Wiley Nautical, best known as publishers of books for yachtsmen, including the Cruising Companion series, has launched a new nautical weather service.
Delivering the latest seven-day forecasts to desktop, laptop or mobile phone, the service is described as “the lightning fast route to weather forecasts on the go or at home.” Mainland, inshore and offshore forecasts are all offered, covering more than 600 UK locations.
There are two separate programs on offer, Desktop, for home computers and laptops and Mobile for mobile phones. Both programs are free downloads. The desktop forecasts are also provided free and use is unlimited.
The forecasts, given in three-hour intervals for the first three days and eight-hour intervals for the remainder of the forecast period, include temperature, wind speed and direction, gust speed, rainfall, cloud cover, wave height and direction, UV, humidity and barometric pressure, as well as sunrise and sunset times.
Users can choose and set up default forecasts, so that they can get what they want with a single click, and they can print out the forecast to take it with them - or take a laptop aboard and get free updates along the way.
Alternatively you can download the free mobile weather program to your mobile phone. Once the program has been installed on the phone, the first three forecasts are free, to allow the user to test the system. After that, the mobile forecasts are charged for.
Wherever there's reception you can get a rich graphical forecast on your mobile that's clear and simple to read - and packs in far more information than SMS messages, says the company.
Three payment systems are available for mobile use:
- Subscription for those who want frequent forecasts. These unlimited usage options range from one week to one year. Prices can be “as low as a few pence per forecast”
- Prepaid bundles for those who need frequent forecasts over a short period of time, for instance during a holiday cruise
- One-off charge for those who want an occasional forecast. The download is charged to the user's phone bill by the network operator
Using the same mobile platform, Wiley Nautical plans to introduce nautical data downloads in the coming months. Calling on the wealth of information made available through Wiley's recent acquisition of the Cruising Companion series, port and marina plans, port facilities and contacts, tides and waypoints for UK ports will soon be offered.
The Wiley Nautical weather programs are both powered by Zoboa software.
For more information visit www.zoboa.com/store/wiley/home.php
