Feeds

SEAiq has the ability to automatically download and update numerous types of data from the internet. Several preset feeds are provided that are of common interest, but many users employ this feature for their specialized needs.

Feeds are normally only updated when connected to the internet. You need to take care to connect to the internet from time to time so that your feeds may be updated. You can request an immediate update by pressing the UPDATE button. The current status of your feeds can be determined by checking the Diagnostics.

When updating feeds, SEAiq attempt to use network bandwidth efficiently by first checking if the data has changed before downloading the entire new file. This requires standard support from the server.

Settings

• Update Now (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Pressing the Update button causes all feeds to be updated immediately, rather than waiting for the next scheduled time.
• Diagnostics : This allows you to view the status of currently active feeds.

Common Feeds (See also Tides)

• St Lawrence Seaway Notices/Shoals : Enables download of current information on notices-to-mariners and shoals for the St Lawrence Seaway published by the Canadian Coast Guard. These appear as orange information circles, in some cases also with magenta rectangular areas. These are updated once per day when connected to the internet.
• HydroTel Feed (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Hydrotel Data Service.
• Whale Alert (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Enables download and display of recent whale sightings reported to Whale Alert. Note that access to this information requires an account and is normally only available to professional mariners. If you wish to submit whale alert sightings, please do so via the free Whale Alert app.
• UHU GPS Jammer/Spoofer Detection (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Settings for reporting jammer/spoofer events detected by UHU Technologies. An attempt is made to update the stations every minute.

User-Generated Feed Files

Feeds are also an open-ended feature that can be extended to download and periodically update various forms of data. Please contact us if you have any questions on how to use feeds.

User-generated feeds are considered an advanced because they designed to be open-ended in nature. They are specified using files in the XML format. If you have a specific need not currently addressed in SEAiq, please contact us about your requirements.

Feed files are based on the RSS XML format, with the following extensions:

• <seaiq:refresh>: Indicates how often the link will be checked for new data. If not present, the default is every 5 minutes. The time is expressed as follows:
  • P indicates the period (required)
  • nY indicates the number of years
  • nM indicates the number of months
  • nD indicates the number of days
  • T indicates the start of a time section (required if you are going to specify hours, minutes, or seconds)
  • nH indicates the number of hours
  • nM indicates the number of minutes
  • nS indicates the number of seconds
  For instance P1D refreshes once per day. PT15M refreshes every 15 minutes.
• <seaiq:insert_date>: Causes today's date (in DDMMYYYY format) to be substituted for %DATE% in the / field. This is used for feeds with links that change every day.
• <seaiq:file>: Specifies an alternate name to use for the downloaded file. If not present, the name will be the same as the name in the link URL.