Considering the depth and breadth of knowledge available here, there almost has to be at least one mariner/sailor.
So, here's the problem (may be TL;DR material).
A close friend of mine has a
sailing school (if you look at the site, don't blame him, that's my fault), and he's pretty damned good at teaching folk to sail. He's been sailing for 'bout twenty (20) years, teaching for seven (7) to ten (10) years (I'm not certain, but at least seven (7)), and started his own school two (2) years ago. He wants a tablet/laptop chart viewer/plotter. It could be Android, iOS, Linux (other than Android but installable on a tablet) or Windows. We can test everything but the Apple stuff right now, but he's not averse to getting an iPad if that will support the required software.
NOAA provides coastal US charts in both RNC (raster format) and ENC (vector format). RNC is OK for viewing, but it does not scale well. ENC, with the proper software, can be edited,
e.g., plot courses, track GPS coordinates, and the like.
Capt. Chris wants to be able to enter, or ideally, let his students enter, courses they've plotted for a class (the plotting is pen/paper/ruler/divider stuff) on a tablet or laptop, then let them be able to see their progress, via GPS or compass and clock, during the sail. This would serve multiple purposes,
e.g., a sense of time/distance relationships, ability to
hold a course (not as simple as it might appear when you're not on the boat in open ocean or a good-sized bay (which ours is)), and the like. If it's something that can be done on a tablet, he'll mount the tablet on a bulkhead, so his kids can see real-time reinforcement (or need for correction) of what they've plotted.
I've found some [marginal] stuff, but a lot of it is CLI, and most of Chris' students will be much more comfortable with something GUI. It has become evident that my search skills are inadequate to the task, so I'm turning to the
uber searchers.
Any takers?
