1. nooberry's Avatar
    are there any programs for curve or storm that would help with ocean or lake navigation on a sailboat? anything at all? this would be awesome and save me a ton of money. is there anything extra I might need like one of those gps key chain things. i dont even know what they do but what ever. Am i the only sailor with a black berry? help guys
    12-23-08 03:04 PM
  2. delta_foxtrot2's Avatar
    Can you explain a little more as to the requirements of such a program?

    the 8330 has internal GPS, but it may be cheaper/easier to get a bluetooth GPSr than screw about with the stuff Verizon put in place to screw you over.
    12-23-08 03:19 PM
  3. nooberry's Avatar
    would like to get longitue and latitude. also if there is anything that will give me on screen compass wind speed and a more detailed outline of islands and coastlines. speed traveled and if there was anything that could tell me what was under the water that would rock. so what does that little keychain gps thing do again?
    12-23-08 03:50 PM
  4. Pete6's Avatar
    See if this fits the bill http://forums.crackberry.com/f41/app...ut-maps-20979/ You will have the comb the thread for BlackStar 1.3.2 which is the latest version. The app is free and works really well You can also slect the text and save the Lat. Long info and paste it into email.

    You may also wish to get http://forums.crackberry.com/f35/cap...capture-94853/ which allows screen capture to a jpg image file to the Media Card. Capture It is also free.
    12-23-08 04:16 PM
  5. Pete6's Avatar
    would like to get longitue and latitude. also if there is anything that will give me on screen compass wind speed and a more detailed outline of islands and coastlines. speed traveled and if there was anything that could tell me what was under the water that would rock. so what does that little keychain gps thing do again?
    What you are asking for is a fairly complete application. I'll help as best I can and I'll take the easy questions first and work up to the harder ones.

    The little keychain thing is a GPS receiver. It receives signals from the orbittilg GPS satelites and converts then into a data stream that is interpreted by programs running on phones or PCs. Your 8330 has a GPS receover bult in so you don't need the puck - except for the fact that Verizon have locked the internal receiver so that it can only be used with Verizon's $10/month own GPS package. However all is not lost. Verizon have just released a new version of the BlackBerry Operating System for your phone which works with several BlackBerry compatible GPS programs.

    Cell phones and their networks were originally designed for use mainly on land and today's Verizon phones and network have not evolved for use very far off shore. When the phone loses its signal you can't call out or receive calls. The same is true of data streams that bring you chart information. On land it is simple. Your phone hops from mast to mast but at sea, the phone can only work to the closest mast and once in a remote area or over the horizon from shore it cannot send or receive anything.

    Latitude and Logditude information as well as heading, speed and altitude (hopefully =>0 for you) is calculable directly from the satellites but coastal data needs a database that may be accessed as the above information changes. WHilst you are in range of a cell mast or tower you can theoretically receive this but out of range requires a local database on the phone, maritime GPS device or PC (don't get it wet). These cost money because somebody had to go and survey the areas cruised in order to play it back for you.

    As to what is under the water (bad choice of words there - lol) surveryng becomes more difficult especially in shoaling or estuary waters and any purchased charts (eitehr paper or software) go out of date fairly quickly as I am sure you know so these cost money too.

    The little app I pointed you to will give accurate readings all the time it can see satellites and will enable you to plot your position on a paper chart. I think that this may be the best that you can do without spending a ton of money but the money option may keep your boat afloat and be easier to use.
    12-23-08 04:39 PM
  6. nooberry's Avatar
    awesome thats really good info. im sure with longitude and latitude i should be ok. and free is just at the top of my price range so i will give it a shot. also my curve has the new software update so that should help. i work for verizon and i get 50% off so im only paying 5 bucks a months for the vz nav which isnt bad at all. so i need to download that other softwear through desktop manager or is it ota as well? anyways thanks for all the great information. its been helpfull
    12-23-08 05:26 PM
  7. nooberry's Avatar
    oh never mind i found it thanks
    12-23-08 05:35 PM
  8. delta_foxtrot2's Avatar
    BlackStar 1.3.2 which is the latest version.
    Actually 1.3.5 or 1.3.3.5 or something is, you can now do OTA installs

    http://gpsnavigation.googlecode.com/files/BlackStar.jad
    12-23-08 06:02 PM
  9. nooberry's Avatar
    yea i did that but i guess 4.5 os dosent like it. i thought the new os was supposed to be more gps friendly... hmm oh well i guess i can wait till my storm comes in
    12-23-08 06:09 PM
  10. shaggymatt's Avatar
    Just ran into this thread.

    I've been playing with GPSed and today downloaded InstaMapper. Both offer nautical speeds/distance as an option.

    You can display lat/lon and speed.

    I have a boat with no electronics, class rules prohibit them during racing. I intend on using my Storm for some data sampling, and downloading the courses later and overlaying it to google earth so that I can see what impacts the shoreline has on the wind shifts.

    I can actually use the gear in racing, as long as I'm not monitoring it/using it to better my performance at the current time.

    You would still need paper charts, slide rules, etc. for navigation but you could pull the coordinates at least off of the programs to get your fix.

    I haven't had a chance yet to use the InstaMapper software. In their FAQ's though on the site, it says something about the default sample rate when under 20mph is once every 60 seconds. This won't be frequent enough for me, if that can't be changed, so it may push me back to using GPSed for my purposes.
    01-06-09 02:10 PM
  11. dooks88's Avatar
    I would also love a boating/chart app. Something like this app which is available for the iPhone/iPod touch.

    iNavX™ - Marine Navigation App for iPhone
    01-06-09 04:22 PM
  12. delta_foxtrot2's Avatar
    TrekBuddy? Although it's interface is a bit funky on the storm.
    01-06-09 04:31 PM
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