I'm taking a graduate-level web programming course this semester and
am looking for sailing-related ideas for my final project. I could do
something academic, but I'm going to put about 100 hours into it, so
it would be nice to do something that would be useful in the real
world.

This would be a dynamic website, based on XHTML, PHP, SQL &
Javascript. Specifically, we are using the LAMP (Linux, Apache,
MySQL, PHP) system. I am a professional firmware programmer and
expect to produce a fairly significant system for this project. This
is not a web design class, so I won't put much time into aesthetics.

I'm not looking to start a business or charge for usage, so the ideal
project would be low-cost and low-maintenance. If it requires
external resources, they should be freely available, such as Google
maps or government databases.

Some ideas I've been kicking around so far include: An interactive
cruise planner, a 'real-time' online cruise log, a shared-boat
management system and a marine weather browser that would overlay
(free) graphical weather data on (free) marine charts. I volunteered
to implement an online reservation system for my sailing club, but
they already have someone working on that. I don't normally have a
computer onboard, so I'm very interested in services for cellphone
browsers.

I'd not only appreciate any new ideas you might have, but also let me
know if someone else has already done any of these ideas, I don't want
to re-invent the wheel. I'd also appreciate any pointers to free
online resources that might be useful.

Thanks.
Chuck Cox
SynchroSystems - embedded computer design - http://synchro.com

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