GPS Routing

[rcacace]

I'm sure I can't be the only person who takes a gps unit to track the ships progress & if not has anyone ever noticed that the track of almost every Princess route (on any particular leg of a journey) is almost identical to that of all the others. I've plotted many routes over the last few years, mostly in the Caribbean & found that some routes are as close as 50 feet and many being within 150 feet of past waypoints. I asked a navigational officer if this was just a coincidence or were the exact routes pre-programed by the main office & he assured me that it was left to the discretion of each ships navigator.

Any thoughts?

[SeattleCruiselover]

I'm sure I can't be the only person who takes a gps unit to track the ships progress & if not has anyone ever noticed that the track of almost every Princess route (on any particular leg of a journey) is almost identical to that of all the others. I've plotted many routes over the last few years, mostly in the Caribbean & found that some routes are as close as 50 feet and many being within 150 feet of past waypoints. I asked a navigational officer if this was just a coincidence or were the exact routes pre-programed by the main office & he assured me that it was left to the discretion of each ships navigator.

Any thoughts?

 

I haven't been to the Carib, but it is certainly true in Alaska.

[tigers]

I do the same thing. I put a bluetooth gps receiver on my balcony table and track the cruise in ArcMap (fortunately this is paid through my job). I'm sure the ships use GPS as well so the tracks being so close doesn't surprise me too much. Plus, there are defined sea lanes to which shipping traffic needs to adhere.

 

On a side note, I quite enjoy doing this as it provides one with a lot more info than can be found on the navigation channel on the cabin TV. If I see a landmass on the horizon, I really like to know what it is, rather than just some green blob on the TV.