Beach Watch 1.0


Category: Travel
Price: $4.99 (iTunes)

Description:

Ever feel the need to check your favourite beach to see what the conditions are like? Maybe you want to check the swell and wave conditions before you head off for a quick surf after work. Maybe you want to check the swell on the way to a favourite dive site? Or you want to see which beaches are crowded before heading down for the day? Or you're just feeling homesick and you want to look at your favourite sunset from around the globe?

Beach Watch can be used for all this and so much more.

Beach Watch is easy to navigate because it uses maps to show you where the cameras are located. You can scroll the map, and to zoom in and out on the map. You don't have to know the geography of where the beach is in relation to where you are, because you can see it on the map. Maybe you are from out of town and you want to have a quick swim, but you don't know where the nearest beach is? You can get an idea by using the map and looking at the camera icons, then check out the conditions before you head down.

While you are looking at a beach, you can add the camera to your favourites list for easy access.

If your favourite beach isn't listed, then send me an email with the details (name of the beach, where it is located, a brief description, and a link to an existing Surf Camera), and I can have it added in minutes without having to update the application.

*** CURRENT GEOCODING STATUS
Queensland - 31 cameras geocoded
New South Wales - 36 cameras geocoded
Victoria - commencing 23/2/09 currently geocoding
South Australia - commencing 24/2/09 (2 test cameras available)
Western Australia - commencing 24/2/09 (2 test cameras available)

In the mapping section, you can use single finger gestures to zoom the map in (double tap), zoom the map out (tripple tap), pan the map (swipe), or select a camera to view (single tap).

You can use two finger gestures (pinch and expand) to zoom in and out.

SELECTING A CAMERA: Firstly, clicking a camera icon does not select the camera. This app uses Google Maps, and the icons do not work like they do in a browser window. You have to tap the map within a given radius (the default is 2km and it can be changed in the Apps preferences). The easiest way to do this is to zoom the map in to where you can see some detail on the map, and click just below the icon. If the map is not zoomed, then it is difficult to get the precision needed to select a camera.

Not many of the cameras are operational 24x7, most of them only operate 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. Outside these hours, or where an image hasn't been produced for 15 minutes, a default image will be displayed.

There is a preferences section to control how close you have to tap to select a camera (in km), and how fast maps zoom in and out when you double / triple tap.

Caveats: This app is dependant on the internet. Maps take a while to load, and while I have tested it on a weak EDGE signal, it is painful. Wi-fi is best, but 3G is acceptable. Obviously speed is dependant on the sites where data is downloaded from and the strength of your signal. Another item outside our control is camera availability. Although the cams are very reliable, there are a number of factors that could cause a camera to malfunction, or for the servers hosting the images to malfunction.

For more detailed information on how this application works, please visit our support page.
Beach Watch



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