Routing comes up in Weather4D PRO 1.3

Weather4D PROAfter several months of intensive development and testing, under the conditions mentioned in a previous post, Olivier Bouyssou will offer his latest version of Weather4D PRO 1.3.0. At no additional cost, the routing module will simply be added with the update !

A career as a computer developer in the service of technical engineering combined with a solid mathematical background (¹) has enabled it to develop routing algorithms that have nothing to envy to the market leaders (²). Added to an interface that everyone agrees with, this new advanced feature that will appeal to both racers and cruisers, want to optimize their trips in the best conditions of safety and comfort. The new features will :

Routing :

  • Routing isochronous mixed (Sail and engine).
  • Polar efficiency adjustment in percentage.
  • Management of polar combined with multiple sails sets.
  • Refreshment of a route from actual location.
  • Importing Fleeces (CSV files) by the "Open in… ”.
  • Export route calculated by mail and "Open in… ”.
  • Conversion of the calculated route to a "normal" route (export to iNavX).

GRIB Files :

  • Request for fine grids files WRF by email (email, XGate, Iridium Mail) as for the GFS.

Read more …

Apps de navigation : what's new for the start of the school year

While I spent my summer diligently testing hardware and software in extremely arduous conditions, hard-working developers tirelessly aligned miles of lines of code to improve our navigation applications. What dedication, what self-sacrifice !

développeurs en action

Challenging working conditions…

Regarding navigation applications, the new features mainly come from Navionics Marine and iSailor Sex. To all lord all honor, let's start with the undisputed leader of our smartphones and tablets, Navionics charts… Read more …

iOS 5 can erase your Navionics charts without warning

Good surprise during the ARC transatlantic 2011.

After transferring photos from my device to my iPad, for an unknown reason the storage memory was full. I had 9GB free and I only transferred the contents of a 2GB SD-Card. Mystery !

Anyway, after two or three system messages warning me of the upcoming saturation, iOS 5 has simply deleted all my Navionics map used by iNavX !

When asked by e-mail, Rich Ray confirmed the fact possible :

"This is an unfortunate change in iOS5, the iOS will and can clear any apps downloaded data without notice if another app needs more space.. iOS doesn't give any notification to the app if this happens".

Olivier Bouyssou told me it was possible for developers to store application data in a folder reserved unerasable, but that this was rarely allowed by Apple. This was a big problem because no one knew how iOS selected which apps it cleared from.

Yachtmen my friends, be prudent : if you do not want to lose your charting during the cruise, away from any network allowing you to download them again, monitor the available space of your iPad and iPhone.

Navigation with iPad trainings : a complete solution

With Weather4D PRO and Iridium Mail, associés à un téléphone satellite Iridium, we now have a complete solution, reliable and low cost to receive, display and manage GRIB files in open seas with iPad.
iNavX and Navionics cartography also provide a complete navigation solution, supporting files transfers with Weather4D PRO : GRIB, routes, tracks, that allows simultaneous display in both applications.

Ces solutions, parfaitement complémentaires et cohérentes entre elles, ont été testées sur plus de 2800 NM in the automn during a crossing from Canaria to the Caribbean, on board Catana 47 « Rafale », token place in ARC rally 2011. In addition, Olivier Bouyssou a pu améliorer « au fil de l’eau » son application Weather4D Pro, correcting, adding and optimizing daily development onboard. Read more …

Weather4D PRO 1.0 integrates routes from iNavX

Weather4D ProThe new app Weather4D PRO for iOS (iPhone / iPad), developed by Olivier Bouyssou, was submited yesterday to Apple. It provides advanced functions associated with GRIB files for demanding users. It comes in addition to Weather4D app which was promoted as one of the best apps in Apple AppStore for few weeks.

This Pro version, quickly available, will provide following features :

GRIB files management :

  • Importation, sharing (export ), copy-paste, folders filing, history, request from SailDocs by email

Routes management :

  • Route import in KML format from iNavX or other apps, overlay route display with forecasts, boat progress with forecasts scrolling, route settings (heading, speed, date, etc…).

Iridium satellites tracking :

  • Prediction of transition from Iridium satellites to optimize the connections to run queries GRIB files. Automatic updating of ephemeris and parameter setting coverage (rising, timing). Read more …

iOS5 and iNavX update

Richard Ray informs us :

I noticed after updating to iOS 5 that all my maps downloaded in iNavX were gone. This happened because the iOS update 5 update requires a full restore of the device and the charts are not stored in the iOS backup (because of iCloud). Let me know if you experience any different operation.

To restore any NOAA charts, Select any NOAA region, then select the Recent filter (looks like a clock), then select "Update Maps".

To restore any charts from X-Traverse (Navionics charts, NV-Verlag, Solteknik, aso.) : Select the folio you want, select "Update Map List", select a map and then "Download all".

If you have any problem with your X-Traverse account, Contact support@x-traverse.com

Météo Consult is available on iPhone and iPad

Created in 1988, company Weather Consult was the first private weather company in France. She mainly developed paid forecasting services for professionals, leaving the public service Météo France to take care of the free forecasts for the general public. Meteo Consult is best known in the field of ocean racing, where it gained an almost exclusive dominance.

Become a subsidiary of Prosodie in 2000, it buys La Chaine Météo in 2006, then it was itself bought by the Le Figaro group at the end of 2008 (¹).

La Chaine MétéoThe "La Chaine Météo" application for iPhone appears as soon as 2009 (²). Of impeccable quality and ergonomics, This free app brings forecasts to 10 days, covers towns and beaches, provides video forecasts technical, regional and alerts. Despite its orientation towards the general public, it has been very useful information for coastal boaters.

This year, we are witnessing a complete change of strategy for Météo Consult.

Read more …

Crossing the Pacific with an iPad

Après mon premier billet Crossing the Atlantic with an iPad voici quelques captures d’écran fournies par Christophe Mahé entre Panama et les Iles Marquises, during his crossing last month. Just to dream a little, et de convaincre les derniers récalcitrants sur les capacités d’un iPad à fournir une position et tracer une route n’importe où sur le globe. Read more …