While many of us dream of a circumnavigation, Frank and Karen Taylor are turning theirs into reality this summer. Frank, the author of the Google Earth Blog has been planning the trip since their last family adventure - a year-long Caribbean sail in their prior boat PatiCat.

Their new boat is a St Francis 50 Catamaran named ‘Tahina’ built in South Africa and equipped for blue-water sailing. Sarah and I had the pleasure to spend a few days with Frank and Karen on the boat during this spring’s Miami Boat Show and I’m sure boat will serve them well during their trip.

As an active advocate for Google Earth and Destin Sharks’ ‘EarthNC‘ line of Google Earth nautical content, Frank will be keeping an active multimedia blog of his trip at www.TahinaExpedition.com. He’s posted a rough draft of his circumnavigation plan below. We wish Frank and Karen the best as they start their journey and hope to meet up with them here-and-there during their trip.

Our partner website EarthNC.com has been scouring the web for user-generated Google My Maps of interest to boaters. They’ve started posting their finds in their ‘Featured Maps‘ section. Even better, with EarthNC’s new TakItWithMe My Maps Embedding Tool you can paste any My Map on your own website with easy links to Google Earth, a large map, and even download to GPS in some cases (see our example below). (more…)

We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s AWBA Billy Bowlegs Poker run and have just about got our Regal 2760’s tanks topped off so that we have plenty of gas to make all the stops. To help navigate around, we’ll be using the EarthNC Plus Marine Charts for Google Earth and GooPs Pro GPS software to turn Google Earth into a nice moving map.

One of the features we like about GooPs is the ability to ‘transmit’ your position to a remote server. We’ve set up a Google Earth network link so that you can follow our position while we’re driving around for the poker run. When you load the file, look for a blue track and a green teardrop pointer showing our most recent position. The link is set to update every 2 minutes. The network link will also load the EarthNC Online marine chart for our area, the poker run stops (the big playing cards), and any geotagged photos we manage to post while driving (we’ll do the best we can).

Download the Google Earth Map link or try it out in the EarthNC Online Combined Map Viewer:
DestinSharks.com / EarthNC.com Billy Bowlegs Network Link

If you need Google Earth, you can download it free: Google Earth

DestinSharks is pleased to announce the availability of ‘EarthNC Plus‘ - a compilation of 677 US marine charts on a single CD for use with Google Earth. Charts are derived from NOAA ENC and Army Corps IENC digital vector charts with significant enhancements for use with Google Earth’s powerful 3D mapping engine. EarthNC Plus is being offered at an introductory price of $49.95 which includes a 12 month chart update subscription.

Following direct sales at the Emerald Coast Boat Show this weekend, we will begin shipping EarthNC Plus orders via our new website at EarthNC.com.

We’re happy to announce a dynamic Google Earth data layer for the NOAA Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program position/weather reports. The VOS feed contains ship weather observations from around the world updated hourly. This is our 1st true dynamic layer to coincide with the EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth. (more…)

Start off your New Year right with free EarthNC marine charts for Google Earth! This morning, we uploaded the complete set of ‘Approach’ charts for the lower 48 states, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico / Virgin Islands. This brings the EarthNC Beta chart total to 468 out of an eventual 650 to 700 NOAA and Army Corps charts.

Try out the Maps!

To try out the maps, please visit our new website at EarthNC.com. You’ll need Google Earth 4, an internet connection, and a willingness to provide feedback. If you’ve already downloaded the EarthNC index file, it should update coverage automatically next time you load it in Google Earth.

If you’re not sure if you want to register, you can try out the West Bay to Santa Rosa Sound Chart without registration - if you like what you see, join the forum for access to the rest. You’ll need Google Earth 4 to view it. Depending on your web browser, make sure that the file either opens in Google Earth or is saved as a .KMZ file and not a .ZIP file.

Coming Soon!

Next up is finishing the ‘Coastal’ detail charts for the lower 48 and then we will finish out with the remaining Alaska charts and the Inland ENC river charts. Once the full set is released in beta, we anticipate about a 2 week ‘refinement’ period based on user feedback and then the Version 1 release and chart DVD option.

We’re big fans of Google Earth here at DestinSharks.com and it is unsurpassed for arm-chair global exploration, but what about its use as a real-time mobile mapping solution? To use Google Earth in a mobile setting you need 4 things - a portable PC, Google Earth (preferably cached with imagery from the area of interest), a GPS which supports NMEA serial or USB output, and software which translates the GPS output into KML for Google Earth (or the latest release of Google Earth 4 Plus, Pro, or Enterprise). Read on as we review 4 ways turn Google Earth into a powerful moving map and find out which application might be best for you - at the end of the review we have a video showing each in action. If you’re looking for a good PC GPS, read our companion Garmin 18 review. (more…)

In a companion article, we reviewed 4 software options for turning Google Earth into a powerful moving map application using realtime GPS tracking. If you don’t own a GPS with compatible serial or USB interfaces, Garmin has two low-cost options that work not only with Google Earth, but also with most other PC-based mapping programs. (more…)

The FreeNav - Electronic Navigation Blog has posted a video tutorial showing the basics of downloading the beta EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth. It’s a well-made screen video and we look forward to the next installment. (more…)

In conjunction with our EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth we are pleased to announce our 1st Nautical Points-of-Interest layer - West Marine and Boat US store locations.

Find your nearest local store, or those convenient to your next boating trip. Simply download the KMZ file and open it in Google Earth. Hover over a store icon to see the name, click for address, phone number, and even have Google Earth generate driving directions for you.