Boat Beacon Ais Marine Navigation 2.1

Description:

See and be seen on your boat in Coastal and Inland waters via AIS with 60 mile Collision Detection using just your iPhone or iPad. Does not require any external AIS transponder or receiver equipment.

"Great AIS tool ★★★★
I have both inboard AIS displayed on my Raytheon E80s and Boat Beacon on my iPhone/iPad. In Lake Erie I find that Boat Beacon locates MANY more targets than my VHF AIS system" Michael O'Mara

Key Features
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Over the horizon Collision avoidance (60 miles radius) using continuous Closest Point of Approach (CPA) calculations - highlights boats that are on a potential collision course and alarms.

Continually transmits and receives position information and calculates and alarms CPA even when the app is in the background.

Updates position, speed, heading and bearing of ships and boats near you and transmits your boats position, speed and heading to Global AIS Systems and other Boat Beacon users every minute.

Live Map view with compass overlay rotates with you so you can look in the direction of the ships on the map to locate them.

Ship to Ship Instant Messaging. Chat directly with other Boat Beacon users in real time for free.

Man Overboard tracking, Anchor watch and Theft email alarm.

Arm all the crews in a race with Boat Beacon and have real time updates on the race positions - inland or at sea - and have the folks back in the Club house watch too on a large screen with Boat Beacon's TV/Video Out support

Keep a watch and in touch with other boats in your flotilla when sailing in a group.

Let Friends and Family see where you are and where you're headed to on Boat Beacon and leading AIS systems like ShipFinder, Marine Traffic and AIS-Hub which have free web viewers available.

Ideal for busy and popular harbours, ports and coastal areas upto 15 miles out to sea.

Designed by a Skipper for Skippers it can also be used on land so your friends and family can keep a weather eye on you.

Boat Beacon requires internet access to work. Most popular coastal areas in the US have cellular data access extending 12 or more miles out to sea. The UK has nearly complete coastal coverage out to 12 miles. AIS Ship data is provided by a network of voluntary AIS shore based stations. Some areas may not have AIS coverage.

N.B. This is not an AIS transponder. You will not be visible to other ships on their AIS systems unless they also use data from the same land based AIS networks.

Requirements:
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iPhone or iPad with Compass and GPS.
Internet connection.

You can use Boat Beacon without using the AIS transmit feature. AIS transmit requires a valid MMSI number assigned to show up on the various AIS map systems. AIS Transmit mode also allows access to better AIS Ship coverage (3 fold). If you don't have an MMSI for your boat you can normally get one for free. In the US you can obtain a free one in a few minutes by visiting http://www.boatus.com/mmsi (the USCG approved agent) and using their online form. In the UK visit http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/spectrum/mmsi.

Currently works with ShipFinder, MarineTraffic and AIS Hub (and other sites that use AIS Hub)

Please note that continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

NOT FOR NAVIGATION

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful. Boat Beacon should only be used for basic navigation reference and should not be solely relied upon to determine precise locations, proximity, distance, or direction.