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While it’s
easy to imagine the ideal integrated navigation system—PC versatility,
plotter ruggedness, and an interface easier than either—it is not
easy to build one. Thus, even though Maptech’s i3 system seems remarkably
fresh and complete, it has in fact been in development for over four years,
in the field for two as the proprietary Sea Ray Navigator (see “Building
a Boat Brain,” March 2002). The i3, which stands for “integrated,
intuitive, innovative,” has a 12-inch sunlight-viewable touchscreen
that offers fingertip access to all of Maptech’s cartography, which
can be viewed on split screens and/or overlaid with data from Koden radar
scanners, which are available in ten sizes. The operating system, Windows
XP, is locked up for safety, but Maptech is adapting selected optional
applications to the i3’s “OneTouch” interface. Already
available are SkyMate—which offers nearly worldwide e-mail, vessel
tracking and monitoring, and weather data via Orbcomm satellites—and
Weather Channel Marine, a new service that delivers a massive stream of
meteorological info to North American sailors via a high-speed satellite.
An i3 system starts at $12,500 before any of these options (or the others
that will surely follow).
Maptech Phone:
(888) 839-5551. www.maptech.com.
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