Google Glass and the modern seafarer?!

[OldSalt]

Google have released Glass in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27926352 . There are stories of some very good applications covering areas such as medical, training, social, etc. So what could they be used for on board ship?

With the opportunities that decent internet broadband will bring to the ship in the near future, what brilliant and useful ideas can you suggest for Google Glass?

[Inland Pirate]

Radar target selection, or the ships estimated path through the water could be useful to display I would have thought?

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[HarmlessWeasel]

I think I'd rather an augmented reality feature that just displayed the current radar or ais info on that target, i.e. target no (or name), range, bearing, cpa, tcpa and bow crossing range. That wouldn't necessarily need internet, just some kind of link with the integrated nav, but it's not really the current scope of the google glass, and could potentially be some kind of security/safety risk

[OldSalt]

How about its use with first aid? You can be on the net with a shore based medical centre, the medics can see what is wrong together with your verbal report and advice to you can be relayed to you via the screen. A useful little tool....

[Clanky]

A connection to the engine room alarm system so that the engine room watchkeeper / duty engineer can monitor that fuel tank they are filling while they are out and about in the engine room.

[Frenchy]

Head up displays have been around for a while, particularly in the military. This just puts the HUD in front of your eye, (not unlike Apache pilots). A more simple solution for bridge watch keepers is to have a HUD projected onto the bridge windows displaying ARPA and AIS data. They already have similar systems fitted to top end cars, surely it's only a matter of time before this tech reaches ships. We already have systems like thermal imaging integrated into bridge equipment. It shouldn't be that unrealistic to expect some form of overlay of interrogated data. People complained about AIS and ECDIS distracting the OOW from looking out the window, but it seems to me that having this data projected before you is the least distracting and most useful solution.

[Inland Pirate]

Useful for firefighting and cable/pipe tracing?

[size4riggerboots]

Useful for firefighting and cable/pipe tracing?

How?

I'm in agreement with Frenchy, I don't particularly like the idea of going down the road of becoming entirely reliant in electronic nav aids, but if we're going to go down that road it should be made as intuitive as possible -I see no benefit to having a repeat of the radar screen on google glass, and if you had AIS/ARPA displayed on it in "real" degrees you'd have to damn sure your glass display had a gyroscope as good as the ships, otherwise you'd quite easily end up with targets being displayed inaccurately. Far better to have them displayed on the bridge windows - although that still has a high margin of error - surely it depends on where you are in relation to the window... At the end of the day I'd still far rather rely on the Mark 1 Eyeball than any other nav equipment.

Other applications.. yes, I can see google glass having a place on ships - Clankys suggestion of being able to monitor certain systems while you walk about doing other jobs sounds both feasible and practical, and could be applied in many situations, likewise OldSalts regarding medical care - although not all ships have internet yet, and those that do, well, it's not always that reliable...

[Inland Pirate]

Thermal imaging/how a fire could spread through air systems etc?

Pipe tracing you could, for example, say you want to follow a cable from the engine room to the mooring winches at the bow, so you can see where it goes and where breaks might be if it's behind a wall?

[GuinnessMan]

A connection to the engine room alarm system so that the engine room watchkeeper / duty engineer can monitor that fuel tank they are filling while they are out and about in the engine room.

Already been looking into something similar recently as it happens, but not with Google Glass. It will, eventually, be doable, but the automation system on board is not currently going to be able to perform that function, it will require another separate system to work properly. Can't go into more details at the moment, but will let you know more when I can...

Thermal imaging/how a fire could spread through air systems etc?

Most fires on board don't spread through the ventilation system, they can spread via the Steel of the ship and spark fires in other locations (secondary fires I think they're called?) so to have it for something like that probably wouldn't work very well. For keeping track and watching out for secondary fires, then it could do, but you'd probably need to be away from the ship to see the heat transferring or something?

[HarmlessWeasel]

There's already a similar idea with medicine going on. Using video conferencing so that experts on the particular issue can monitor operations in other hospitals in urgent cases where there isn't time to be there in person. Obviously they have access to slightly better internet

[chris]

On the subject of seeing the alarm and monitoring system while you're in the engine room, I think a ruggedised tablet of some sort would be better suited though as an Apple hater, definitely not based on an IPad.

You'd just need a few Wifi antennas placed around the engine room with a link to the main automation system network, but probably best not to connect to the backup network.

[endure]

On the subject of seeing the alarm and monitoring system while you're in the engine room, I think a ruggedised tablet of some sort

Panasonic to the rescue yet again - and no I don't work for them :-)

http://business.panasonic.co.uk/computer-product/products-and-accessories/introducing-the-full-toughbook-range/toughpad

[chris]

I like. I feel an employee suggestion box idea coming on. And guess what the prize is for good suggestions, an Ipod or Ipad lol.

[OldSalt]

Let's look at food on board ship and can Google Glass help. I can remember a Captain asking the cook for a cheese cake as a change. Sure enough we had cheese cake but not what we were expecting....! A lovely sponge cake wih grated cheese on top.......!! With Google Glass the cook would have access to recipes and videos showing how to make something. It would leave him handsfree to produce some glourious new dishes....