Android Development Underway

[bobs]

Overhere in Europe we're also looking forward on the outcome.
Has anyone contacted Dave (nickname bdbcat ) from OpenCPN yet to hear if he's working on an android version ?

Thanks and kind regards

[manimaul]

Originally Posted by bobs

Overhere in Europe we're also looking forward on the outcome.
Has anyone contacted Dave (nickname bdbcat ) from OpenCPN yet to hear if he's working on an android version ?

Thanks and kind regards

Hi bobs... I'm in contact with Dave from time to time. He is currently working with OpenGL for OpenCPN which may indirectly help bring some of the vector chart formats that OpenCPN supports over to us on Android. I do know that he has been dabbling around with some Android programming and Java (ehem... Dalvik). However, I don't believe he is working on porting all of OpenCPN over.

Will

[manimaul]

MX Mariner 1.1 is scheduled for release this Friday, December 2. Thank you to everyone who helped beta test.

Here is a demonstration video:

MX Mariner - Marine Navigation - YouTube

[idpnd]

Nice, congrats I really enjoy the snappy/playful style of UI/chart zooming/panning, how is that done?

[travler37]

Originally Posted by manimaul

Looks interesting. This might be fun to play with also: Pandaboard

W

And Q2 has a hiden ap that actually has a key logger in in that we realy dont know who recives it........WHO HAS A STORAGE DEVICE THAT CAN STORE/SORT ALL THIS INFO?........for the simple minded whoever THEY are THEY have the capacity to store all your text messages and do if you bought this.......Makes you think.......
Mark

[Cormorant]

Cool app! Can you talk a bit about what features this has that Navionics doesn't? (I've already got Navionics and am just wondering whether to keep/replace.) How does MXMariner handle waypoints and routes?

[Hyprdrv]

You had me sold when I saw the Zoom!

Steve in Solomons MD
Lagoon 410 SE

[bobs]

Nice application Will.
I suppose no European charts are available for this program ?

It looks like the tablets and associated software (navigation) tools will conquer the maritime world rather sooner than later.
If I where Raymarine or an other manufacturor I would start worrying with respect to my marketshare.
Immagin a waterproof tablet (with a fraction of the cost of the average plotter) that can be used anywhere , with a abondancy of applications like navigation , internet , cellphone , movie theater and so on.
Man, there's a bright future for these gadgets.
Who will be the first to market such an allrounder ?

Regards

[stevensuf]

There are quite a few waterproof daylight tablets on the market already! They are expensive but price is falling! Considering the mass market for waterproof daylight tablets, they should become very widespread and cheap very soon.

[bobs]

Yes, of course Steven , I was also talking about cheap and affordable waterproof daylight tablets.
I really really really see a promising market for that.

But then again , it's all about how long you're willing to wait before buying .
The pioneers (customers) pay the development costs is it not ?

Kind regards

[stevensuf]

fuji or fujitso have one out around 500 uk pounds not fully rugged but waterproof.

[manimaul]

Originally Posted by idpnd

Nice, congrats I really enjoy the snappy/playful style of UI/chart zooming/panning, how is that done?

Thanks Phil. Fortunately Android has some decent libraries available for mapping. What makes it snappy is pre-processing and quilting all of the charts so your Android device has much less processing to do. It took my i7-2600K with 24GB ram 2 solid weeks, all 8 processor cores maxed out to per-process the entire NOAA catalog of charts. Lots of phone battery life and time waiting saved! I'm using 100% open source software to do this:

https://github.com/manimaul/MX-Mariner
osmdroid - OpenStreetMap-Tools for Android - Google Project Hosting
GDAL: GDAL - Geospatial Data Abstraction Library
CGTK - GEMF Map Store Format
tilers-tools - A few scripts for tiled maps creation and manipulation - Google Project Hosting

[manimaul]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Cool app! Can you talk a bit about what features this has that Navionics doesn't? (I've already got Navionics and am just wondering whether to keep/replace.) How does MXMariner handle waypoints and routes?

Thanks Cormorant. The Navionics app has lots of features and is a good app. I've used and own both the Navionics and EarthNC app on Android. I think the big difference form me is intended use. I use my Xoom tablet and MX Mariner as my primary navigation device on the boat. I don't think Navionics intends their app to be used this way. You can see what MX Mariner features are available now and which ones are planned here. For me it essential to be able to dim the screen super low and for the screen to stay on until I turn it off. So, for now those are the two features we have over Navionics.

W

[fgd3]

Looking really good. The demonstration video was most impressive.

Fabbian

[Cormorant]

Thanks -- that development schedule is very helpful.

Okay. I'm going to stand in line at the Android Marketplace and buy the first copy. Will you autograph it?

Good luck with this. Really excellent work, and I hope you find a big audience.