John Astad, webmaster for Vesseltrax.com pointed us towards his Automatic Identification System (AIS) feeds for the Houston / Galveston area. AIS is a transponder technology by which ships broadcast their basic navigational information and identity over VHF to other vessels - similar in idea to the ADS-B system for aircraft. (more…)

In a sign that warmer times are on the horizon, the Santa Rosa Mall in Fort Walton Beach, Florida will host its annual spring boat show on the 17th - 25th of February. The boat show includes both indoor and outdoor displays and most of the local dealers bring over a wide selection. We’re investigating the possibility of setting up a DestinSharks.com booth starting on the 20th to demonstrate the EarthNC marine charts and conduct boat-owner surveys. We’ll keep you posted.

If you’re shopping for a boat for the 1st time we suggest you read our Boat Financing 101 article prior to going to the show.

Google Earth’s image fetching method works great when connected to broadband internet, but current options for caching imagery for offline use are few. Last week, we came across a simple application - Google Earth Voyager - which automates the cache file generation for a selected geographic region to ensure that the Google Earth cache is properly filled with the entire area of interest. This allows you to systematically cache an area for offline use with realtime GPS. Read on for our review and some recommendations for improving the product. (more…)

We didn’t have the greatest wind or the greatest weather, but it was enough to have a good time learning proper kite flying from the friendly crew of XLKites in Fort Walton Beach. Phil taught me basic kite flying and safety techniques starting with a 3m Slingshot trainer kite, then up to a 9m Cabrinha Contra and lastly a 14m Carbrinha Contra. Sarah got a little bit of video of me ’surfing’ down the beach which we’ll try to post later. We also uploaded the last of our photos from Damien LeRoy’s Cabrinha Gear Tour which you can see in our Kiteboarding Album.

Hot on the heels of our NOAA Voluntary Observing Ship weather report layer, we’re excited to release our latest dynamic weather feed for Google Earth. Our DestinSharks.com Metar Weather Feed displays the latest weather observations for over 1,700 US locations in Google Earth. These observations include wind speed and direction, temperature, dewpoint, visibility, and general conditions. For a comprehensive view of weather in Google Earth, we’ve also created a ’super’ link which includes our new Metar Feed, VOS Ship Feed, NOAA National Nexrad Radar, and NOAA NWS Watches and Warnings. (more…)

Things are a bit slow at DestinSharks this week while we attend the MIT Sponsored ‘Mashup Camp’. Mashup camp brings together a diverse set of today’s best ‘Web 2.0′ developers to share ideas on how to build better websites and services. It also includes a onsite mashup competition in which we’re frantically completing prior to Thursday’s deadline.

While we’re a bit occupied, we thought we’d point out some of the great reviews others have written recently about their experiences with the EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth. If you haven’t tried these yourself yet, please read our latest update announcement and register for the free beta.

EarthNC Reviews (more…)

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…)

It’s official, Google Earth Version 4 is no longer a beta. Frank, at gearthblog.com has a good overview of the new features and had updated his Google Earth tutorials for the new release. If you’re still using Version 3 - it’s way past time to upgrade and see what you’ve been missing.

Use the button below to get the current version of Google Earth: (more…)

Local kiteboarding shop XLKites hosted Damien LeRoy (not the rider in the picture) and the 2007 Cabrinha Pro Clinic tour and demo in Fort Walton Beach today. DestinSharks.com photographer Sarah was on hand to capture some great kiteboarding action as local riders took to the water today. After sunset, the Gulf Coast Kiteboarding Association cooked up a BBQ for the tired riders and friends. Wind permitting, Damien will take to the water again tomorrow morning at Leeside Park on Okaloosa Island before returning home in the afternoon.

Click on the photo to visit our online album from today’s riding.

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.