Frustrated ! WithNavionics program

[yachtyian]

Can anyone help me understand why my new Navionics charts which I purchased as an app for my I Pad will not give me a fix when I am not actually on land. I have a telstra elite Wi Fi prepaid mobile unit which I use to get the satellite communication to the I Pad. Works real well if I am in the city, but thats not equites why I bought the navionics program. As soon as I start sailing offshore the chart program tells me it is unable to locate my position.
I have all the checks done and I have a clear open view to the sky with both wi fi unit and I pad. Navionics don't seem to understand the problem and are not able to solve it...yachtyian

[banjoship]

first question. does your iPad have an inbuilt GPS?

[Ozbullwinkle]

Does your iPad have 3G? The iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models includes assisted GPS, while the iPad Wi-Fi models do not include it. Assisted GPS does not rely on satellite signal alone, obtaining additional information from other servers or networks.

The Wi-Fi only iPad has no GPS - see the Tech Specs:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

This could be your issue when you are out of range of the cell phone towers.

[yachtyian]

No that is why I bought the elite wifi mobile unit.

[yachtyian]

No, the iPad does not have 3G. It's only a few months old. I didn't realize that it wasn't already equipped with wifi. That's why I bought the elite unit from telstra so that I could have wifi. It's been very successful from that point of view but even if I am only a kilometer offshore with full telstra signal, the gps signal seems to think that I couldn't possibly be on the water so it says sorry don't know where you are.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Maybe by being offshore tthe iPad cannot triangulate with other towers but best to see what others say who are using iPads with Navionics with the same specs as yours.

[yachtyian]

Thanks ausbullwinkle, thats something I hadn't considered

[noelex 77]

You can add GPS to a non GPS equipped iPad quite easily.

There are a few units that will do this.
BadElf make a couple of units, one plug in, the other bluetooth, and are often recommended although I have not personally used any of their modules.

http://bad-elf.com/

[yachtyian]

Thanks moderator. I have heard of these I will now look into it further.....love your location!

[colemj]

Originally Posted by yachtyian

1) No, the iPad does not have 3G.

2) I didn't realize that it wasn't already equipped with wifi.

3) but even if I am only a kilometer offshore with full telstra signal, the gps signal seems to think that I couldn't possibly be on the water so it says sorry don't know where you are.

1) If it does not have 3G, it does not have a built-in GPS

2) All iPads have wifi - they do not make one without it.

3) If your iPad does not have a built-in GPS (see point #1), it will not receive a GPS signal. The Telstra wifi does not provide GPS data - it is for wifi only.

What you are attempting to do is secure a position using wifi location. All this will provide you with is a very approximate position. Essentially, your position will be that of the location of the closest IP address node in the network for which a position is known. It will never be close to your actual position unless your actual position happens to be right next to a known wifi access point.

And this can be VERY far away from your location. For example, right now we are in San Blas Panama hooked to the internet through 3G using a device similar to your Telestra. Our "wireless" position is currently located in Rancho Cucamonga California, which is the nearest known IP node in the routing structure.

I'm sorry to say, but your current setup will not work for your needs. You will need to get an external GPS for your iPad, like suggested earlier.

Mark

[GPSNavX]

It does not make a whole lot of sense not to get the 3G/4G model of iPad. The US$130 price difference to get an internal GPS and the option to use 3G/4G connectivity seems like an easy choice.

[Deepdraft]

Check out a Dual XGPS150. Works fine with my iPad

http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Electroni...dual+xgps+150e

[Ex-Calif]

Advice above is correct - you do not have gps on your ipad - the Bad Elf GPS and the xgps150 are the two common accessories used to provide gps to the non-3g ipad.

I have both and posted a comparison in this thread - see post 31...

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...p-81191-3.html

The only update is that when using the xgps150 on bluetooth you can also tether to a phone at the same time. I discovered this accidentally - mulitple bluetooth connections is possible.

[capttman]

The only I pads that have stand alone GPS are those that have both wifi and data availability. You must have one of the Verizon or AT&T. You do not however have to subscribe to their data plans. A wifi only I pad needs towers to triangulate

[GPSNavX]

A wifi only I pad needs towers to triangulate

A WiFi only iPad has no ability to receive [cell] tower information. All it can do is attempt to triangulate from WiFi hotspots. Not very useful on the water.