Florida Near Shore GPSu+FNS Tri-County Thumb Drive System

What is Florida Near Shore ? What can it do for me ? See Bottom of This Page For Ordering Information

Florida Near Shore is computer software using accurate, high resolution maps of the ocean floor that were created by aircraft mounted Laser depth sounding equipment. Find the latitude and longitude of new dive sites with your mouse pointer, drop anchor on sand instead of on top of the reef, print out reference charts, scroll, zoom in and out and add your own dive site marks. Add a GPS unit to your laptop and use the FNS software to navigate your boat directly to the selected dive reef or wreck location. It's easy and it's fast and with our geo-referenced charts it's dead on accurate !!

We've been working on this version & a previous upgrade since the fall of 2007 when Windows Vista problems forced us to abandon the Single-County CD-RX system.  We are now offering ALL THREE COUNTIES on one ( 1 ) secure Thumb Drive. Simply plug it into a USB port ( USB-2 preferred but its backward compatible to USB-1 slots ) on your laptop or notebook**. You will be up and running that fast. The microprocessor on the Thumb Drive introduces itself to the system ( new hardware found ), displays that a new Removable Disk has been added ( partition #2 ) and then initiates the software program.  See FNS Tutorial for further details.

On initial startup, a once occurring screen appears advising the user as to which auxiliary software components are required. If they are not installed on your PC System, the menu allows you to install whatever is required. The three ( 3 ) auxiliary programs are:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader -  ( You probably already have this but we supply version 10X just in case you don't have it )

• GPSu+FNS 5.14F -  ( If you've been using the former CD versions such as  GPSu+FNS 5.09F, it must be uninstalled and the new version installed. )

• Microsoft Media Player -  ( Probably already on your system depending on your version of Windows. Check using "Control Panel". If not installed, we take you to the Microsoft web site which describes which version of this software is applicable to your Windows version. You must then download and install it. It is used to display the Goliath Grouper video. )

   Click to See a: Technical Info Web Page  for more, in depth, information

Specification ( preliminary ):

A two ( 2 ) GB, ( 2000 MB ) Enhanced Flash Drive Partitioned into two ( 2 ) virtual drives::

Partition #1 - An 850 megabyte CD partition which contains all the program software & is "non-destructible"! The software may be upgraded over the internet without the need to return the Thumb Drive to us!

NOTE: No more worries about having the latest data!  ( this upgrade option is still in the development stage )

Partition #2 A 1.1 gigabyte read/write partition where maps, waypoints & tracklines may be stored, downloaded & used wherever you desire.

        NOTE: The Thumb drives are reprogrammable by the author should the need arise. Simply request a new Thumb Drive in exchange for your current drive. ( details are forthcoming! )

This system contains four ( 4 ) distinct Programs/Video's:

1. The "PDF Chart" Program -  where one may "View/Print The County Name* Main PDF Charts" (28 in total). The native format is 11" X 17" and ideally suitable for printing/laminating for use on your vessel. Suggested use: Take any two, most used, charts to Staples; have them laminated ( 10 mil laminate suggested ) for less than $10.00; carry them on-board when a PC not available!

2. The "The County Name* Near Shore PDF Program" -  in a book style PDF format, one for each County. They contain all the charts as shown in the "PDF Chart" program plus detailed, easy to open, blow-up images and descriptions for over 517 named Dive/Fishing sites.

    The descriptions include:

   • Location - distances and compass bearings from each site to the nearest north/south port and shoreline.

   •  Depth - max & min FSW at site

   • Cautions - What to watch out for at or near a site

   • Remarks - What your apt to see at the site

    

3. The Tri-County GPSu+FNS Tracking Utility for all three Counties! -  With this program, a Laptop ( or notebook** ) & a GPS unit one can navigate precisely to any one of the over 517 named locations or to any site of your own choosing. One may observe the ocean bottom topography as one travels to & from the chosen destination. Visibility is from the shoreline out to the maximum sanctioned recreational dive limits of 132 FSW & beyond ( its only limited by LIDAR max range of 150-200 FSW ). There are 28 maps covering all of Palm Beach, Broward and  Miami-Dade Counties. The area covered is from just north of Jupiter Inlet in Palm Beach County to just south of Fowey Rocks in Miami-Dade County.

   • A Registered version of GPS Utility, which we supply, is required to fully take advantage of all the software features ( normally the cost to upgrade to this version would be $60.00 per registration if purchased outside our offering ). We sell only the registered version! Please note that we, by special arrangement with GPS Utility Ltd., the software manufacturer,  have including the registration fee in our sales price. They are gracious enough to offer us a discounted fee and only requires that you, the buyer, use an E-VOUCHER for "GPS Utility" to obtain your individual registration!

   •  Click to see a:  Registration Form Page for details.

4. MPG video "Goliath Grouper.mpg" - For your enjoyment we have included a two ( 2 ) minute MPG video "Goliath Grouper.mpg" which was taken by my friend & associate Joseph Masterson. The site is the M/V Castor off Delray Beach.

   • NOTE: The Windows Media Player on which this video runs is quite memory intensive and may not function on some lower resolution/memory confined PC's

   • Click to see a: System Requirements Page.

     • NOTE: If, instead of the video, a halucigenic ( in our opinion ) screen takes the place of the video if your computer system does not have sufficient memory or your graphics card/software is not capable of displaying it. This is NOT a problem with our program and the video may be easily bypassed by clicking on an "X" in its upper right corner.

What does it Cost!

The $119.95 sales price includes normal 1st class shipping/handling. There is a 6.0% Florida State Sales Tax for all "in-state" sales ( Total = $127.15 ). For this you receive the following:

1. A fully updated Florida Near Shore GPS Utility program, printable PDF Charts & a PDF formatted DiveSite Manual (also printable). This is for all three Counties. The former Single-County CD's each sold for $39.95 plus tax at local dive stores and only contained information for one County. Now all three Counties are available on one Thumb Drive for $119.95 plus tax & are upgradeable!

2. Free, over the internet or "return to us for exchange ", upgrades of this software as they are implemented & become available for the 1st year of your license. Extended upgrade periods of one year duration, after the 1st year, will be at a minimal cost of approximately &20.00 per year. Updates will be posted on our website.  Customer participation in new dive site suggestions & identification is greatly appreciated!

3. The Tri-County GPSu+FNS Tracking Utility -  you may now save waypoints to an attached GPS ( GPS not included ).

   • Note:  Go to http://www.gpsu.co.uk/gpsrecs.html  web page for complete list of models currently supported.

4. On Windows XP PC's, full or partial map files may be saved (printed)  outside the program using SnagIt or another suitable capture utility. Windows 7 & Vista have a built-in utility to also take a snapshot of the screen image!

   • NOTE 1:  We recommend SnagIt as it saves in one of several formats (PNG, BMP, JPG, Adobe PDF, Adobe SWF or SnagIt Capture file).  This feature is especially useful when one navigates to a specific area, places marks on the zoomed in area and wants a record of where he has been. Although they can not be saved as calibrated images within this FNS special edition software, they may be calibrated outside the program using a freely downloadable GPS Utility Freeware Edition, available at no charge, directly from http://www.gpsu.co.uk/ . One may use that edition of the program to generate new maps of their choosing.

   • NOTE 2: Our GPSu+FNS maps are supplied in a special, proprietary, Florida Near Shore format. The associated .XGU calibration files are encrypted. Therefore they are not accessible for modification. We wouldn't want users to inadvertently destroy their accuracy. Upon request, we will be offering calibrated, specialty maps with .XGU calibrations submitted by you, the end user. There will be a nominal fee ( yet to be determined ) for this service.

    

5. There is a fully documented Tutorial explaining all facets of the GPSu+FNS software program features under the taskbar heading <Help> on the main page of the program.

How the Ordering Process works:

• You order the product through PayPal ( be certain to include discount code, if applicable ).

• Upon receipt of your PayPal payment we process your order & mail you the programmed Thumb Drive after verification of proper operation.

• The Thumb Drive will be delivered as a GPS Utility "Non-Registered" Standard Florida Near Shore Edition.

• We also, simultaneously, e-mail you a unique "Voucher Form" which you must complete & e-mail to GPS Utility in the UK.

• GPS Utility in the UK will, in turn and within 24-48 hrs, e-mail back to you the information necessary to register your copy of this software. Then its just a matter of you entering  your registered name ( 6 to 72 characters long & of your choosing ) and a sixteen digit Registration Number specific to your registered name in the software. The name & number fields are interdependent and must be entered exactly as supplied. There is a "Validate Registration" box which must be clicked to assure proper registration! See  Registration page for details of the voucher.

• We do not include any printed charts with the delivery. Our customers have too many individual chart preferences & to include all 28 charts is cost prohibitive.

Additional Notes:

* The County Name in italics stands for either Broward, Palm Beach or Miami-Dade Counties

**  Notebooks/mini-laptops etc. have, by nature, limited memory & graphic capabilities.  We have not fully tested all possible models. We will test all models upon request of prospective end user or simply refund the sales price upon return receipt of a thumb drive in an undamaged condition subject to our discretion.