Last year Active Captain set up the eBoatCard scheme with the promise that live boat position reporting would become a reality soon. In expectation the OCC set up a private group within the eBoatCard Scheme. Last month they finally released a manual position reporting function and they promise to automate this soon with realtime position posting from sources such as Sail-mail Yellowbrick, AIS websites and IOS devices.

The good news is that the manual reporting is now working and 3 OCC members have posted their boat 's positions. These on zoomable and posted on Google Maps.

For existing members of the eBoatCard OCC group visit http://www.eboatcards.com/occ/locations/ and log in.

If you have an eBoatCard account and want to join the OCC private group then go to http://www.eboatcards.com/occ/ and apply to join. This group is moderated so only members can join and we have to approve your application so there will be some delay.

If you don 't already have an eBoatCard account you can create one free of charge by going to http://www.eboatcards.com/

The eBoatCard is a bit like Facebook for Boats and allows private and group posts in addition to position reporting.

Hi Simon,
I 've successfully joined the group, but I can 't see how to put my marker on the map. Usually with a Google map, I can see a "balloon" to drag to the right position and label, but not here.

[edit] Cracked it. I have to go to my own EboatCard and enter it there; not on the main map.

David you do just drag the balloon. Here is their crib sheet.


The new Locations feature is available for testing
1. Set your Account / Privacy Settings for Locations.
2. Set your Group Privacy / Location setting for each group you are a member of.
3. Go into your Location section (below the Friends item on the left) and manually set your current location.

Hi Simon
Thanks for responding to the suggestion. I 've joined the ecard scheme etc to see how it works and, although I can see the short term advantages of piggy backing on another initiative, I 'm not sure that it 's as authentic as buildng the facility in to our own website. I feel sure that this is what most members would expect in the longer term. Some members might even find that a free site such Active Captain develops into such a successful communication tool that they find their OCC membership somewhat irrelevant and certainly less value for money. Just a thought.

I agree but at least the Active Captain site will give us an idea of what the likely uptake would be. By the way you have to tweak the privacy settings within the OCC eboatcard group in order to show up on that group 's map.
Simon

Hi Simon,

Just spotted this bit, what is the advantage of this as against Pangolin where anyone can spot your position? also I am able to use Pangolin via Sailmail quite simply.

Cheers

Brian C Wallace
S/V Darramy
Vessel position at present 17.41S 177.23E

Brian,
In theory it would plot all registered OCC boats whatever the source of their position data and have them under one roof. The logic being that if there is an OCC boat in the vicinity you might take a trip over to say hello. It doesn 't replicate Sailmail which lets people track you but is more like an electronic burgee inviting the attention of fellow OCCers who wouldn 't otherwise of known you were there. It 's still work in progress although they have now started beta testing the automated version.
Simon

If this were automated - and worked - with feeds off various sources e.g. Yellow brick, it could be valuable. If it required a separate albeit periodic manual update I doubt it would catch on.

If it did, I do agree that it the OCC page should be on our Website - or at least a seamless CliCk through.