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Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 17, 2011 12:24:57 GMT -8
I'm considering buying a hand-held GPS, for use in ferry-spotting. My budget is say $150 and I'd hopefully be able to use it for both ferry-spotting and urban navigation.
- ferry spotting would be for "what ship is coming up the strait, that we're going to pass?"
I'm a newbie at this.
- would a GPS tell me the name of the ships in the vicinity, or just show a moving dot?
I don't have an IPhone or Blackberry, so if it's sounding like what I'm really needing is SiiTech from my phone, then maybe I should forget about the GPS device and consider getting a better phone.
Let me know if you have some advice. Thanks !
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Post by Ferryman on Jan 17, 2011 13:19:32 GMT -8
I'm not really up to date on all of the latest gadgets and gizmos, GPS's in particular. But I can say that it would need some sort of way of picking up AIS data, which is the info you're looking for with tracking ships. As far as I know, there are no such GPS's with such compatibility, or not at a cheap cost at least. I just tried doing an internet search to see what I could find, and any GPS I could find with AIS compatability was more of a fixed system you would install on a vessel.
In short answer, I'd say you're better off to invest in a better phone. I know iphones have an app that shows AIS similar to Siitech. I have a smartphone which I use on the internet all the time, but is pretty limited to which websites I can properly view. It's really only good for social networking sites like Facebook, but it will not view Siitech or this forum. But then again, this phone was only $80 at a phone kiosk in the mall.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jan 17, 2011 13:36:09 GMT -8
Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.
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Post by lmtengs on Jan 17, 2011 15:59:26 GMT -8
If budget were not an option, you could always just get a netbook and get a Rogers Mobile Internet Stick for internet access, then you could buy an automotive AC Power converter for your cigarette outlet to plug the netbook in, and there's your mobile AIS tracker. For the GPS part, you could get a GPS receiver for your netbook. Once you've got all that, just set it all up in your car/truck and ta-da! You have you're very own high-tech, state-of-the-art ferry stalking system!  |
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Kam
Voyager 
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Jan 17, 2011 17:20:21 GMT -8
I just pull up the Siitech website on my Android phone... works great!
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bargain
Oiler (New Member)
Posts: 44 
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Post by bargain on Jan 18, 2011 14:36:55 GMT -8
I'd recommend an Android phone. You can access Siitech or MarineTraffic via the web browser. You can also download MarineTraffic's web application. www.marinetraffic.com/ais/services.aspxMarineTraffic app for Android
MarineTraffic application is available for Android devices. Open the Android Market on your mobile device and search for 'marinetraffic'. Alternatively, open the current page in the web browser of your mobile device and click on the following link: market://search?q=pname:com.marinetraffic
Furthermore with the latest Android OS and phone hardware you can run Google Earth Android edition. The only downside is, some caching aside, the device won't be of much use outside of areas with cell service. When I'm in the ferry line-up or on the boat I usually tether my netbook to my Android phone and pull up Siitech or MarineTraffic on there. |
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Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Jan 18, 2011 15:16:11 GMT -8
I just pull up the Siitech website on my Android phone... works great! Hope the chequing account used to pay the bill does too!  I actualy use very litte bandwidth. Regular web browsing tends not to use much, its videos and music that will kill you. I have a 500MB package on my phone and have yet to go over 150. |
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Post by DENelson83 on Jan 18, 2011 15:44:37 GMT -8
Of course, if you're into do-it-yourself projects, you could always build your own AIS receiver.
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Post by BreannaF on Jan 19, 2011 23:01:03 GMT -8
I'd recommend an Android phone. You can access Siitech or MarineTraffic via the web browser. You can also download MarineTraffic's web application. www.marinetraffic.com/ais/services.aspxMarineTraffic app for Android
MarineTraffic application is available for Android devices. Open the Android Market on your mobile device and search for 'marinetraffic'. Alternatively, open the current page in the web browser of your mobile device and click on the following link: market://search?q=pname:com.marinetraffic
Furthermore with the latest Android OS and phone hardware you can run Google Earth Android edition. The only downside is, some caching aside, the device won't be of much use outside of areas with cell service. When I'm in the ferry line-up or on the boat I usually tether my netbook to my Android phone and pull up Siitech or MarineTraffic on there. I just tried the Marine Traffic app on my Motorola Droid 2 Android phone, and it seemed to do as well as one might expect with any app. It is not anything as nice as using it on a computer, but there is a boat name there at least to ID the ship. (It had ship name and speed only.) Certainly not worth switching phones over. (And since it does appear to be a streaming service, it will tend to use a lot of bandwidth.) Of course, I've had the phone 3 months, and will probably only really figure out how to get the most out of it just about the time it becomes obsolete. I did try going to Siitech's site, and the phone's built-in browser really doesn't like the site. The Home page tries to reload over and over, and the actual tracking page will only partially load on my phone's screen. Any of you techies know what I am doing wrong? |
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Post by lmtengs on Feb 26, 2011 11:55:22 GMT -8
MarineTraffic has released a mobile application!
I've already installed it! ;D
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Post by DENelson83 on Feb 22, 2012 20:43:32 GMT -8
Too bad the only Android device I has is a Craig CLP281 netbook that Android Market will not support.
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KE7JFF
Chief Steward
Posts: 106
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Post by KE7JFF on Feb 22, 2012 21:42:21 GMT -8
I have a circa 2001 Magellan handheld GPS that I picked up at a garage sale for $25 USD that the previous owner loaded both the Marine and Land maps onto it.
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