GNS and SEALL announce a strategic partnership to deliver next generation integrated ECDIS and navigation software solutions
Strategic partnership formed to enable an improved user experience on board. First area of focus is the launch of the touch technology SEALL ECDIS.
LONDON and ABERDEEN — GNS, one of the leading providers of maritime solutions, and SEALL ECDIS Limited, the maritime software and ECDIS company, today announced a new strategic partnership. The partnership will combine GNS’s expertise in back of bridge navigation software and navigational data provision with SEALL’s ECDIS and software development capability to deliver more user-friendly solutions for today’s increasingly digital bridge environment.
The first innovation focus area of the new partnership is the touch technology SEALL ECDIS. The new SEALL ECDIS introduces an entirely new user interface for ECDIS using multi-touch technology display and pioneering new software. Using SEALL, users are able to control their ECDIS with just their fingers to make it faster and easier to access, view and interrogate navigation critical information and action front of bridge tasks. The SEALL ECDIS also introduces a unique combination of software power and simplicity never before seen in an ECDIS to make it more efficient to complete safety critical navigation tasks.
Importantly, the SEALL ECDIS and GNS’s Voyager back of bridge data management and route planning software have been developed using the same underlying technology to display, manage and use digital charts. This enables a seamless flow of data from the back to the front of bridge, reduces duplication and rekeying, makes planning and voyage execution simpler and delivers a better all round user experience on board.
SEALL features a 24-inch full colour display to guide users through their voyage and full QWERTY soft keyboard, which makes it easier to add special notes and annotate a passage plan on ECDIS. When users need to type, SEALL presents them with an elegant smartphone-like touch keyboard, which is more efficient to use than a trackerball. In addition, a simple and modern tablet style menu enables users to move smoothly around SEALL’s features.
The SEALL ECDIS’s powerful processing capabilities and innovative new caching system enable ENCs to be loaded and displayed faster and tasks to be performed more quickly. The SEALL ECDIS is driven by the 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor, widely regarded as the most powerful processor available today, to ensure the best possible performance.
The SEALL ECDIS has also been designed with easy installation and set up in mind. It automatically detects any sensors that it is connected to including motion, positioning and heading devices and automatically sets up monitoring functions like cross track.
Des Neill, CEO, SEALL ECDIS Ltd commented “We are now in a new era of navigation. Companies must co-innovate to solve tough user experience challenges for their customers. This is why we are working with GNS, a market leader in the provision of maritime solutions. This new offer represents our belief that the future of navigation requires new ideas – as companies become more dependent on technology to navigate safely, as data volumes increase and real-time intelligent-response becomes a necessity of doing business.”
“We are very pleased to form a strategic partnership with SEALL. By combining GNS’s expertise in maritime solutions, with SEALL’s vision for next generation ECDIS, we can achieve exciting new digitally-led efficiencies and safety improvements on board.” said Paul Stanley, Chief Executive of the GNS Group. “Together GNS and SEALL are working together to innovate around user interface design and front and back of bridge integration and are addressing the user experience challenges that are preventing shipping companies from achieving many of the efficiencies and improvements promised by digital navigation.”
The SEALL ECDIS has been Type Approved by DNV GL, is fully compatible with all commercial ENC services including the market-leading AVCS and Primar products and is competitively priced to make it affordable to all shipping companies worldwide, in particular companies looking to retrofit a very efficient, user friendly ECDIS solution to comply with IMO ECDIS carriage requirements.
Notes for editors
Global Navigation Solutions (GNS) was formed in November 2012 to provide an extensive range of maritime services to worldwide. GNS brings together the best global distributors of maritime navigation solutions, providing customers with innovative solutions and services that underpin safety and efficiency cost effectively. It distributes the best existing maritime navigation brands, including British Admiralty and PRIMAR charts and publications, and works with specialist service providers around the world to design and produce intelligent user-friendly solutions which streamline and simplify the art of navigation. With technical expertise available from centres around the world, Global Navigation Solutions offers the knowledge to resolve queries and technical problems fast. The Company is owned jointly by its staff and Phoenix Equity Partners.
SEALL ECDIS was launched in 2013 by Jargoon, specialists in maritime software development, with the motto of ‘See all there is to Sea’. Seall aims to provide efficient and innovative solutions for the mariner and the marine industry. All Seall products are designed with e-navigation in mind.