subject: Your iPhone can be a backup to your navigation system [print this page] Your iPhone can be a backup to your navigation system
Do you use a GPS system? Do you have a backup plan?
Most people at some point will have used a GPS system. As well as the sat-nav in my car - which coincidentally is also an iPhone application, I also use a GPS sytem on my boat in the form of a chart-plotter, but is this enough? What happens if the GPS system fails?, or the GPS receiving ariel is damaged? When you are out at sea, the last thing you need is an equipment failure, so it's always wise to have a backup plan.
I personally also have a handheld GPS receiver, it's old and it's slow (bit like me) but it will give me a latitude, and a longitude which I can then transer to a paper chart - yes I do carry charts of the area I'm sailing in. So with my position marked on the chart, I know where I am, and will be able to work out a course to sail to get where I want to go.
With my iPhone, I also now have a backup to my backup plan. I got an iPhone about 1 year ago, after one of the lads I worked with was showing me a new app (application or program) he had for his. He was explaining that the iPhone had a built in GPS receiver, and there were sat nav apps available for it. At that point, I decided that I would get an iPhone myself. To see a screen shot of iPhone navigation app at work check out this article on my site.
So having purchased my iPhone, I paid a visit to the iTunes app store and browsed the navigation category there are approximately 4950 apps dedicated to navigation that must be purchased, and a further 1800 or so free navigation apps giving a grand total of over 7500 navigation apps of various description. For marine navigation, there is only a handful of apps available.
I personallyuse the Navionics chart apps. The area they cover is enormous, the price is as they say "cheap as chips", and they are almost as functional as my chart-plotter. You can zoom in, check on navigation marks, plot routes, they show water depth, and you will see your progress in real time. I have checked out my iPhone navigation app whilst using my chart-plotter, and the information is the same on both
So for anyone who owns an iPhone, and is thinking of getting a backup to their navigation system, look no further. You already have your own backup navigation solution literally in the palm of your hand.
