Marine Assistant lets you track shipping vessels from your smartphone, receives an update to v8.0

Marine Assistant is a vessel tracking app. We first wrote about it in one of our weekly app round ups last year (2014) and it has seen many updates since then. The latest update is now at v8.0, and it brings about a handful of new features, as one would expect. Obviously not an app you would use daily but something that can come in handy at times. Of course, if you have an interest in things maritime or work in the field, this app would appeal to you more.

Marine Assistant uses the vessel tracking utility known as Automatic Identification System (AIS). You can get information on a boat, yacht, military ships or even fishing ships, from data which is publicly available. You can specifically search for vessels or just carry out a search from within your geolocation. Just tap on a marker to get more information on that ship/vessel or to track it.

For a casual user, such as myself, I would find this handy when a friends or family members may be making a sea trip, I could then track their voyage. For those with a bit more interest, you can read more about the vessel, such as the name of it and even where it has been registered, as well as find out when it was built, its size and much more. I just classed myself as a casual user, but I do live by the coast, and it has been interesting to check out the different vessels and passenger boats that have been going by recently. It's certainly quite a novelty to me right now but I am sure there are others would find this type of app very useful.

Marine Assistant features

  • Functionality:
    • Native BlackBerry 10 Application
    • Display vessel, boat, yatch, military ships, fishing ships on maps using coloured markers and give information as speed, position, type and more ( public internet datas ).
    • The app can track single ship and display the route using MMSI/IMO code.
    • Search and track Ships/Vessel by name
    • Weather information like wind speed, temperature, and solar ephemeris
    • BBM integration
    • Portrait/ Landscape Mode
    • Easy Zoom in
  • Improvement in Marine Assistant v.8
    • Rebuild User Interface to apply BB10.3 OS style.
    • Fixing in Maps engine
    • BBM Integration is requested only when using BBM services.
    • OpenStreetMaps integration
    • In Settings menu, you can choose beteween two different data sources.
    • Improved size of layout using BlackBerry Passport
    • Added Signature Action for most used functionalities.

When it comes to the data on the vessels, there are two sources it comes from and you can select these in the app settings. It doesn't state the source from within the settings but the option is there nonetheless. Marine Assistant is available for all BlackBerry 10 smartphones and costs $3.99. If you already own the app, updating is free.

Learn more / Download Marine Assistant from BlackBerry World

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