Bluemapia

November 4th, 2008

New Feature: Embed for trips, placemarks and POI’s

We’re very excited to announce the addition of a major new feature, enabling users to embed trips, placemarks and points of interest (both your own, as well as other Bluemapia users) into 3rd party websites, blogs and personal homepages. As an example, here are the placemarks I’ve inserted for my voyage from Europe to New York:


Half Circumnavigation at Bluemapia

Map created by Bluemapia


Or, if you’d like to illustrate a useful point of interest (for example a marina, or an anchorage), you can easily embed in just the same fashion. POI maps will also show placemarks included in the POI area - Here are the details for Marina Cartagena, Spain:


Porto Azzurro at Bluemapia

Map created by Bluemapia


Specific placemarks can also be embedded - Here is the placemark for the Sotogrande breakwater:


Sotogrande Breakwater at Bluemapia

Map created by Bluemapia


You are able to click on all the placemarks, as if you were on the Bluemapia website, seamlessly popping up all photos & videos. Each trip can also have it’s own separate map, allowing you to easily categorise your media for specific voyages.

Some Usage Ideas

• Embed maps of dream voyages into your website
• Detail blog posts of your own trips with an interactive map for your readers
• Charter companies can now embed maps showing potential clients their cruising grounds, complete with photos and videos
• Sailing schools can outline their training areas to show future students where they’ll be sailing
• Describe & illustrate specific anchorages or marinas by embedding a placemark or POI (point of interest)

Supported Platforms

The Bluemapia embed functionality is not limited to any software or hardware restraints. If you run any of the popular blogging software, such as Wordpress, MovableType, or hosted solutions such as TypePad and Blogspot, you simple copy & paste the embed code into your new post. In some instances, you will be required to place code tags around your posts, depending on the platform. For HTML based websites, simply copy & paste the embed code into any section of your page.

How & Where

Embedding a trip: After you log into to Bluemapia, click ‘My Profile’, and then select a trip from your Trip list. Once you have selected a trip, a new option on the right appears, allowing you to select the size of the map in pixels. After selection, the box immediately below is populated with the required code - Simply select it, copy to your clipboard and paste the code into your website or blog! If you do not have any trips, you will need to first create one, and then add placemarks to the trip.

Embedding a placemark or POI: Much like embedding a trip, simply navigate to your placemark or point of interest, and from the drop-down list on the left hand side, select the size of the map you would like to embed, and then copy the newly generated from the box immediately below - Paste the code into your website, and voila!

If you have any difficulties or questions, feel free to make a comment, or reach us on Getsatisfaction.com/bluemapia.

Enjoy! Nick

October 30th, 2008

Technical Support, Getsatisfaction.com

With Bluemapia growing, we needed a way of providing a support network for any queries, bug reports, suggestions and technical support. It mustn’t be forgotten that there are two parts to Bluemapia: The web facing application (Bluemapia.com) and the Bluemapia mobile application, currently built for Windows Mobile devices.

With the complexities behind both a web and mobile application, we are now happy to announce full support via Getsatisfaction.com/bluemapia.

Feel free to visit our Getsatisfaction.com/bluemapia support site, and post any questions or technical queries, regarding either the Bluemapia website, or the corresponding Windows Mobile application. If you think there is any way we can make the user experience better for you - Let us know. A considerable amount of development is currently going on behind the scenes, so now is a great time to make any suggestions. Feedback is always welcome!

Nick

October 28th, 2008

Bluemapia, Twitter, Facebook

A lot has been going on at Bluemapia (now spanning two continents), and to keep everyone updated with our goings on, along with exciting things happening in the sailing world, we can now be found on both Twitter, and Facebook.

Twitter

Twitter is a simple way to get bite-sized bits of information out to interested friends. Limited to updates of 140 characters, Twitter lends itself ideally to sharing interesting links, spontaneous thoughts and quick insights. At Bluemapia we’ve been using Twitter to keep followers updated with everything from Mediterranean blogs, the Volvo Ocean Race to Richard Bransons recent attempt at breaking the transatlantic record in his 99ft Maxi Yacht. We’re also using Twitter to highlight beautiful anchorages and interesting places that are added to Bluemapia - With so much happening, it’s hard to keep up to date - So if you’re interested in keeping up to date with us via Twitter, you can follow through our official Twitter profile, or via our new Latest Updates page, which is a running list of both our blog and Twitter posts.

Facebook

Facebook originally started as a network only for Harvard students - Today it’s the worlds largest social networking tool, and of course, you can even find Bluemapia amongst its pages. Through the Bluemapia International Facebook group, we’re encouraging people to join, share links, use the forum for discussing your favourite sailing destinations, or just to join up and meet fellow boaters.

If you’d like to see us anywhere else, or have any suggestions for things you’d like us to blog, tweet or update on our Facebook page - Leave a comment!

Nick

October 15th, 2008

Living aboard - Moving your home around the world

Imagine living in Amsterdam, two minutes from the central train station, going to the supermarket in your dinghy, and never knowing who your neighbors might be the next day, or where they came from. In a country which is mostly below sea level, protected by enormous storm barriers built by smart water engineers, you wouldn’t be the only one who’s house rocks from side to side from the wake of a passing boat… For the Dutch, living aboard is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, their canals are lined with converted shallow-draft sailing vessels, house boats, and other odd floating contraptions. When I landed in Barbados from my Transatlantic in a 26ft boat, I wasn’t overly suprised when a local reporter told me a Dutchman had done the same voyage in an old converted boiler.

Witnessing life on the water in Holland was a true eye opener, and as I moved south along the coast of Europe, across the Atlantic into the Caribbean, and up into the east coast of America, I would witness every kind of life afloat. From families on circumnavigations, retired couples who’d sold everything, and old men who had left their wives to fulfill dreams of a free life - Their homes were their boats, and the majority of these boats were capable of crossing oceans, able to take their owners to new continents and islands few of us would ever be able to see otherwise.

While those that lived aboard in Holland rarely untied the thick hemp lines which secured them to the canal wall, so lived a small but occasionally odd group of people who risked the shells they carried on their backs, dodging shoals, storms and uncharted territories. It takes a certain kind of person to be happy to wake up at all hours of the night, in order to throw out a second anchor as a squall blows through, or to sleep comfortably on a deep ocean passage while their home is on autopilot, heading towards the setting sun, slightly out of control. Yet the same person that worries about the strength of the rode attached to the storm anchor they just deployed, also experiences such a breadth of new places, people and challenges, it’s a wonder anyone lives on land at all.

We’ve constructed lives of such permanence, living on a small sailing vessel takes practice, patience, ingenuity and sacrifice. I receive a ton of email exclaiming that I’m ‘living the dream’ - I had no idea only one dream existed, but apparently from the outset I’m living it! In my ‘house’, I can’t stand up straight, I cut vegetables for dinner on my lap, and while at sea, I need to balance my cooking on the stove so it doesn’t end up on the floor. I’ve spent a total of 71 days in total isolation without sight of land, sailed 11,000km’s and visited countless countries, islands and ports. I’ve nearly lost my ‘house’ in north west Spain, as I tiredly attempted to navigate around an outcrop of rocks, only to be pushed closer by strong tides. Yet that very same night, I docked in a tiny fishing village to be assisted by locals, provided with a warm Spanish feast every day until I departed, and shown such hospitality, it was worth every terrifying moment just to get there.

Of course, the further you sail, the further you are away from your friends, and most noticeably your job… There are few solutions to either problem, except that your true friends are the ones that come to visit in far away places (and enjoy the fruits of your sometimes difficult sailing)! There have been countless books written on budgeting, and working while under way… Yet, under any kind of stress, there leads a certain amount of ingenuity - I’ve met people who offer computer services, sell hand made jewelry, clean boats or simply only eat rice. As you move into cheaper labour markets (ie. the Caribbean), things can get more difficult, and you may become one of many such ‘yacht bums’. Yet one must always remember, that if you were savvy enough to get that far, you’re probably savvy enough to figure out how to put food on the table (or lap!). Some people to go St Maarten to work on the superyachts, others get into the charter market, while still more sail on with their fingers crossed and their hopes held high. Often times, it’s best to just keep moving - If you stop, your opportunities soon run out, and you tread water - But if you keep moving, however hard it might be, your opportunities increase, as does your mileage.

I’ve met many a sailor that wildly exclaims ‘just don’t stop, and everything will be ok!’ A motto which is especially adept to those living on the water, where the horizon is as limitless as are the beautiful places to visit.

Nick Jaffe, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

July 18th, 2008

Bluemapia Mobile BETA now available

In the intent to continue to provide free tools to build the most comprehensive and up-to-date open content sailing and cruising guide of the planet, we are proud to announce that Bluemapia Mobile BETA is now available.

Bluemapia Mobile offers boaters and sailors the ability to use their mobile phones to create and share detailed multimedia information about nautical itineraries and destinations (comments about marina, bays, anchorages, touristic indications and suggestions, etc.).

Mobile users can search bluemapia.com for placemarks created by others and with a GPS connected they can see their current position on the map, send their position to the web site to be tracked online and take a photo that will be geo-referenced to create a placemark. Users can then add a name, a text and send one or more placemarks to bluemapia.com to be shared with the community.
The first release is now available for Windows Mobile devices. Our intent for the immediate future is to provide Bluemapia Mobile also for iPhone and Symbian.

Bluemapia Mobile is and will remain free and it is a full open source development hosted by sourceforge.

Download Bluemapia Mobile and register now to get full access to the bluemapia mobile features!

As a beta tester you will be the first who gets to know the new bluemapia products and the new features of the service.

Have Fun
Amerigo

June 17th, 2008

bluemapia.com goes BETA

We believe that sailors are the best source of sailing information.

That is why we created bluemapia, an open content sailing and cruising guide, where people from all over the world can write about the places they have visited with a boat: bays they love, safe anchorages they know, best marina services they have found or charming villages where to stop for a night.

This sailing guide is created by you: adding placemarks, pictures, text and comments to the map.

Does this work? We think it does and together with you we can make bluemapia the best sailing and cruising guide of the planet and a place where we can meet friends with our same passion: SAILING.

Bluemapia features two different kinds of content to describe geographic places: Points of Interest and Placemarks . The POIs are the editorial content of the site while the placemarks are the social content.

POIs and Placemarks are only the beginning of a series of functions we will make available on this site. Others will come soon and will include:
• Tracks to share the current position or load tracks stored with a GPS connected to your smartphone;
• Sailing journal: the blog that will allow periodic geo-referenced posts;
• Weather and forecast: coastal weather stations data available on the map;
• Geo-messaging to communicate with other sailors in your area and interact with your list of buddies;
• Geo tv: user generated live and recorded video streaming;
• Social networking to create contacts between people in the bluemapia community;
• Forum to get feedback from the users and provide “how to” support.
• bluemapia Mobile to create, share and search information on the map with your smartphone, integrated with the GPS.

We’re planning to grow fast, but our philosophy is not going to change. We will provide services for free, so that information will freely grow up both in quantity and quality, openly available to all.

With the aim of funding this site’s development we have chosen to add a limited number of advertising links that will never be too invading. Therefore, the success of bluemapia depends on the number of users that will register and visit this site.

Discover how it works and please, register and help us to spread out the bluemapia message to your boating and sailing friends.

Have Fun
Amerigo

June 17th, 2008

Sailing the Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary

In a two hour drive from Milan, the most crowded city in my country, we still have the chance to withdraw from the rest of the world and enter a completely different and more natural dimension. If you have a nautical licence it’s enough to rent a boat and spend a weekend cruising along the Ligurian Riviera, or crossing the eighty miles between La Spezia and Macinaggio, on the island of Corse, one of the most beautiful and wild islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
Suddenly everything is different. Boats doing this crossing are still today relatively few as most of the boats remain close to the coastline. After leaving Porto Lotti in La Spezia, a few miles out of the famous Poet’s Gulf, it’s not uncommon to find your boat alone in the middle of the sea with only the lights of big ships on the horizon.

Another characteristic of this route is that at a certain point you’ll find yourself in the middle of the Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary, a protected marine park with a very high concentration of marine mammals. Sailing to Corse it’s therefore very frequent to meet dolphins, whales and even the magnificent sperm whale.
Several amateur videos spotting cetaceans around the world have been recorded and posted on YouTube showing once more the power of the web and how web 2.0 sites can help researchers getting more and more information about these smart mammals.
Here are some of the videos recorded in the Mediterranean that I’ve found on YouTube and geo-referenced on bluemapia.
Whales in Portoferraio

Fin Whale

Dolphins between Italy and Corse

Dolphins in West Corse

Swimming with the pilot whales

Cetaceans Regata

Did you spot a cetacean and you shot a photo or a video?

Keep on posting and geo-reference content on the bluemapia map.

Have Fun

Amerigo

June 17th, 2008

Sailing in Greece - 2008

The Mediterranean Sea is surely one of the most charming and interesting seas in the world.
The variety of environments and sights makes it possible to find new and very different places to visit year after year.

Wether you”re looking for nature, culture, or trendy places, there’s plenty of chances. And you can mix these things up in the same period, if you like.
The conditions of weather in summer are usually very friendly, even if we all know that locally and for short period of time, wind can blow very hard.
Here in Bluemapia, we’d like to start sharing ideas, experiences, and plans for the 2008 vacations, which are getting closer and closer

What could be an itinerary for a 2-week boating holiday, for those who want to find nice and tranquil bays, visit some interesting hystorical places, and also spend some nights in trendy cities?

I”ll tell you mine (and find info on the BlueMapia Map).

From Kerkyra (AKA Corfu) to Lavrion (Athens) via Corynth Gulf and Channel. 268nm in 18 days.

Always (hopefully…) favorable wind (head SE, then E, wind NW, then W), never very strong as it can be in the Aegeum.
Gorgeous nature, quiet bays and crystal sea in Paxoi and Antipaxoi, Skorpios, Ithaka, Meganisi, Trizonia, Aigina.

Interesting hystorical places to visit in Kerkyra, Ithaki, Galaxidi (visit to Delphi), Corynth, Athens.

Attracting nice tavernas and fashion harbours to spend nights in Gaios (Paxoi), Frikes (Ithaki), Fiskardo (Cefalonia).

And many many places to discover.

cheers,
Joshua 2.0