Obstacle Sentry release notes

0.1.5

Faster alarm checks in busy waters. Optimized by reachability.
Loaded files tidied. Each file has an Active switch and a trash can. An inactive file is hidden and not watched, and stays that way after a restart.
Files that cannot be found are shown. A saved file that did not load keeps its row in Config → Data, marked Not found or Not read. Locate points Obstacle Sentry to where it is now; the trash can takes it off the list.
Clearer dialog boxes. In both light and dark themes.
Minor bug fixes and improvements.

0.1.4

UI Layout Improvements. About, What's New and Messages live together in their own tab. Messages shows what was posted when Obstacle Sentry started. Check for updates is on About and on Config → System.
Config is easier to find your way around. Settings are grouped into five tabs: Data, Map, AIS, Live feed and System.
Choose exactly what the AIS hover shows. In Config → AIS, start from Short or Full, then switch any row on or off. The name, a called target's CPA and an aid's off-position warning are always shown.
Mute and Snooze on every tab. The bottom bar, with Mute and Snooze, now stays on screen whichever tab you are on, and the header stays in view while you scroll Alarms, Config or About.
Settings backups. Obstacle Sentry keeps a copy of your settings each day you use it, up to seven. Config → System → Settings backups lists them and restores one, files included.
Update notices. Close the update banner with its x. If Obstacle Sentry cannot check, it says which version was available at the last check.
Obstacles look as they do in Obstacle Mapper. Areas with dashed outlines are not marked "Avoid".
New obstacle types from Obstacle Mapper show as Warn unless their file marks them to "Avoid". If you set one to Alarm before, set it again.
Config file improvements.
Minor bug fixes and improvements.

0.1.3

Live CPA numbers, right up close. A vessel inside your CPA ring used to show only "inside now". It now shows the closest point it is heading for and how close it is right now - for example "0.11 NM in 2m 36s - now 0.13 NM" - and a vessel already past its closest point shows "now 0.12 NM, opening".
The voice says how close. A collision alarm for a vessel inside your ring now says the distance too: "Collision risk. Now. Less than a quarter of a nautical mile."
A tidier header and status bar. The Alarms and Telemetry indicators now sit at the top right. The bottom bar keeps a fixed layout - your cursor position on the left, the current warning (or what is loaded) in the middle, Mute and Snooze on the right - and Mute and Snooze stay put when a warning appears. A long warning wraps onto a second line rather than being cut off.
Alarms > AIS targets tidied. The distress-beacon notice has moved to the bottom, and the longer explanations now show when you hover.
Map tiles fill in better on a poor or missing connection. Tiles that could not be fetched straight away are asked for again, a few at a time, and no longer hold up the rest of the map.
Minor bug fixes and improvements. Among them: maps keep working when another Ocean Racing app is already using the usual map port; and if your settings file is ever damaged, a copy is kept rather than overwritten.

0.1.2

Ocean Racing maps. Two Ocean Racing maps: one each for light and dark themes. Configure in Config → Display → Map. Ocean Racing maps are custom built for sailing areas and are more efficient to download and store.
Prepare maps before you sail. Pan and Zoom around your race area to ensure you have what you need in case you lose internet connectivity. Obstacle Sentry will intelligently store viewed map tiles and share them automatically with other Ocean Racing applications to minimize downloads and storage.
Map storage. Config allows you to manage how much disk space your maps are using shared across all Ocean Racing applications.
Sea marks. Buoys, beacons and lights from OpenSeaMap, drawn over whichever map you are using. On by default; turn them off in the same place.
Obstacles anywhere in the world. Sentry is no longer limited to a Round Britain and Ireland area. Previously any obstacle outside that area was discarded when you loaded it; files for any part of the world now load and are watched, and the chart opens framed on what you loaded.
Updated licence. Please ensure you fully read the End User Licence Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms please cease using the software and uninstall from all install points.
AIS updates:
Targets are described by what they are. The hover and the details window now lead with the vessel type, such as Cargo, Passenger or Sailing. Short or Full AIS details can be specified in Config.
Special codes. More special codes have been implemented per ITU-R M.585 (maritime identities, including AIS-SART, man overboard and EPIRB-AIS beacons, SAR aircraft and aids to navigation) and ITU-R M.1371 (AIS).
Trails have had a minor bug fix.
Targets with no course draw attention. A search and rescue aircraft or vessel that broadcasts no course now flashes. A vessel without a course is ringed with a flashing dashed line if at risk of potential collision.
Distress beacons once acknowledged remain flashing but no longer continuously sound an alarm audibly. A different beacon still sounds.
IMO Standard Symbols - now in use for all SAR aircraft and vessels, and distress beacons, per IMO SN.1/Circ.243/Rev.2. These are the same symbols used in commercial ECDIS systems.
Your own MMSI and Call Sign now appear in your boat panel if available, to help you keep them close to hand.
Numerous technical updates - to the self-updating system, wording used in the application, chart credits and zoom behaviour, chart refresh, and more.

0.1.1

AIS details are now drawn on the chart. Vessels, stations and aids to navigation from your feed, with names, flags, call signs and true-scale hulls where the broadcast carries them. Hover for details, click for further details. To configure trails and colours, check the Config tab.
AIS collision alarms. Targets are now watched for closest point of approach as well as drawn. Arm them per class on the Alarms tab: Warn draws an amber ring around the target and names it in the banner, silently; Alarm does that and sounds the siren. Vessels start at Warn, so nothing new sounds until you choose it.
Collision watch is for a predicted impact, not for just being too close. Defaults are 0.5 NM / 30 min for a warning, 0.25 NM / 10 min for an alarm. We have attempted to build in some race intelligence to the target watching: for example, holding 0.1 NM from a competitor for an hour is not a collision and should not trigger an alarm. Jittery vectors should not cause alarm chatter. This can all be configured.
Distress beacons always sound. A SART, EPIRB or man-overboard beacon in range raises the alarm whatever else is armed.
Draw your own Obstacles. The pencil tool icon (top left on the map) allows you to draw an obstacle in place, configurable to your needs.
Light and dark themes, following Windows or set by hand on the Config tab.
Dumped munitions no longer sound by default. They are still drawn. The mapped source now carries some 6,500 individual positions, which is not usable as a siren; set the category to Alarm on the Alarms tab if you want them audible. If you had already chosen Alarm while that was the default, the choice was not stored - check the row.
Startup is much faster. A full Round Britain & Ireland set - 51 files, some 13,000 objects - went from about 40 seconds to about 10. The first launch after an update is slower while the cache rebuilds. Most of what remains is drawing the coastline; without land and coastal margin, expect about 3 seconds.
In-app updating is more robust, and clearer about what it is doing.
The live-position watch better survives a clock change. A laptop waking or a drifting clock correction are now measured against a clock that cannot be stepped. "No fix" sentinels and impossible jumps are rejected rather than shown.
Please note: nothing is watched or alarmed until you have accepted the terms and conditions of Obstacle Sentry - you must read the terms and conditions to accept them, and signal this by scrolling to the bottom. Until you do, nothing is armed.

0.1.0 - First Release

Obstacle Sentry watches your live position against the obstacles you load - and sounds the alarm before you reach them.

The Sentry

Live position over NMEA0183; the alarm engine runs on its own clock, independent of the display - a busy screen can never silence the alarm. Per-type Off / Warn (drawn, silent) / Alarm (audible), a time-to-boundary horizon and/or a distance ring, sound choice, debounce. Optional voice callouts speak what is tripping and how close ("Land, half a nautical mile") - all speech pre-recorded on install, nothing needs the internet at sea. Losing the GPS while armed raises its own spoken warning. Visual alarms to match: flashing status bar, a banner naming what is going off, tripping obstacles pulsing on the chart; Mute or Snooze without disarming.

Your Obstacles

Load Expedition racenotes (.xml), Adrena (.cl10) or KML - mix formats freely; loading is additive and every file can be disabled or removed individually, with warnings before you strip coverage from the area you are sailing in.
Files from other sources are grouped by their own colours, per file, and honour the file's own do-not-enter flags; give any imported group your own display name and colour, or rename individual imported objects - the original data is always kept underneath.
Click any obstacle for its details, provenance and a per-object alarm override.

The Chart

Offline basemap (tiles cached and shared across Ocean Racing apps), boat marker with heading ray and breadcrumb trail, follow or free-pan, and hover details on every obstacle.

Housekeeping

Closing the window keeps Obstacle Sentry running in the system tray - only the tray's Exit shuts it down.
Automatic update checks (fully offline-safe), with in-app download and install.