Stéphane Azzoni, French domiciled near Barcelona, sailing instructor and conveyor, owner of a Mini Transat, practicing hard regattas and offshore races in the Mediterranean, has developed the application MOBA (*) with the assistance of Swiss studio Hortis from Geneva.
Noting that no application on iPhone proposed function "Man Overboard" as found on GPS marine, he wanted to fill this gap. Excellent initiative !
The principle is simple : once the application is launched, you can just keep on standby while using other applications. With the multi-tasking iOS5, can rapidly activate and then press the red button-shaped. MOBA displays a compass and continuously calculates the distance and bearing to follow back to where we started the application. Heading is magnetic, the instantaneous distance in nautical miles.
The application settings also allow you to configure a phone security (the 112 for Europe) to launch, from the active application, a phone call by the green button on the top left of the compass.
This is such small application that can go completely unnoticed, until the day you really need. To 3 EUR, why deprive ? It may also serve other purposes as the man overboard. For example in the mountains to return to a checkpoint in fog, as forest or desert.
In these cases, it would be useful for application settings offer additional distance units than nautical mile : meters, yards and miles, in example.
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(*) http://mobablog.wordpress.com
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Great, I tested it on an iphone 2 ashore after downloading.
It works perfect and there is nothing to understand, you just have to press this (whore) Red Button. Even after a tip found its way just follow the arrow, that in situations of high stress where the water temperature plays against his teammate is invaluable. Displaying the remaining distance reduces stress and makes it intelligent to concentrate on sailing the boat.
Good, Just a note to the developer : "Press the button to activate the application" is a message initiated, would not it be better to replace it with "quick press of the button and follow the arrow to find the place where you pressed the button". While the bold. I doubt that all team members have read before the user manual and the key (i) be instantly understood.
Another critical application, Francis goods, but it is unfortunate that the application starts quickly in standby, then goes out and need to turn the iPhone and reactivate the application every minute. In case of emergency it is not obvious.
App will not install on an iPad without 3G : logical but what about the information provided by an external GPS ?
By having good reading (Francis Le Blog) it was my understanding that Apple refused this type of functionality and that the developer was forced to iNavX workaround.
So when a real MOB button in iNavX ?
I'm surprised, I do not encounter this problem. Cons by MOBA does not work if there is no position received by the Location Service activated (GPS, 3G ou, at worst, Wi-Fi activée).
For iPad, without the 3G should receive the GPS (or external).
About iNavX, would be best to intervene directly with the developer
I think the «problem» John comes mostly from the automatic locking device configured on the (iphone ou ipad), in this case set to 1 minute, if the function is deactivated the unit does not suspend the application and remains constantly available.
On the other hand, even if the device goes to sleep, the application continues to run, when you unlock it must appear to be active and displaying data (years, long etc.…) corresponding to the time of activation.
Regarding the comment on apple, It is true that it is not allowed to mention terms like «sauvetage» or «emergency services» referring to the application (and besides, they do not apparraissent the description in the apple store or on the support page of the application) by against this type of functionality (location and GPS guidance) is perfectly allowed as shown by the hundreds of applications available on the market.
Thank you for your reply, it's actually lock duration that I programmed to save my batteries, cons by some applications may overcome this limitation as iNavX, in example. In cas of MOB, bypass this feature would allow more serenity in these stressful circumstances.
PS: I think this generation of super developer, as attentive to customer satisfaction, Francis has a knack to indicate on his Bog.
Hello everyone,
Francis and thank you for making us discover the little apps that go.
Stephane and thank you for creating this app which I hope I will never do.
But it is true that the screen lock may be activated or not an option, to free choice of the user. The ultimate would be that this option is accessible directly on the main screen of Moba to operate it easily and quickly.
Another question, because I have not had time to test yet :
And Mer, iNavX use in, Moba in bottom spot. I Moba active and I guess it gets the GPS accuracy that was active before.
If by cons, I'm trying to use iPad or iPhone to something else that does not use GPS. Upon activation of Moba which is still in bottom spot, it must take some time longer or shorter for the GPS is not precisely the point ? Or made it in the bottom spot allows him to regain his point quickly ?
PS : I also found this cool generation of programmer, that is discovered from IOS, and with whom one can have contacts. Then suddenly I am applying : a version optimized for screen iPad, ça car the evening SUPER X2…
Thank you and good day.
Florent thank you for your comments (and demand), I'd share (as well as those of John) the developer during the next update of the app.
Regarding your question on the time needed to fix a point in having the GPS app in the background stain (no other active app using GPS) the aquisition is usually immediate, tests and simulations that I have done in real (and EIA) were convincing.
If you have the opportunity to make yourself experiment with various types of configurations do not hesitate to report the results, Any comments and constructive criticism is welcome.
Hello Francis,
It's fun, of the output iNavX on Iphone, I pointed out that this feature was sorely lacking in the application …
I replied that Apple would take
never accept responsibility for such an option-oriented security …
I suggested we call otherwise … But you had just sent in my goals and told me that I do not know much …
Short, Bravo to the developer of this application, Thank you to Francis for this info still valuable, and I hope will one day qu'InavX the same function ONE CLICK !!