 3GS, you also get a nice camcorder (surprisingly good, better than SD resolution), a 3 MP camera with autofocus, a GPS, and access to thousands of low cost applications like Navionics. I can access and control my home computer from my iphone, watch videos stored on my home computer or on youtube and edit a spreadsheet if needed. You just can't compare it to a regular phone, although it is a good phone. Keep the Admiral or kids entertained with music, movies or games. I even have Skype installed on it, which lets me make calls to landlines or cell phones anywhere in North America for free ($30 annual cost) and the sound quality is often better than the cell network. I'm a convert from the Blackberry and other than the physical keyboard, I don't miss it.

[SkiDeep2001]

New technology on the way, obsoleting the iPod/iPhone in the future ? http://www.mobilemag.com/2006/01/03/all ... -obsolete/ Rob

[Terry]

I love the Navionics iPhone app. I run it on my iPod touch, so I don't have the live GPS at the moment, but I still find it very useful. The tide and current display is one of the most intuitive I have used and it is very useful for reference and planning. When some of the soon to be released GPS dongles come out for the iPod I'll pick one up for live moving maps. I also like that it is the exact same vector chart that I have in my Eagle GPS at the pedestal.

My only regret is that I was an early adopter and paid $49 for the app and charts. That was a good deal then to get all of Puget Sound, the Inside Passage, and Outside of Vancouver Island for $49 compared to the $199 the chip in my GPS cost. To get it all for $10 is now amazing.

Do beware that it is a very large iPhone/iPod app at 160+Mb. It takes a while to download on WiFi, loading it over the cell network would be very tedious. You are better off to download it with iTunes and then sync.

In addition to all the coastal area I believe the also have inland lakes charts available.

So Duane, (or anyone) where on itunes can I find that app? I went looking for it last night (I have an iTunes account) but only found the Navionics roadmap app for $69.00 on iTunes store site.
I have the iPod touch also and just love it. There are WiFi hotspots everywhere, I was able to get all my weather data at The Doctors' Office Cafe in Friday Harbour. If I can get that region Red Sky has for $10.00 I will download it immediately. What is it called so I can search for it? I also have a windows mobile Samsung Phone with GPS and run Acvtive Captain on it using the built in GPS, it is way cool too, but the display is no where near as good as the iPod display in sunlight.
Hey Red Sky, where on Vancouver Island are you and what is the name of your boat? 'Mover' is on the Island with you somewhere. We'd love to have you join the MYCBC club, we are planning a club cruise to Sucia for September long weekend.

[Terry]

I was searching for marine applications on the iphone app store and came across this product from navionics:


I also purchased a $3 wind reports application that shows current wind conditions from selected weather stations (but that's another post) Where Can I get IT

I tried Navionics out on a friend's boat and compared it to his $800 Garmin. I was impressed, to say the least. Best of all, it only costs $9.99. That's right, ten bucks for highly detailed charts for a large region (there are many regions available covering most of the globe), including POIs, tide information, currents, hazards, trip tracking, trip/waypoint planning, photo geo-tagging and many more features I haven't even tried yet. I chose the Marine: British Columbia region, which covers the waters from Oregon up to Alaska.
That is the region I want.

I just ordered a $10 flexible suction mount for my iphone from eBay and plan to mount it on the steering pedestal and provide power via a usb-12V adapter that I already use in my car for charging.

So where can I get that USB-12V adapter, I want one, and the navionics app and the wind report app ASAP.
Man, I sure do love getting the latest news updates about new gadget stuff for sailing.
Thank you Red Sky!

This really picqued my interest and might get me to explore this (the iPod) option a little further. Although my wife's phone is definitely due for replacing, we really only need the most basic of phones and I really can't justify the extra $1000 luxury tax for an iPhone ($30/month data pkg x 36 mth contract). TIA

Shane,
You can get the iPod Touch for 99,000 Save-on-More points if you happen to shop at Save-on-Foods, it is listed in the points catalogue.

[Jim Bunnell]

The easiest way to find the charts is at navionics web site. They will link you to the App store. The directory is here http://tinyurl.com/l23m94. You can get an iPod Touch for free if you have a college student who buys a Mac (either a really good savings or a really expensive iTouch if you don't need the Mac!). http://tinyurl.com/ps2d7p

[Shane]

I was just going to pick up a little USB/GPS puck for the iBook, but if I had one for the iPod Touch, do you think the iPod would transmit that (GPS) data over wifi to the laptop?

Shane, I highly doubt that you would ever be able to stream GPS data from an ipod touch connected to a dongle to your laptop via wi-fi. I did a quick search and there is not even a jailbroken iphone application to do that, which would be much more likely (stream the internal iphone GPS data over wi-fi).

That's too bad, but doesn't surprise me. With the (almost) 'instant on' compared to starting up the laptop, I could see reaching for it frequently.

Although my wife's phone is definitely due for replacing, we really only need the most basic of phones and I really can't justify the extra $1000 luxury tax for an iPhone ($30/month data pkg x 36 mth contract)

You can get the iphone (which is really a small full-fledged computer) without any data plan if you choose, but why? The $30 data plan in Canada gives you 6GB of data per month, which is more than you would ever likely need, unless you plan to tether your iphone to your laptop for roaming internet (in the US I believe you get unlimited data for $30). I do this so I can work on the ferry (or my boat -- when it gets here!) and it works great, very fast on the 3G network. Tethering to your laptop is as easy as plugging in the USB cable and pressing a button on your iphone.

When you buy an iphone 3GS, you also get a nice camcorder (surprisingly good, better than SD resolution), a 3 MP camera with autofocus, a GPS, and access to thousands of low cost applications like Navionics. I can access and control my home computer from my iphone, watch videos stored on my home computer or on youtube and edit a spreadsheet if needed. You just can't compare it to a regular phone, although it is a good phone. Keep the Admiral or kids entertained with music, movies or games. I even have Skype installed on it, which lets me make calls to landlines or cell phones anywhere in North America for free ($30 annual cost) and the sound quality is often better than the cell network. I'm a convert from the Blackberry and other than the physical keyboard, I don't miss it.

Red Sky, I don't deny there are a lot of amazing capabilities built into the iPhone, and for many it is really advantageous to have one. My intention was not to dismiss or start a flame on the iPhone.There are some amazing apps that I could use all the time (Hey Duane, have you checked out the music transcribing helper app 'Amazing Slow Downer'?), but for our situation, I can't really convince myself to that expensive of an upgrade when our bill averages 17 min./month.... I'd like to, but can't.

Shane,
You can get the iPod Touch for 99,000 Save-on-More points if you happen to shop at Save-on-Foods, it is listed in the points catalogue.

Thanks for the heads up Terry. After a couple years of not using them on anything, we got 4, 4gig nanos for the whole family, and some kitchen appliances

Regards,
Shane

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Here is another marine iPhone/iPod Touch navigation choice that can use the free NOAA raster charts. They also say you CAN get the NMEA sentences on the iPod Touch over the WiFi from a Mac or PC with an attached GPS. This might be what you are looking for. You even can get AIS info and weather overlays over the WiFi to the Touch.
http://www.inavx.com/
http://www.inavx.com/help/macenc.htm

And another
http://navimatics.com/nav4iphone.aspx

A cool browser based app that combines streetmaps, google earth satellite views and marine charts for when you have a WiFi or cell connection, and it's FREE. Just search for your location then use the charts button to flip to the marine chart.
http://geowake.com/mobile/index.jsp

Personally I don't want to have my laptop also running below, I just want the iPod to have the data directly.

Something like this might serve the NMEA data to both the laptop and the iPod.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff3PY5yS ... re=related

TomTom has info about a iPhone/iTouch add on GPS on their web site that is suppose to be out the end of summer.
http://iphone.tomtom.com/

A couple other companies have demo'd small GPS's that just clip on the iTouch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KPPZ0SBWEM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCuU_mjV ... re=related

There is one you can buy today, but it requires the iPod to be jailbroken which I'm not big on.
https://www.orangegadgets.com/shop/prod ... ducts_id=1

Perhaps someday Apple or someone will enhance the Bluetooth stack in the iPod (currently only for Audio in v3.0) so it can receive position data from my Bluetooth GPS that I used with my PocketPC. Then I won't need anything extra plugged into the iPod.

I'm not sure about a Mac, but this does work already with PC based apps.

Some other interesting stuff
http://www.panbo.com/archives/2009/06/w ... tooth.html

[Shane]

Here is another marine iPhone/iPod Touch navigation choice that can use the free NOAA raster charts. They also say you CAN get the NMEA sentences on the iPod Touch over the WiFi from a Mac or PC with an attached GPS. This might be what you are looking for. You even can get AIS info and weather overlays over the WiFi to the Touch.
http://www.inavx.com/
http://www.inavx.com/help/macenc.htm

It's MacEnc that I'm running on my iBook, so will look into that more closely, thanks.

There is one you can buy today, but it requires the iPod to be jailbroken which I'm not big on.
https://www.orangegadgets.com/shop/prod ... ducts_id=1

If I read correctly, I don't think you need to jailbreak the Orange Gadgets i360 (at least not anymore), and they talk about it working with Navionics specifically. It's a $75.00 receiver. More comments are here: http://iphone-gps.blogspot.com/

Regards,
Shane

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Sounds like some PC apps can transmit the NMEA data as well as MacENC.

I don't think that the iGPS360 can be used without Jailbreaking your device.

Their FAQ specifically says you have to have a Jailbroken device. I believe this has nothing to do with the hardware or the App store Navigation program you choose to use. It has to do with installing GPSSerial which is required to emulate the internal GPS of the iPhone. GPSSerial is not a Apple approved app store application and requires Cydia to install.

http://xgpsdev.xwaves.net/2009/06/24/gp ... an-update/

[Kelly Hanson East]

One thing of note - my Iphone GPS consistently shows errors in position of ROM 10 meters or more....This isnt a problem for road navigation, but for marine navigation this is a pretty big error and could be "interesting"

[kenny]

My buddy had his I-Phone loaded and working on a recent trip off Vanc Island and into Desolation sound. We had the main system plus 2 backup GPS and his I Phone. Luckily too, as the main unit kept locking up at inoportune times, so the I Phone became main backup as the other handheld Garmins were having trouble locking into enought sat's.
While the screen is small, it is fully zoomable, and the detail is crystal clear, so in my mind excellent.
I'm getting one next time up for cell phone, as it truly becomes multi fu@ and from what I experienced, a true safety feature.

[Highlander]

Entering a norrow channel in the fog Yup that would be very interesting are you sure we are on the right side of these rocks !!!

J

[Snyds]

I love my iPhone and have had great success on inland lakes BUT is this really GPS? I thought the phone triangulates three cell towers to find your location (hence the reason it does not work in a low coverage area). On a coast without a true triangle of cell towers, is it accurate?

I only say this because I know not to rely on my iPhone in the mtns where I could rely on a true GPS.. the S is key (satellite)

Just some food for thought, I may be wrong