Mac software for ship AIS receivers

[petrofinn]

My active sailing days are over, I regret, but I live near a busy port in the UK and retain a keen interest in anything that moves on the water.
I wish to monitor AIS equipped vessels by means of an AIS receiver. The popular "SailPlotter" is usually used over here with a PC running Windows/Vista. However, I use a Mac so I am looking for suitable s/ware.

Since the USA is the home of the Mac can someone recommend a suitable Mac program for me to use. A search of the Web has proved rather confusing.
Surely many people in the States must have the same "hobby"?

Please help!
Petrofinn (a former sailor)

[artbyjody]

Check this out: Yacht Arabella: Mac chartplotter: adding AIS may help.

[sailingdog]

MacENC or its sister product GPSNavX will both take AIS input. MacENC can use both ENC and BSB format charts. GPSNavX can only use the BSB raster format charts.

[Skipaway]

You might wish to check out something like:
YACHTMARINE - Live AIS World Ship Monitoring

That link is for their UK coverage; there are other coverage areas around the world.

[sailingdog]

this requires an active internet connection, and does not use an AIS receiver

Originally Posted by Skipaway

You might wish to check out something like:
YACHTMARINE - Live AIS World Ship Monitoring

That link is for their UK coverage; there are other coverage areas around the world.

[negrini]

A bit old thread, but couldn't resist. If anything else fails, you can install a virtual machine on your Mac, then open another Os in a separated window.
I have WindowsXP runing on my Mac so I can run some old OceanNavigator planning and old raster charts. You can download it free from Sun at Sun VirtualBox - Downloads

[sailingdog]

That assumes that they're on an Intel based Mac, which may or may not be the case. Also, why would you want to inflict Windows on yourself if you can avoid it. Finally, the cost of doing so is far greater, since you would need to own licenses for the Windows operating system as well as the virtual machine software and any software you were using in Windows.

Originally Posted by negrini

A bit old thread, but couldn't resist. If anything else fails, you can install a virtual machine on your Mac, then open another Os in a separated window.
I have WindowsXP runing on my Mac so I can run some old OceanNavigator planning and old raster charts. You can download it free from Sun at Sun VirtualBox - Downloads

[negrini]

SD, Virtualbox is free, and I use it as a final resource if everything else fails. Although I don't tolerate Windows (I'm an Open Source fan), there are cases where you have no other alternative. I had already purchased a license (in my previous life dependent of uSoft drugs) and charts for OceanNavigator, PassagePlaning, etc .. wich runs Windows only. You should try, easy to use, configure and really fun. Another point, it runs better than native Intel !!!!!

[bitman]

i have the same, i'm a open source guy from the beginning but have a win xp / maxsea / eeepc on my boat for navigation...

i know there might be alternatives but i just can't have emulators etc running while under way.

i just use the application instead looking at the os.

[sailingdog]

Still assumes they're on an Intel-based mac... lots of G4 based ones still out there...

Originally Posted by negrini

SD, Virtualbox is free, and I use it as a final resource if everything else fails. Although I don't tolerate Windows (I'm an Open Source fan), there are cases where you have no other alternative. I had already purchased a license (in my previous life dependent of uSoft drugs) and charts for OceanNavigator, PassagePlaning, etc .. wich runs Windows only. You should try, easy to use, configure and really fun. Another point, it runs better than native Intel !!!!!