Settings / Record & Playback <strong>(Only SEA<em>iq</em> Pilot)</strong>

NMEA Record & Playback

This feature allows you to record NMEA/AIS data for later playback.

Operation is simple. Turn on recording of NMEA data and that causes all NMEA/AIS data to be recorded to a file whenever an NMEA connection is present. The file is named according to the date/time it was started. Every 2 hours, the current recording is automatically closed and a new recording begun.

For playback, you can select a recording. This causes controls to appear on the Navigation tab that you can use to start/stop playing. You can adjust the slider to move to any point in the recording. During playback, all the displayed sensor data and AIS targets correspond to the data at the time it was played.

Note that when playing back the data, the chart display can be different than when originally recorded. For example, you can pan/zoom as you see fit, change various chart settings, etc.

The recordings are stored as files with an .nmea file extension. The file name includes the vessel name (if available via AIS AIVDO sentences) and the date/time at which the recording started. You can view them by selecting the Playback menu. If you want to save a recording by using various options to export.

The format of the recording file is essentially exactly the same as it was received from the NMEA/AIS stream so you may be able to use 3rd party tools to process the data. Note that certain proprietary sentences using the vendor code $PSIQ are inserted into the data to annotate with timing information and improve the efficiency of playback. The annotations can be ignored.

By default, AIS data is only recorded from a primary NMEA/AIS feed. Data received from AIS Sharing or a Network AIS Feed are only recorded if the relevant options below are enabled. Note also that Simulator has an option to enable recordings of simulator.

Record

To start recording, simply turn Enable to ON. This setting is saved so whenever you use SEAiq with NMEA/AIS it will be recording data for you. This way you do not need to remember to start recording when you run SEAiq.

The Status field displays how long the current recording has been running and how many NMEA/AIS sentences it includes.

The current recording data cannot be viewed for playback. If you disable recording and then re-enable it, that will cause a new file to be opened for recording and the current one to be made available for playback.

Whenever a recording is started, all the current AIS targets will be automatically included in the recording so that playback can begin with all AIS included and you do not have to wait for AIS messages from each of them.

Recording for the current file will continue in the background even when you are playing back another recording.

Settings

Record

Enable (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Start recording.
Show Notice (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, a large notice is shown on the chart display indicating that recording is active.
Extra Text in File Name (Only SEAiq Pilot) : This text is added to file names for recordings, in addition to the Own-Ship name and time/date. If you change this, the current recording is not affected; you can restart recording to start a recording with the new name.
Status (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Current status of the recording, shown as the amount of time and the size of the recording file. Or Disabled if not recording.
Record Audio (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Support for recording audio on your device. Requires integrated or external microphone. Please see the sub-menu for additional settings and documentation.
Record AIS Network Feed (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, targets from the AIS Network Feed are included in your recording. This increases the storage and battery consumption of your recordings.
Record AIS Sharing (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, targets from the AIS Sharing are included in your recording. This increases the storage and battery consumption of your recordings. Important: please note that the coverage area for AIS Sharing may vary depending on the displayed areas. This will be reflected in your recording.
Recording Range for Network Feeds (Only SEAiq Pilot) : The range from Own-Ship for targets to include in recordings. When 0, all targets are included.

Playback

Playback Recording (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Select this to see the recordings available for playback. If you select one of the recordings, becomes active. The current selection is shown. You can see the status of the playback in the Status field.
You can stop playback by pressing the X button on the Navigate tab.
Status (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Current status of the playback, which is normally shown as the time being played.
Configure Own-Ship from Recording (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, the configuration for Own-Ship is updated based on any data in the recording. This ensures the size and position of Own-Ship matches that during the recording. This is used when you have manually updated size or other configuration. This overwrites any changes you have made for Own-Ship. The following settings may be affected:
- Vessel Size: Source, Length, and Beam
- AIS Antenna Position: Source, Distance to Bow, and Distance from Centerline
- External GPS Antenna Position: Distance to Bow, Distance from Centerline, and Use as Conning Position
- Vessel Draft: Source and Draft
- Heading Offset
- Block Coefficient
Use Virtual Board & Vessel Select from Recording (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, any virtual boarding or vessel selection at the time of the recording will be used during the recording. If you want to use different settings, will need to disable this.
Loop at End (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, playbacks loop back to the beginning when they reach their end.
Diagnostics : This shows diagnostics describing the current status of your playback.

Manage

Periodically Erase Old Recordings (Only SEAiq Pilot) : When enabled, a prompt is periocially given to erase recordings at least 60 days old. They are only erased if confirmed by the user. If you want to save recordings, you can export them.
Erase All Recordings (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Erases all recording, after confirmation. This cannot be undone.
Manage & Analyze Recordings (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Select this to export, convert, or delete recordings.
Conversion options include:
- Convert to Routes: Create a Route (GPX format) showing path Own-Ship follows during the recording.
- Convert to Tracks: Create a Track file (GPX format) showing path Own-Ship follows during the recording.
- Convert to Vessel Trail: Create a Mariners Tool Group containing sequence of Vessel Tools for positions of Own-Ship.
- Convert to Polygon: Create a Mariners Note with polygon showing swept path of Own-Ship.
- Convert to Vessel Trail & Polygon: Create a Mariners Tool Group with Vessel and Mariners Note tools from both the previous items.
- Convert to Spreadsheet: Create spreadsheet containing information about Own-Ship and/or AIS targets:
  - Own-Ship to Spreadsheet (Human Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing all Own-Ship reports.
  - Own-Ship to Spreadsheet (Machine Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing all Own-Ship reports.
  - AIS Reports to Spreadsheet (Human Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing lists of all AIS reports in the recording.
  - AIS Reports to Spreadsheet (Machine Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing lists of all AIS reports in the recording.
  - Raw AIS Reports to Spreadsheet (Human Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing lists of all AIS reports in the recording.
  - Raw AIS Reports to Spreadsheet (Machine Readable CSV): Create spreadsheet CSV file containing lists of all AIS reports in the recording.
Some additional notes:
- Spreadsheets are exported in the CSV (comma separated value) format. These use the UTF8 encoding. When importing to a spreadsheet program, choose comma as the only separator symbol.
- Human-readable spreadsheets contain text fields with numbers formatted along with units corresponding to the current user-selected settings. These normally cannot be easily used for further processing since the numbers are combined with additional text.
- Machine-readable spreadsheets use numbers in standard units (knots, metres, degrees true north, etc). By using numbers, these spreadsheets can be used for additional processing.
- For outputs based on Own-Ship, you can use Virtual Boarding to select a different target for use in processing the recording.
- When converting to Vessel Trail, Polygon, Track, or Route, the various Conversion Filter values may be used to smooth and reduce clutter in the results.
- Some conversion options allow exporting the file and/or combined convert-and-import options.
- After converting to Polygon, you can edit the Mariners Note to change the style (color, fill, width) of the polygon.
- After converting to Vessel Trail, you can then edit one of the Vessel Tools to change the style (color, fill, width) of the vessel. You will be prompted asking if you want to make the same change to all the Vessel objects.

Advanced

Max Duration of Recordings (Only SEAiq Pilot) : The maximum duration of recordings. The default is 2 hours. Once a recording reaches this length, it will be closed and a new one started. Note that longer recordings will have larger size and may exceed limits such as the maximum size attachment for emails.
Track/Route Conversion Filter (Only SEAiq Pilot) : This is used to filter data during the conversion process to tracks or routes. Vertices are removed from the result, when doing so introduces no more than this amount of error.
The error is defined as the maximum distance a vertex will be shown from "actual" line. For instance, removal of a vertex from a track/route will result in new segments; all vertices that were originally incident along that edge will be tested to see how far they are from the new edge.
The default is 10m. Lowering this can cause dramatic increase on the number of vertices when converting from a recording. This in turn can affect performance, in particular when 0m (no filtering) is set. Increasing the value can have a dramatic reduction in the number of vertices.
Polygon Conversion Filter (Only SEAiq Pilot) : This is used to filter data during the conversion process to polygons of swept path. Vertices are removed from the result when doing so introduces no more than this amount of error.
The error is defined as the maximum distance a polygon vertex will be shown from "actual" line. For instance, removal of a vertex from a polygon will result in new edges of the polygon; all vertices that were originally incident along that edge will be tested to see how far they are from the new edge.
The default is 1m. Lowering this value can cause dramatic increase on the number of objects when converting from a recording. This in turn can affect performance, in particular when 0m (no filtering) is set. Increasing the value can have a dramatic reduction in the number of objects.
Vessel Trail Conversion Filter (Only SEAiq Pilot) : This is used to filter data during the conversion process to trail of vessel positions. Vessels are stripped from the result when doing so introduces no more than this amount of error.
The error is defined as the maximum distance a vessel vertex will be shown from "actual" line of motion. For instance, removal of a vessel will result in new line of motion in the trail; all vessel vertices that were originally incident along that edge will be tested to see how far they are from the new edge.
The default is 10m. Lowering this value can cause dramatic increase on the number of objects when converting from a recording. This in turn can affect performance, in particular when 0m (no filtering) is set. Increasing the value can have a dramatic reduction in the number of vessel objects.