2024-03-19 00:50

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Introduction to Cruising Tracker
We received a lot of requests to zoom in more where we are and what the places look like on a map. Following our friends example, we started playing with Google Earth and improved on it. The result and instructions on how to do it can be found here.

Google Earth is a very cool map software, that you can download from earth.google.com and allows you to look at the world, zoom in to an amazing level of detail in certain parts of the world and now also follow where we have gone and our track by following the instructions below; our progress gets updated almost daily with even links back to our logbook entries.
Instructions how to use Google Earth
  • Download and install 'Google Earth' from earth.google.com
  • Click on the following link or download the file to your computer by right-clicking on this link, click on 'Save Target As ...' and choose any location on your computer
  • Start 'Google Earth' application
  • In 'Google Earth' click on menu item 'File', then 'Open ...' and browse to the file 'cruising_tracker.kml' your saved
  • ... VOILA ... you should see many waypoints, routes and our current location ... quite easy isn't it.
  • Instructions for Sailors how to use Google Earth via Lawur
    Yes, you can be part of Google Earth too by just following these simple instructions:

  • Download the following file to your computer by right-clicking on this link, click on 'Save Target As ...' and choose any location on your computer
  • Edit the file you just downloaded, open 'sample.xml' with Notepad, replace all the sample text with your boats info and copy the content of the file ... the comment sections should help with filling in your content.
  • Get a picture of your boat in JPEG or GIF format, if available
  • Create an email with the picture and paste the text edited before into the message body ... make sure the message is in 'Plain Text' format rather then 'HTML'
  • Send email to Tracker@Lawur.com and you should get an automated response within an hour
  • ... VOILA ... you should be able to see your data on Google Earth ... by the way, Airmail allows you to create a standard message in 'Custom Position Reports' ... just use the text you copied before with the placeholders (click here for a small sample file) and you can automatically send the location reports to Lawur tracker.