PC & Tablets
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PC & Tablets
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PC- AND TABLET-BASED NAVIGATION Since quite a few years we carry at least one PC, mainly devoted to e-mail handling but also equipped with charting software and an external GPS receiver that would allow us to use it as an emergency chartplotter. More recently a lot of applications have appeared on the market, generally at a very competitive price, allowing to use a tablet as a chartplotter, besided many other uses. When the moment came to equip Shaula4 it came obvious to consider using a PC or a Tablet as a low-cost chartplotter solution, in place of dedicated instruments.
Lorenzo writing an e-mail on board old Shaula 2 Our iPAD with the iSailor app that we used to navigate the Venetian Lagoon In fact the use of PC's in on-board nav stations is hardly a novelty, nowadays most ships and large yachts are equipped this way; we also made a brief experience ourselves when we spent some days back in 2011 sailing around the Venetian Lagoon on a charter boat, with an iPAD as our sole chartplotting device. PRO's:
CON's:
In light of the above, we rapidly decided that also on Shaula4
we would adopt a dedicated chartplotter, but at least we hoped to use the iPAD
as a cockpit repeater, taking advantage of the Raymarine chartplotter's wi-fi
link and the dedicated Remote Control App to be able to do without a second
chartplotter installed above deck. On paper, a very interesting solution to have a screen in the
cockpit at least during manoeuvres or when coastal sailing: the iPAD is not
waterproof and is therefore not very suitable to be kept in the cockpit with bad
weather or under the rain, but for a short duration a waterproof bag would be
enough. During the transfer voyage we used the iPAD as a temporary cockpit display with the same chartplotting application that we used during our Lagoon cruising: it works passably well, but it's a different interface compared to the chartplotter, and routes would have to be programmed twice, so we mostly used it as a sort of "interactive chart" during port manoeuvres. Would it be possible to navigate using only a PC or Tablet as a chartplotter? By all means yes, provided that the device is equipped with an internal GPS or connected to an external device. Most navigation software is not very sophisticated, especially the tablet apps, but at least their price is usually modest, both for the application as well as for the charts. This market segment is evolving rapidly though, and applications are rapidly becoming more sophisticated. We believe that the use of a PC or Tablet as a navigation console is perfectly adequate for a small boat where otherwise there would be nothing, while on medium-sized boats we think that a dedicated, weather resistant instrument, integrated with the on board's systems, still has its value.
On Shaula4, a simple net-book with external GPS and an iPAD (with integral GPS) fulfill all computing requirements Anyway, PC's and Tablets are usefull on board for several
other tasks besides e-mail, as our long list of applications can demonstrate! On this page, find a list of the main Apps and Software applications used on Shaula3 and Shaula4
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Webmaster: Gianfranco Balducci - email: gfbalduc@tin.it Last Update: 07/09/2017
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