Taking GPS coordinates of a site... captain's permission?

[manni-yunk]

Why do people go on about SNEAKING ABOARD anything? As long as youre allowing people to bring cameras and phones aboard, you effectively allow them to bring GPS units, get over it..

Not really. Most people turn their phone off when they are out of tower range - to conserve the battery.

Cameras dont often have geotagging.....at least not the kind your bringing on a dive boat. Sure there are exceptions.



If you guys feel so strongly about this - go buy a boat, find your wrecks and advertise your site locations. Then allow anyone ot bring anything on board.

Good Luck.........You wont make it.

 

[paulw]

Well I believe this topic will soon be a moot point, although I can see both sides and have no issues following the request of the Captain soon the dive charters that do not allow the use of GPS devices will have a big problem, more and more devices such as camera's, phones and even dive computers have GPS tracking capabilities. I expect in the very near future almost all dive computers will have GPS and log the dive and location online when the diver downloads his dives, they may even bluetooth upload as soon as the divers phone is within range after surfacing and then if allowed by the diver it will add the information to a worldwide data base for all to see. As much as the captains would like to keep their locations safe, the equipment of today's information age and especially tomorrow's will make it impossible to keep their secret.

 

[redacted]

Why do people go on about SNEAKING ABOARD anything? As long as youre allowing people to bring cameras and phones aboard, you effectively allow them to bring GPS units, get over it..

There clearly are ways that a boat can deal with this if it really is a problem.

they could take the approach that the airlines do on transmitting devices. There policies are well publicized so you should not be surprised by their rules after boarding the plane. And appropriate reminders are then made before the cabin door is closed. And, when all else fails: Alec Baldwin kicked off plane. Are game-playing fliers a safety risk? - CSMonitor.com

And, if that is not enough and your secrets are worth at least $300, there is: GPS Jammer, GPS Jammer Manufacturers & Suppliers -Online Store

 

[Gombessa]

Why do people go on about SNEAKING ABOARD anything?

One time some guy snuck a banana on board. On the way out, he just pulled it out of his backpack and slapped it onto the outside windshield of the bridge. Some men just want to watch the (first) world burn.

Twist: maybe there was an embedded GPS hidden inside the banana?

 

[DiveNav]

.....they may even bluetooth upload as soon as the divers phone is within range after surfacing and then if allowed by the diver it will add the information to a worldwide data base for all to see. ......

This feature is already available today

Alberto (aka eDiver)

 

[Gombessa]

Sure - there are wrecks that everyone knows about - but in general - in my area, there is LITERALLY over 4000 shipwrecks and NO ONE knows where they are all. New wrecks are still found all the time.

Manni-yunk,

I totally get where you're coming from, and I can see a difference in culture and practice between tourist-catering vacation charters in Hawaii and hardcore local wreck adventurers (or whatever the preferred term) in rough coastal waters of the NE. But if there are really so many wrecks out there, and new ones are being discovered all the time, and there are so few charters that none are from the same harbor, is there really a need for all the secrecy? Are you really going to go out of business because someone else may on any given day show up at the same site you're planning on hitting? It sounds like there are more wrecks out there than there are charters x available time to saturate.

 

[James R]

I know what you mean. If I am standing on the dock and find out GPS use is not allowed, I would still happily go on the dive and forgo the GPS. Finding out on the boat at the dive site, I would be a little upset, but again, wouldn't stop me from diving, although might affect my tipping

Hell yeah! Shaft the DMs and boat crew in protest of an owner/operator GPS policy! Really, dude??

 

[Akimbo]

Not really. Most people turn their phone off when they are out of tower range - to conserve the battery.

Cameras dont often have geotagging.....at least not the kind your bringing on a dive boat. Sure there are exceptions...

The last time I was aboard a boat in Monterey someone asked me be to take a photo for him with his i-Phone… which I now understand includes real GPS tagging regardless of cell coverage. I also see a lot of dSLRs onboard, which increasingly have GPS tagging.

Even if a customer takes photos and keeps the numbers confidential, it only takes one case for them to get PO’d at the Captain and feel “entitled to get even”. True or not, the damage will be done. I don’t believe anybody thinks doing so is ethical if they were directly requested not to, but I wouldn’t bet my business that it won’t happen. It simply isn’t realistic anymore.

Then there is industrial sabotage. How hard would it be for a competing Captain to find a diver willing to trade the numbers for a ride on their boat? How long before that diver goes to other boats offering the numbers for a free ride? Unfortunately, many captains who are the most aggressive over site secrecy are the ones with the least compunction to nefariously acquire competitor’s numbers.

Interesting discussion.

 

[PfcAJ]

Some folks are polite. Some are not.

 

[Storker]

Have you ever been told that it is against the rules to take a dump on the deck of the boat?

Given the ubiquitousness of GPS-enabled gizmos - at least in my part of the world - compared to the propensity of normally intelligent people to take a dump on the deck of another person's boat, I'd say that your metaphor is somewhat less than perfect.

IMNSHO...