Do Spot Satelite Messengers count as EPIRBS? I just got one and they basically work the same as my EPIRB with enhanced features.
I am doing a separate thread on this but I am working with a online software developer using spot units to webcast events. He has agreed to cover the Endurance Series and we are testing it over the next four days to use it for the Keys 100. The developer webcast mountan bike races in the desert and is looking forward to doing boat races. I think I can get him to do the Tybee 500 if there is interest.
West Palm Beach to Key West Run I'm quite sure they do not count as EPIRBs.
There is definitely some interest in the Tybee 500 for the technology. However, there were some limitations with the data that was published last year. I was ground crew last year and tried to use the three or four teams that had them as a tracking tool.
1) the data intervals were irregular (see item 3)
2) displaying multiple teams on one screen was not possible unless they were all registered under the same account (sounds like you're working on that)
3) no interpolation of the data points...you could look at the boat positions but one team's position may have been from 30 seconds ago and the other from 20 minutes ago making it extremely difficult to determine who was actually in what position. I know it's a complicated solution, but you could interpolate the last speed and heading point on the map and get a better idea of boat position. This would make the map much more meaningful to the observer.
