Garmin inReach / SMS to AI weather reports

[Ladidadi]

Hey all,

Been a long time lurker. I just purchased an Garmin inReach device only to find out that weather reports cost an insane amount per request. I decided to build an SMS service to invoke AI (GPT) combined with NOAA weather reports for both land and sea. The result is the ability to receive updated intelligent weather reports, routing advice and way more for a fraction of the cost. you can ask it for advice on entering ports, latest news within a country and so much more.

Now I know that at some stage this will all be replaced by starlink but so far I still use the inReach due to it's portability (and starlink mini is still too large).

If anyone would like to try it out then you can send an SMS to this number (+1 7623 395 109). This is a temporary number and it's costing me to run it so please have a play and if you're interested in actually using a service like this I can set up a more permanent solution for a fraction of the cost.

Please shoot me your feedback as I'd love to make this a really useful service.

I'll provide examples of SMS conversations below:

SMS Request: Send weather and swell forecast for 19.91S, 159.55E

Response:

Weather Forecast:
30 Jul: Wind SSE 18-21 kn, cloudy, 20-21 C
31 Jul: Wind SSE 18-22 kn, cloudy, 20-21 C
01 Aug: Wind SSE 15-19 kn, cloudy, 20-21 C
02 Aug: Wind S 14-18 kn, partly cloudy, 20-21 C
03 Aug: Wind SSE 15-20 kn, partly cloudy, 21-22 C

Swell Forecast:
30 Jul: 2.79 m @ 13.17 s from SSW
31 Jul: 3.35 m @ 13.03 s from S
01 Aug: 3.35 m @ 13.74 s from S
02 Aug: 2.85 m @ 12.71 s from S
03 Aug: 2.37 m @ 11.2 s from S

SMS Request: Provide hourly weather forecast only:

Note: You can even ask it follow up questions such as the one above or instruct it to use imperial units.

Response:

Now: Wind SSE 20 kn, cloudy, 21 C
+3 hrs: Wind SSE 21 kn, mostly cloudy, 21 C
+6 hrs: Wind SSE 20 kn, partly cloudy, 21 C
+9 hrs: Wind SSE 20 kn, mostly cloudy, 21 C
+12 hrs: Wind SSE 18 kn, cloudy, 21 C

SMS Request: Plot a course between Sydney and Lord Howe Island over the next 4 days and provide a weather report for each day:

It will actually estimate lat long points along the route and get the weather for those points on the dates it thinks you'll be there.

Response:

30 Jul (33.87° S, 151.21° E): Wind SSW 13-16 kn, partly cloudy, 9-12 C
31 Jul (32.50° S, 153.00° E): Wind S 26-29 kn, cloudy, 15-16 C
01 Aug (31.00° S, 155.00° E): Wind S 24-30 kn, cloudy, 16-17 C
02 Aug (31.50° S, 159.10° E): Wind SW 25-31 kn, cloudy, 14-16 C


SMS Request: Best surf spot around 8.82S and 111.85E

Response:

The best surf spot near 8.82° S, 111.85° E is G-Land (Grajagan Bay) in East Java, Indonesia. It is renowned for its long, powerful waves and consistent surf conditions.

SMS Request: Now give me the surf report in that area:

Response

Swell Forecast:
30 Jul: 1.39 m @ 13.83 s from SSW
31 Jul: 2.48 m @ 13.75 s from SSW
01 Aug: 2.49 m @ 17.38 s from SSW
02 Aug: 1.99 m @ 14.71 s from SSW
03 Aug: 2.02 m @ 13.88 s from SSW

Best surf conditions will be on 01 Aug.