It’s never a good feeling when you are lost on your boat in an unfamiliar lake, yet on occasion even experienced boaters have had that unnerving feeling of losing their navigational way. However, if your boat is equipped with a Marine GPS unit, your chances of returning safely to shore increases exponentially.
It does not matter whether you use a standalone Marine GPS unit, or a handheld unit or have a GPS capable personal data (PDA) finding your bearings can be made much easier. Additionally, God forbid there is an emergency, you can use your marine GPS unit to give rescuers an exact location which would make you safe return to shore pretty much guaranteed and you will also get a quicker response.
When utilizing a handheld Marine GPS unit, it is best to first check the location when you are on the shore and market that down in your unit, in the event you get lost while you are out on the water. You can get to your destination in a quicker, safer, simpler manner by knowing where you are and where you need to go. Particularly if you are in water that you are not familiar with or a quick storm makes visibility nearly impossible. A Marine GPS unit can help you find yourself into a safe harbor in the event that you travel too far away from shore and loose any of your directional bearings that you were hoping you had if you maintained a line of sight.
Marking and Recalling Locations of Successful Fishing Spots
When on the water and your fishing and you come upon a suitable location that gives great results, you cannot put a ‘X’ on the water, but by utilizing a Marine GPS, you can do the next best thing. You can go back to the precise spot the next time you are looking for a place to catch fish, by marking the location that is revealed by the unit. There will be no judging location by a reference point on the shore and there will be no guessing involved because your Marine GPS unit has the data within it marked.
When boaters sometimes wander away from the territory that they are familiar with they need to send for help. Whether there was a malfunction on their boat or they lost their bearings on the lake and they have a need to guide the rescue craft to their location it becomes more crucial as time goes by. A Marine GPS unit on board can make your imminent rescue easier and faster if you can provide them with the exact location to give to a rescue craft.
In a more severe accident on the water, such as your boat sinking, then a quick rescue is in order. By utilizing a Marine GPS, particularly if equipped with a GPS locator, you can assist rescuers to find you near your last reported location. Having a starting point for a rescue operation can be a life-saving and critical piece of knowledge.
By: Korbin Newlyn
Posts Tagged ‘Gps Data’
Marine GPS Maintains Boater Safety
March 7th, 2010Free GPS Software
November 24th, 2009
I took a look at some of the online offers for free GPS software and found, like many “free” offers there were often limits and provisos involved. Often the freeware is a scaled–down version of purchasable products. Sometimes the free product has restricted functionality with features disabled, other products are trial–based and are disabled after a certain time (hours or days or use).
An example of limited free GPS software can be found at GPS Utility. The downloadable freeware is limited 100 waypoints and 500 track points. (There are 65,000 of each in the registered version of their program.) The free program gives you a good opportunity to try before you buy, and this is the benefit of most free programs.
There are online sites that list various free GPS software and describe how to use the programs after you download them. Often individuals who have used the programs themselves develop the sites. These are great because they give you an unbiased interpretation of the benefits and disadvantages of the programs before you use them.
Using free GPS software you can download programs that allow you to retrieve and display aerial photos, topographical maps, USGS landmarks. There are programs available that allow you import scanned images and add latitude and longitude points and other data.
Free GPS software downloads are available for PDA units that are capable of communication with GPS receivers. With these downloads you can have a useful navigation assistant, location database manager, and GPS data converter.
Programs to manage GPS waypoint and route files are available for both PC and Mac users. The waypoints and route files can be saved or converted to various formats used by other mapping programs.
If you need to transfer information to and from your GPS receiver and your home computer or laptop there are several free programs that allow you to do so. There are also programs that allow Garmin GPS receivers to “talk” to one another.
Many of the programs listed here are directed at the hiking/trekker community, but there are also free programs available for auto GPS systems and marine navigational systems. I found a couple of marine navigation programs that allow you to download nautical charts and plotters.
There are free GPS software programs that allow you to download street maps that might not be included in your auto–navigation system. If you intend downloading in–vehicle software, make sure that it has audio capacity, an essential safety factor for motorists. One such program offers data for several countries with voice guidance in twelve languages.
Free GPS software is also available for downloading to your cell phone. This is mostly tracking software and can be phone specific. You might want to check with your carrier before downloading anything to your cell phone to make sure that it does not incur extra charges.
As satellites are constantly moving, it is helpful to know the optimal time for data collection in your area. There is free GPS software that includes an almanac to let you know the availability of satellites at any given time.
Some of the free GPS software is brand specific. Programs designed for a Garmin receiver may not work for a Magellan, so check out the specifications carefully, especially if you intend purchasing a registered version after your trial period. Other software works with most brands.
By: Anne King
