One of the most valuable uses for a computer on board is to gather weather information, whether it's checking up on the Inshore Forecast while you're safely moored within wi fi range in the marina, or tracking tropical storms via satphone in mid ocean.
SmartMet is a new weather information service, launched at the Southampton Boat Show, running on your PC and downloading data from the internet to help you decide which route to take.
It will shortly be available through resellers and online. The good news is that at the moment it is available as a beta release for free download from Smartcom Software's website. The price is £49, which covers a 12-month licence for the software and unlimited access to the weather data.
SmartMet offers all the weather information you are ever likely to need, including forecasts and weather reports from both ground stations and satellites. This includes wind speed and direction, pressure, air temperature, surface temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, fog, icing, satellite image, wave height, direction and period, and for North West Europe, tidal stream and height, and surface currents for the Mediterranean.
SmartMet claims to be unique in bringing together such a comprehensive source of weather information in a single, seamless environment. Some of the satellite-based data has not been generally available before.
Weather forecasts are either standard resolution (0.5 degree, three hour time steps) or high resolution (0.2 degree, one hour time steps). More detailed information is available all over Europe, and standard resolution forecasts globally.
The user selects the weather information he wants, as well as the time and area he is interested in. The data is then downloaded from MIDAS Weather's servers in a highly compressed format to make it fast on mobile and satellite phones.
Tim Thornton of Smartcom says it is much faster than viewing web pages and faster than downloading GRIB files. “The software talks directly to the server, and the data comes directly into a single, seamless database, so there is no messing about with sending e-mails, or dealing with a multiplicity of data files.”
To view the data, the user simply ticks boxes to select the information he wants, and paints his own weather map, the way he wants it. He could select pressure isobars, satellite images and wind forecasts and reports as scaled arrows, for example. He can then zoom in and out on the map, pan to where he wants and step through time to see the weather information.
There is also the option to import GRIB weather forecasts from alternative sources, and export them for use in other chart plotting and weather routing software.
Tim Thornton said the aim of Smartcom was to provide software for every on board need except chart plotting - “there are already plenty of those!”
SmartMet fits neatly into a portfolio which also includes:
- Smartcom, for flexible, fast, mobile internet connection. It is available in three versions, mobile (£39) which supports land line, GSM, GPRS and 3G connections, Satellite (£69) which adds Inmarsat, Iridium, Thuraya and Globalstar satphones, and Network (£149) which allows access by more than one user across a computer network.
- Tidewizard, for tide height prediction, which is available in several versions, covering the British Isles (£19.95), Europe (£34.95), Worldwide (£99), North America and Caribbean (£54), Australia and New Zealand (£54). All includes predictions until the end of the century.
- Winastro, for astro navigation on your PC (£24.95)
- PC Navtex, to receive Navtex messages on your PC (£99)
- PCSatC, advanced control software for Inmarsat C (£99 or £149 with auto reporting option)
For more information visit www.smartcomsoftware.com
