Interactive sailing route planning tool – does it make a sense?

[d.mon]

Hi guys,

I have an idea to create free interactive sailing route planning tool for all sailors around the world.

I will really appreciate your advice!

Idea is to give to sailors ability to:
- Plan your route with any quantity of legs (waypoints) by simple double clicking on the map
- Use valuable information on map for route planning (eg marinas, anchorage, divesites etc)
- Divide route by sailing days (it will help to plan your vacation)
- Show all the details of route in spreadsheet below the map (coordinates, course to steer, ETA etc)
- Save route in your account for future use/editing
- Download track, waypoints, pdf-with all the details

Also there is an idea to allow registered users to add/edit valuable information for public use (after moderation), such as:
- Marina’s info
- Anchorage information
- Divesites
- Fishing point
- Shore POI’s
- Anything else?

All this data will be displayed on map as separate layer and will help sailor plan their trip. Sailors are able to add/remove points form map by simply mark/unmark checkbox.

Will this have any value for planning your sailing trip?
Please share your experience and help me understand the requirements better!

Thanks,

[delatbabel]

It sounds useful but how would it work? Web based? We don't usually have web access on board. Many of the sailing software packages, e.g. OpenCPN, already have similar functionality and it sounds like a lot of work.

[d.mon]

Thank you for answer!

Yes, it could be web based online application. And my idea was to give ability to plan your route at home and then you can download track/waypoints and then upload it to chart plotter.

Or even print log and keep in on board as a legend to know course to steer, when to turn etc.

Based on respond from other experienced skippers it will not be useful without whether routing.

On my own opinion, if I understood it right, it could be more useful for beginners, who usually do not own a boat but rent it from Charter Company.

[jaswolf43c]

If it is web based, then it won't be useful I guess. It would be an interesting find, if it can be used offline!