On 2008-09-26 18:18:17 -0400, Wayne.B said:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:45:57 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

Has anyone seen a project to collect position and depth data
automatically and periodically upload the data to a central server?

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is a member of the
US Power Squadron organization. Apparently his local chapter here in
SWFL does that sort of thing from time to time. I don't know how the
data is passed along and/or updated.

That sounds auspicious!

Could you perhaps try to find out what more you can? That might lead to
a more central database and something that I and others can contribute
to.

There is more to it than meets the eye. Each boat needs to have the
sounder precisely calibrated and the state of the tide needs to be
carefully noted.

It's possible to get around imprecisely-calibrated sounders. If a
particular boat consistently reads 1.075' below the norm, put that in
that boat's record and add that much to each of its readings.

Current tide can be calculated, or observed from others' soundings at
the same time.

Really, those problems are pretty minor, adjustments easy to apply.

I'm quite a bit surprised that someone else hasn't thought of this and
started the process.

I'm a fairly good programmer(*) and would be willing to donate my time
to get such a system up and running, but would rather help an innovator
than create an entirely separate system.

--
Jere Lull
(*) Actually, I'm a wizard system developer, creating complex systems
as a byproduct of the request. You guys know me as a sailor and can
evaluate me on those terms from my posts. I'm a MUCH better developer
than sailor, not that anyone I haven't worked with could understand my
capabilities.