ONBOARD
All in the palm of the hand?
Ipad: Runs a bevy of apps for sailors
Navigation aids have really embraced portability in recent years. Charts are available for tablets and
smartphones, while specialist marine manufacturers have launched wonder gizmos, such as the Garmin GPSMap 78S – a weatherproof plotter that you wear around your neck (CB282). Now, Apple’s latest iPad has become a serious contender, with the addition of assisted GPS capability.
LARGE SCREEN The tablet’s size makes it much better than a phone for chartwork, allowing you to see more of the hinterland if you are closing the coast, and more information like buoyage. You can use it with raster charts (like a paper chart, where the information is there and you zoom in on it), or a vector chart (layered, with information windows giving more detail). These charts and the applications to run them can be downloaded from the internet, typically at a price of £20 or so (for the Navionics charts of Britain and Holland). Charts are also available from Garmin, Imray and the UKHO. Ipad’s most obvious advantage is its price. When compared to a chartplotter, it’s quite competitive, plus it does all the other stuff, like giving you internet access, watching films, email and so on. And, if security is an issue, it’s also portable, which means it can be taken off the
64 CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2012
Below: Readable and flexible, but the iPad isn’t weatherproof and needs a mobile signal for GPS
boat, unlike most plotters, which are fitted into a bulkhead. The iPad works quite well in sunlight and is not too power hungry. There are also back-up battery devices, which extend its life between charges – for small boat cruising, for example. A lack of weatherproofing is the
tablet’s immediate let-down, though Aquapac has just launched a case that should address this. Any nav aid that is restricted to fair weather use seems poorly designed, and yet it’s not so long ago we relied on paper charts on the chart table with information relayed from
instruments on deck: log and compass, and a sextant offshore. But even the new iPad relies on the 3G phone network for accurate GPS signals. To keep it going offshore, you’ll need to buy a GPS dongle, like the Bad Elf receiver (£80). Admiralty raster charts are available for the iPad using an app like Memory Map (£4.99). The entire set of 800 or so charts costs £50 – but you do seem to have to buy them all, which takes up 700MB of memory. One of the most popular apps is the iNavX,
which costs £31.
Just how clever are ‘smart’ nav aids, asks Dan Houston
Left to right: Chart selection; tidal information; aerial photos in Imray charts; detailed coverage
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