[Rhodes22-list] iPad as chartplotter

[Gregg MacMillan]

This was posted on the trailsail list, but thought some of your here  
would be interested.

I have the iPad and the new iPhone, but have not tried this yet.

--Gregg

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We recently purchased an Apple iPad. Its coolness factor just jumped  
an order of magnitude when I found and downloaded a complete set of  
digital charts for all the Great Lakes for all of $25 (Navionics). You  
can pan and zoom to your heart's content, since these are vector  
charts. Plotting a route via a series of waypoints is simple--just  
touch the screen at each waypoint, then tell it to group those  
waypoints as a route. The screen is much larger than the one on our  
Garmin Chartplotter.

If you have a 3g ipad, the software will show your position  
continuously via the built-in gps (no cellular connection needed). If  
you have a wi-fi only ipad, you can buy an inexpensive bluetooth gps  
and use that (altho this approach does require jailbreaking the ipad).

At any rate, the ipad could be used as a large chartplotter, with the  
caveats that it is not marinized as are many chartplotters, it does  
not include some bells and whistles such as a MOB button, and the  
screen can be a bit hard to read in direct sunlight. We plan to use it  
as an adjunct to our paper charts to reduce the wear and tear on them,  
as it makes it so easy to look around at with whatever chart scale we  
want. It can also calculate the distance between any two moveable  
points. I'm also going to get a bluetooth gps so I can play with it as  
a back-up chart plotter.

If you already have an iphone, the same charts are available for it,  
but the screen is quite a bit smaller than that of the ipad. Word is  
that the ipad's gps is a bit better, but both work.

Mike

p.s. as one of the cruise leaders, I must add that it is prudent have  
paper charts even if you have electronic charts...