AIS for Google Earth

[Xantusiidae]

A cruising friend of mine gave me a good idea for some navigation software.

He uses google earth as his charts, saving the places he wants in cache-
It all runs off his laptop.

I am currently in the process of using the same idea and running AIS software over them- so that I can see the vessels/ ships through google earth. I have also read that you can use maxsea as an overlay on this. Has anyone had any success with this or ideas on getting it to work?
cheers,
X

[foolishsailor]

Im not sure how that would work as there are no means to tell depth. Google earth works great as a planning tool especially combined with free to download pilot charts.

[sy_gilana]

There is a lot of info on this site under OpenCPN, use the search function.

[kwdoel]

A Panbo article on Boat Beacon shows how you can use the app on your iPhone as a AIS transponder to both see locations of nearby vessels and broadcast your location so friends back home can monitor your travels.

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog: Boat Beacon & MarineTraffic mAIS, yipee or yike?

[jackdale]

All of these require an Internet connection, do they not?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by jackdale

All of these require an Internet connection, do they not?

I wondered the same thing.

[kwdoel]

Boat Beacon requires a live internet connection to show other boats. According to the BoatBeaconApp.com website, cellular data coverage extends up to 15 miles out to sea and most popular boating areas are covered. The site also lists some coverage maps:

New Jersey:
Mobile World Live - Coverage Maps

Los Angeles and San Diego:
Mobile World Live - Coverage Maps

UK:
Vodafone UK Coverage Checker – Phone and iPad Coverage Near You

[jackdale]

Some of the internet based AIS sites have a warning that time delays can be to an hour.

Notices: Vessel positions may be up to one hour old or incomplete. Data is provided for informational reasons only and is not related by any means to the safety of navigation.

I know that these is the lawyers talking, but real AIS receivers do not have that warning.

I have used marinetraffic on my cell phone and found no delays, but that is in a fairly populated area (Haro Strait).

[hellosailor]

"cellular data coverage extends up to 15 miles out to sea"
It might even extend "up to" 32 miles before it is cut off by the cellular system, like voice coverage is. On a GSM system the criteria should be identical.

But "up to 15 miles" probably means two to three miles in most areas, same as typical voice coverage.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by jackdale

All of these require an Internet connection, do they not?

I´ve used google earth quite often as an addition to charts, and a very nice addition it is too. I just zoomed into the bits of interest while online and google earth keeps them in the cache for later. All hail google earth. With live rain radar now as well.

I´ve also played around with the google earth plugin on opencpn with a real ais engine plugged in so you could see both feeds. Though it was from the safety of a warm marina I think the having internet feed on it´s own could very well be worse than having nothing. It´s not even a snapshot of the recent past, for each target it´s a snapshot for some point in the past.

Better off without I would say.

[gonesail]

what good is google earth unless you are connected to the internet?

[conachair]

Originally Posted by gonesail

what good is google earth unless you are connected to the internet?

Look at the bits you are interested in while you have a connection. Data will still be there later. Been there , done that, it works very well.

[gpshephe]

wouldn't it be nice to have the whole google earth DB on your PC, or handheld? I wonder how big it is and if Google would share. Terrabytes I would think. Maybe download it on separate hard drives. One for the North Pacific, one for the South Pacific, etc..

[gpshephe]

Also, there is satellite access to the internet. Not cheap though

[Xantusiidae]

I can imagine the file size of the earth would be HUGE but I cannot imagine anyone downloading the whole thing! What I'm looking to do is what conachair has done + AIS. From my searching around it can be done by an AIS decoder. Apparently easily but unfortunately for me, it doesn't seem to recognize the AIS I have (groan), despite my laptop receiving it immediately! Thanks for your thoughts and if you have any more ideas- say!