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

(Red Dot flashes when program active)

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 georeferenced charts it's dead on accurate !!

We've been working on this 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.

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 8.1.2 just incase you don't have it )

• GPSu+FNS 5.07F ( If you've been using the former CD version GPSu+FNS 4.95F, 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 used to display the Goliath Grouper video. )

   Click to See a: Technical Info Web Page

Specification (preliminary):

A one ( 1 ) GB, ( 1000 MB ) Enhanced Flash Drive Partitioned into two( 2 ) virtual drives ( partitions ):

Partition #1 - An 800 megabyte CD partition which contains all the program software & is "non-destructible"! The software can 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 process is still in the development stage - expected completion = September 2010)

Partition #2 A 1.75 megabyte 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 Kinko's; 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 only sell 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 your computer system does not have sufficient memory or your graphics card/software is hot 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 $79.81 cost includes normal 1st class shipping/handling. There is a 6.5% Florida State Sales Tax. ( Total = $85.00 ) For this you get all of the following:

1. Fully updated Programs, Charts & PDF Data for all three Counties ( The former Single-County CD's each sold for $39.95 plus tax at local dive stores and contained information for only one County ). To purchase all three formerly cost over $120.00 Also, they were not upgradeable!

2. Free, over the internet, upgrades as they are implemented & become available ( updates will be posted on our website ). Customer dive site suggestions/participation greatly appreciated!

3. The Tri-County GPSu+FNS Tracking Utility -  you may now save waypoints, track-lines and full or partial map files in BMP ( bitmap ) format. 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 will not be saved as calibrated images nor will they be calibratable within this special edition software, they may be re-calibrated using a freely downloadable GPS Utility Freeware Edition, at no charge, directly from http://www.gpsu.co.uk/ . One can use that edition of the program it to generate new maps of their choosing.

• NOTE: 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. On request, we will be offering calibrated, specialty maps with .XGU calibrations submitted by you, the end user. There will be a nominal fee for this service ( Fee yet to be determined ).

4. 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.

Ordering:

Hopefully, we will be accepting pre-delivery orders through PayPal starting Monday, the 26th of July and hope to begin delivering the system by the opening of Lobster Season on the 6th of August ( or mini-season - if all goes well - no promises - we want to get it right the 1st time! )

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How the Ordering Process all works:

• You order the product through PayPal. ( See below )

• Upon receipt of your PayPal payment, we mail you the programmed Thumb Drive which will arrive as a GPS Utility "Non-Registered" special 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 Form Page

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.