MyNOAACharts on Android Tablet

[onestepcsy37]

anybody out there using this?

i just installed it on my samsung galaxy tablet. easy to get from the google play store. the application has a built in 'loader' for any or all of the NOAA charts AND coast pilots.

having a good time playing with it....

[Nicholson58]

what is the cost? Can you download & save for the times you are away from service?

[onestepcsy37]

sorry, should have been more informative the first time.

it's provided by NOAA, my favorite taxpayer supported government agency, and is absolutely free. just look it up on the google play store and download it.

it has a menu which allows you to install charts and/or coast pilots from all of the regions around the usa and offshore, one region at a time. it will use the gps facility on your tablet to track you across the charts.

i haven't had time yet to really play with it but if all you ever use it for is just to view charts it's worth the cost - which is zero.

i tried to download it to my samsung galaxy adnroid phone but google play store wouldn't allow that. apparently it's only available at the tablet level for now.

[Snore]

I was looking at an android device the other day for $200. There was some confusion in the big box store regarding GPS. Does your device have a GPS?

Thanks

[onestepcsy37]

i'm still educating myself on tablets. my samsung galaxy tablet has gps, but i don't think it's the kind of gps that we sailors use; it's some kind of cell tower assisted location which i'm not familiar with. it's called A-GPS and i think it uses the cell tower to give it a general location and then refines that down to a real location. but don't quote me on this.

if anyone out there can enlighten me on this i'm all ears....

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

i'm still educating myself on tablets. my samsung galaxy tablet has gps, but i don't think it's the kind of gps that we sailors use; it's some kind of cell tower assisted location which i'm not familiar with. it's called A-GPS and i think it uses the cell tower to give it a general location and then refines that down to a real location. but don't quote me on this.

if anyone out there can enlighten me on this i'm all ears....

If your phone has a GPS it is a real GPS and only uses the cell towers to acquire the satellites more quickly. It's the same GPS technology sailors use. The accuracy might not be as good as a dedicated receiver but it should be good enough for general sailing. And if out of range of cell towers it will still work.

[Unkle Toad]

Downloading and installing on my nexus 7. thank you for sharing Ill let you all know how it works if I have a chance to remember I have it with me next time I go sailing.

[StuM]

> The accuracy might not be as good as a dedicated receiver but it should be good enough for general sailing.

I find the GPS on my Motorola Xoom tablet and on my Samsung Galaxy phone are both just as accurate as my Garmin 78SC.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by StuM

> The accuracy might not be as good as a dedicated receiver but it should be good enough for general sailing.

I find the GPS on my Motorola Xoom tablet and on my Samsung Galaxy phone are both just as accurate as my Garmin 78SC.

I said "might' because not all phone GPS receivers have WAAS. But for boating purposes that is not a big deal unless you depend on a previous track to guide you through a very narrow hazard. Do Samsung units have WAAS enabled?

[StuM]

No WAAS in this part of the world

[DeepFrz]

The gps on my Sony Xperia android phone registers when I move my hand across the table, maybe 2 - 3 ft. It also has very quick acquisition times as it uses the cell towers to assist in positioning.

[wunderluster]

Thanks onestepCSY37 for the posting. I have the nexus 7 on my wish list and this app would be great to have.

David

[Rick R]

If it works the same way as Apples A-GPS (and it probably does), you need not be concerned with accuracy. Even without WAAS, GPS is accurate to within about 3 meters, and cell phone towers are used only to give the unit a rough location to hasten startup. This is useful only if the unit was moved a long way while turned off, or if it has been turned off for a long time (weeks or months).

[onestepcsy37]

thanks all you guys for educating me about tablet/cellphone gps. i was always a bit skeptical about how much of a gps you could cram into such a small device that was not dedicated to gps only.

as far as accuracy to a few meters, i don't need it and don't think any sailor should; if things are that close you should be looking out the window, not at your gps!

i think you will really like mynoaacharts, even if you just use it to download the whole chart catalog to your tablet and view them. it's really easy to use at that level.

one thing i've already learned; use the + and - buttons to zoom in and out of a place you're looking at. at some levels you get detail and at other levels you don't. takes a bit of experimenting to learn this. i'm not faulting noaa - my coastal explorer chart reader does the same thing.