Facebook

Login

Support Sailonline

If you haven't already - join the SAILONLINE YACHT CLUB!

Please also consider making a donation - all amounts are greatly appreciated!

Board » Technical Support » Getting TWA and TWS of "friends" boats.

Page: 1 2 Next

Hi SOLers.

I am trying to improve a lot the SOL's Google Earth interface. The idea is to display each Soler boat at course in 3D in G.E. with the right direction, speed, sail and trajectory...
Very fancy and absolutely useless.
All what I like so much in the RKN's spirit.

It's something I was used to do with Virtual Regatta and I thought it was a lot more easy with SOL very open philosophy.

But alas it's not.

1) Collecting data with NMEA Proxy from Brainaid's toolbox, I get the name, direction, speed and state of each boat.
Perfect.
But nor the TWA nor the TWS of each "friend" boat.
Yes I know that I could get them from Grib, but it's a lot of work for such a few data.

2) For each boat I need also the type of sail used at the positions collected.
That too could be derived from TWA and TWS and the boat polar.

3) And for the sake of realism, I need for each boat the hull and sails colors.

They don't exist anywhere because SOL does not need them, so I could invent them. But would'nt it be better to give the opportunity to solers to choose their wardrobe ?

So my questions :

It is a way to get the TWA / TWS data for each boat on course directly from SOL server (is that possible and how ?)

OR

get them from the AIS sentences sended by the Brainaid's NMEA proxy server (they need to be added to the flow of data).



Jean from Nantes.
Dans le tourbillon du Web
Attachments
May I refer you to an existing program called VirtualSailor 7.5, by Ilan Papini, which produces a much more realistic sailing experience than SOL. It does not, however, have a lot of the SOL features, such as polars, predictor lines, NOAA Wx, or as many sailing sites. It also cannot handle more than about 20-25 boats at a time.
It does have a free demo feature, and is entirely self contained within your own computer.
While these are definitely deficiencies from the point of view of SOLers, it has many features which would increase the sailing experience for those who are less "competitive", and gives a greatly improved 'visual' look at sailing and racing. It has small freighters, small submarines, motor cruisers, speedy racing run-abouts, guns, torpedoes, lighthouses, navigation buoys, harbours, houses, old castles, etc.. along with waves, rain, hail, and snow. It even has men jogging for exercise along the piers in the harbours. Most of these things may be ignored for our purposes in SOL.
Perhaps Mr Papini might be induced to collaborate with SOL to produce a much improved and much more extensive sailing experience.
The VirtualSailor 7.5 program costs about $35.00 Can. but volunteers have designed extensive additions to the basic program in terms of boats, scenery and sailing sites.
There is no need to "re-invent the wheel" when so much of the work has already been done.
One aspect that may be helpful to SOL is that this could be a program that could be purchased from SOL, and this would help markedly in the overall finances of the SOL operation.

--- Last Edited by Rod at 2017-02-26 15:10:42 ---
If it breaks, it's not strong enough--if it doesn't, it's too heavy.
Thanx Rod. I know of course that there is a lot of very good virtual sailing games, like for exemple Vieux Loup de Mer (VLM), Ocean Virtuel, Liveskipper, VSK, etc.

My purpose is not to program nth on-line game but to display our SailOnLine boats on Google Earth maps.
No more, and just for the fun.
Dans le tourbillon du Web
That would be marvellous! For TWA/TWS from other boats you need to get the weather and determine TWD/TWS at the other's position yourself. If you're already retrieving fleet positions and heading directly from sol, this should not be much of a problem.

To use different hull/sail colours for the each boat, you can initially use the one colour automatically and randomly assigned when you register (again, not much additional trouble to retrieve these colours). Later we could use flagpole* to have users change their hull/sail colours.

I can probably help you in the right direction if you're stuck.

*) http://sol.kroppyer.nl/flagpole/
You can create flags, and activate them for your own boat. The meaning of each flag is up to the interpretation of the users. Basically, flagpole let's solers add arbitrary data to their boat, for everyone else to see. If I think it's worth it, I could extend flagpole a little so that people don't have to create a flag for every colour of the rainbow.
Thanx Kroppyer.
Actually I do not retrive positions directly from Sol but by the Brainaid's Toolbox NMEA server.

How can I access to the boats colors ? Is there any Web service like
http://node1.sailonline.org/webclient/boat.xml?token=xxxxxxxx

BTW I have set up random colors for the boats.

regards.
Dans le tourbillon du Web
Attachments
You need this file http://node1.sailonline.org/webclient/race_1018.xml?token=xxxx which has for each boat

<boat>
<id>285746</id>
<name>simon_148</name>
<color_R>225</color_R>
<color_G>197</color_G>
<color_B>33</color_B>
<type>TP-52</type>
<dtg>576.196679386</dtg>
<dbl>210.385518882</dbl>
<lon>114.2</lon>
<lat>22.3</lat>
<cog>0.798365726218</cog>
<ranking>179</ranking>
<current_leg>0</current_leg>
<log>0.0</log>
</boat>

Note that it is a compressed file and your code needs to uncompress it when you receive it.
Thanx Kroppyer Kipper,
This piece of code works "à la perfection" :).
But this is only hull color. So I think the best will be to publish a form to allow Sollers to choose their sails.

BTW is it a mean to get old messages from race 1018 chat because I have missed the comments about my pictures.



--- Dernière modification par jf44 le 2017-02-27 16:08:03 ---
Dans le tourbillon du Web
The last post was not me but Kipper, he knows his way around this tech side as well. Have a look here to see some of his work.

Sailonline only uses one colour for boats (no separate sail colours), and people can't choose their hull colour either (well, RC can, but she's special). My suggestion is to get everything working with just this single colour, and then indeed use some kind of form where people can change their hull/sail colour.

Chat messages are stored but we don't normally check old messages, it something I'm only prepared to do when investigating possible rule infringements, which luckily doesn't really happen in sol :)
Thanx. If course I know (and use) DC Checker.

I am implementing the direct access to Sol server. It will more effective than to depend on NMEA sentences which require un local server.

I hope that the beta version will be on line this evening or tomorrow.

I'll use my own server, but if you think that it would be better to use a SOLFan one, I can FTP the sources (PHP) (Creative commons / GNU licence of course)

Jean.
Dans le tourbillon du Web
I think javakeda (hosting solfans) would be happy to host your code on solfans. I'm also happy to host it on sol.kroppyer.nl. But it's probably easiest if you use your own server, at least while beta testing. I'll link to it from sol.kroppyer.nl though! :)

Looking forward to the beta!

Page: 1 2 Next

Please login to post a reply.

Races

Next Race: 00d 00h 00m


Current Races:

Red Eye - Frisian Isles Trophy 2025

For our final “Red Eye” race, we invite you to cross the Noord Zee to the Wadden Zee, where a 160nm course around a few sandy islands raced on SOL only once before in 2010 awaits you. We don’t have a replica of Erskine Childers’ Dulcibella in our boathouse, and in any case if we took her out, we might well contract more than one “Red Eye”, so instead we’ll race our very own riddle of the sands in Farr 400s!
Race #1848
INFOby brainaid.de
Farr 400 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - RED

Race starts: Nov 05th 12:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Fernando de Noronha to Faroe 2025

The RWW Series concludes with a spectacular journey from Fernando de Noronha to the Faroe Islands, a legendary destination in the wild North Atlantic. Panning 4,100 nautical miles, this leg will be a true test of endurance, strategy, and sheer determination. Also the penultimate leg of the 2025 Ocean Championship, it’s your chance to prove your mettle against the sea, the wind, and yourself. We’ll be racing aboard the Ragamuffin 100, a vessel built for speed and challenge — demanding planning, precision and grit from every sailor on deck. Do you have what it takes to master the Northern Atlantic?.
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1960
INFO by brainaid.de
Ragamuffin 100 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: RWW - OCQ4 - OCCH - SUPSOL - SYC
Race starts: Nov 03rd 11:00 Registration Open!
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

ORCV Melbourne to Devonport Race 2025

Welcome to the legendary Rudder Cup, Australia’s oldest and most storied yacht race—sailed for over 110 years across the challenging Bass Strait from Melbourne to Tasmania. Organized by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, this 195nm classic tests sailors’ skill, strategy, and endurance against the unpredictable Southern Ocean. This year, our SOLers will be racing the timeless Swan 36, Nautor’s very first production yacht—a Sparkman & Stephens masterpiece renowned for her elegance, balance, and seaworthy performance. Get ready for a true ocean racing adventure!
Race #1951
INFO by brainaid.de
Swan 36 PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC
RACE CLOSE: Saturday,
November 8 at 2300 UTC.
Race starts: Oct 31st 03:30 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Sinbad by Balloon 2025 - Carnarvon to Dondra


From here, our home in Bharatavarṣa is now north west of us – said Sinbad to his fellow balloonists. Perhaps we can ride the wind first further north, and then catch the winds that every year bring the rain, perhaps not. It’s 2600nm and we could be aloft awhile, so, Master el-Quarters, victuals only, no sandbags, provisioning the giant hamper. It will be not a picnic!
Race #1886
INFOby brainaid.de
SOL Balloon PARTICULARS
WX Updates:
0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230
Ranking: SYC - SBB
Race starts: Oct 15th 11:00 Registration Closed
▶ Flash
GO TO RACE

Go to race archive

SYC Ranking

  1. Sailonline Yacht Club Member KaSToR
  2. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CriticalHippo
  3. Sailonline Yacht Club Member WRmirekd
  4. Sailonline Yacht Club Member vida
  5. Sailonline Yacht Club Member rafa
  6. Sailonline Yacht Club Member CollegeFund
  7. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Panpyc
  8. Sailonline Yacht Club Member FreyjaUSA
  9. Sailonline Yacht Club Member BRENTGRAY
  10. Sailonline Yacht Club Member Sax747

View full list

Series

Mobile Client

SYC members have the benefit of access to our mobile/lightweight web client!

The mobile client